Greek idioms: what they say and what they mean.
Translated word for word, Greek idioms can sound absurd. Here is what each one literally says and what Greeks actually mean by it.
You “eat a door”, you “fall from the clouds”, it “rains chair legs”. Greek expressions are full of pictures that make no sense in English until someone explains them. If you grew up hearing them at home without a translation, this is the place to check.
For every expression we give the Greek, how it sounds, the literal translation and its real meaning, with an example sentence. Where an English idiom does the same job, we name it.
Explaining a metaphor is not proof of where it came from, so colourful origin stories are not presented as fact unless they are documented. The Greek archive holds 250 reviewed expressions.
Όλο το ελληνικό αρχείο ↗ (the full archive, in Greek)
Έφαγα πόρτα
I ate a door. I was rejected, or not allowed to enter or take part.
Έπεσα από τα σύννεφα
I fell from the clouds. I was very surprised to learn something I did not expect.
Τα έκανα θάλασσα
I made them (into) a sea. I made serious mistakes or caused chaos in a matter.
Μου έβαλε τα γυαλιά
He/she put the glasses on me. Someone outdid me or proved more capable in a situation.
Κάνω την πάπια
I play the duck. I pretend not to understand or not to know something, to avoid responsibility.
Έχω μαύρα μεσάνυχτα
I have black midnight. I know almost nothing about a particular subject.
Ψάχνω ψύλλους στ’ άχυρα
I look for fleas in the straw. I keep at something that is extremely hard to find, or I fuss over trivial details.
Βρέχει καρεκλοπόδαρα
It’s raining chair legs. It is raining extremely hard.
Έριξε μαύρη πέτρα πίσω του
He threw a black stone behind him. He left a place or a situation intending never to return.
Χάνω τα αυγά και τα πασχάλια
I lose the eggs and the Easter. I completely lose my composure or my sense of order and don’t know what to do.
Έχω τα μάτια μου δεκατέσσερα
I have my eyes fourteen. I watch something very carefully to avoid danger or a mistake.
Πιάνομαι στα πράσα
I get caught in the leeks. I am discovered at the very moment I am doing something secret or forbidden.
Έφαγε χυλόπιτα
He ate hilopita (a kind of homemade Greek pasta). He was rejected romantically, usually after asking someone out.
Του Κουτρούλη ο γάμος
Koutroulis’ wedding. A situation of complete chaos and disorder.