15 American Sayings That Leave Foreigners Totally Puzzled

15 American Sayings That Leave Foreigners Totally Puzzled

If you grow up hearing certain expressions or phrases all the time, it can be easy to overlook how weird they actually are. That's the case with a number of Americanisms—American sayings we are so used to uttering that we forget they don't actually make any sense or have been so removed from their original meanings that it takes a linguist to connect them. Often it can take an outsider to point out just how strange some American expressions are—a foreigner who can raise an eyebrow in confusion to the turn of phrase that many in the U.S. take for granted. Here are 30 of these American phrases that leave non-Americans scratching their heads.

1

"Piece of cake."

One of the best-known American phrases, it's no piece of cake for newcomers to the U.S. to understand what we're talking about or where baked goods might be involved. "When I started school in second grade, the teacher asked a pretty easy (I assume) question," writes a German-born Reddit user about first coming to the U.S. "I heard everyone say it was 'a piece of cake.' And for the longest time I always wondered where this cake was."

2

"Scoot over."

Americans might casually say this when asking someone to move slightly, but those who aren't familiar with the term can be forgiven for not having a clue what the American is asking them to do. "My first day of school in the U.S., this girl asked me to 'scoot over,'" writes one non-American on Reddit. "And I just thought 'What? I don't even have a scooter with me.'"

3

"Put lipstick on a pig."

This weird colloquialism to describe trying to superficially improve something that's ugly or deficient makes sense when you explain it to an outsider, but, as Bustle's JR Thorpe puts it, "One of the main reasons the rest of the world finds American politics bizarre is that, often, we don't understand what on earth your politicians are saying. They're very fond, for instance, of this utterly bizarre expression, which seems to have a fairly straightforward meaning, but is truly, weirdly American, with its connotations of down-home farms and Avon salesmen."

4

"Break a leg."

Shutterstock

When directly translated, this American phrase sounds to a non-English speaker that the speaker is wishing them ill will or putting some kind of curse on them. In fact, the term means exactly the opposite—a term of good luck that by saying it is supposed to make sure it does not actually happen. What could be confusing about that?

5

"Knock on wood."

Sort of the opposite of "break a leg," this expression, said (and done) when someone hopes something happens or continues to happen is common throughout the English speaking world (usually as "touch wood" outside America). Unfortunately, those learning the language can't always quite piece together what it means, with little context given to all this sudden knocking on tables and doors.

6

"Not a big fan."

"I'm from Ukraine, and I find it really strange when people say they're 'not a big fan of…' instead of saying they don't like something," says one Reddit user.

7

"It's not rocket science."

Similar to "not a big fan," "it's not rocket science" is a way of explaining something by hyperbolically explaining what it's not—in this case, saying something is not too difficult. But for an outsider to the U.S., it might have them asking, "What do rockets have to do with anything?"

8

"Break a bill."

When we want to get change, turning a larger bill into smaller ones, this term can come in handy. But as one Reddit user pointed out, the expression is not used outside the U.S., creating confusion for non-Americans. "The term I use the most and when I travel people give me a funny look is when I ask for someone to 'break' a bill for me," writes the user.

9

"Mystery meat"

Talking about SPAM or some unpleasant looking meat-based dish sold in a cafeteria with seemingly unknown origins (is it from a pig? A cat?), Americans are fond of this term, but the American phrase can also seem a bit mysterious to outsiders. "Who on earth legalizes this substance, why is it served to children, and what possibly possessed the Board of Health to let it become so common it's an idiom?," asks Thorpe. "Australia has its own weird kind of mystery meat, called 'devon,' which is just random parts of pork put into a sausage—but at least we know it all comes from the same animal."

10 "Let's table this."

This American phrase seems to mean the opposite of what actually means, according to Huffington Post reader Mary Shirley. "When you say to table something you mean to shelve it. When I say to table something I mean to put it on the table for discussion i.e., put it on the agenda."

11

"Don't be such a wet blanket."

When someone is being a downer or ruining everyone else's good time, we may use this expression, leaving foreigners to ask, "What's that have to do with blankets?" "Who looked at a particularly boring, fun-sucking person at a party, equated them to being smothered in a sodden piece of fabric, and let the idiom be born?" asks Thorpe. "It's ingenuity like that which makes America the home of so many start-up founders, I'm sure of it."