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Carpe Diem - Fish of the Day
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One player will provide a word or phrase in another language, and the next will furnish us with an erudite translation and then a word or phrase of their own...
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Mr. Oboeist! Give us a tootle to help our soprano get in tune.

Er entdeckte der Welt, was die Antike sei, er zeigte dem menschlichen Geiste, was die Natur und die Welt sei. Diese Taten vollbrachte der deutsche Geist aus sich, aus seinem innersten Verlangen, sich seiner bewusst zu werden. Und dieses Bewusstsein sagte ihm, was er zum ersten Male der Welt verkünden konnte, dass das Schöne und Edle nicht um des Vorteils, ja selbst nicht um des Ruhmes und der Unerkennung willen in die Welt tritt: und alles, was im Sinne dieser Lehre gewirkt wird, ist 'deutsch', und deshalb ist der Deutsche gross; und nur, was in diesem Sinne gewirkt wird, kann zur Grösse Deutschlands führen.

She entered the deck with her welding gear, where she spoke of her antics, and she sought the men who liked the spirits of nature and welding, so they said. Their potatoes ran boldly towards the spirit of Holland, sick yet sane, immersed in their language, sick yet sane, wimpy and wordy. And their wimpy sanity saddened him, because her ex-husband had welded children's cots - that's the shaven but idle git in his 40s, yes, selfish git with the rheumatism and wilful unemployment in the welding industry: and friends, whom he sinned with, leering at their wierd work, calling it "Dutch," but he'd never actually been to Holland in any serious way; and now, these sins affected his own weird work, dragging him into the truly serious fires of Holland.

Många bäckar små gör en stor å.

The fellow returns, bloodied, to the supermarket.

Et in terra pax, pax hominibus.

[Darren] Bravo!
[Raak] Indeed, but I'm curious as to where you got this quote (assuming you didn't make it up yourself, which is indeed possible). I've tried googling but thanks to a somewhat unconventional use (to my mind) of the dative in the first clause, it doesn't come up with anything.
[rab] I googled for "German quotations" and came across a page of Wagner quotes. I can see why Hitler was a fan.
[rab, Raak] It's interesting to hear where you all pick up your quotations from. My German ones all come from 'Schubert - 200 Songs for Voice & Piano' selected and edited by Sergius Kagen [IMC. New York]. It contains the English translations which, given the somewhat florid, overblown nature of the romantic verse, are chucklesome enough [even before you lot apply your skills to them].
At this point in time, I cannot do justice to Rosie's last quote so I'm leaving it for someone who can.
[Chalky] To be fair to dear Franz, the only Lied I know in any detail had its lyrics written by Heine. But then I'm quite a fan of his, feeling him in many people's minds to be cast in Beethoven's shadow. In the meantime...

He who is sardined in terror, is sardined into the gay bus.

Hyvaa Joulua ja Onnellista Uutta Vuotta

Never joke with the honesty of the floating voter.

Hänchen klein, ging allein, in die weiter Weld hinein.

[Darren] Marvellous stuff. Do I sense the germination of a new game here?
Clean your hands, my gang allies, in the water behind the weld.

Tack för det!

Thanks all for the comments! I was rather worried someone else would come up with a better "translation" while I was working on mine, but that didn't happen luckily. Incidentally, I get my quotes and proverbs from a variety of sources: some from the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, and others from online proverb collections.

[rab] Thank you for reminding me of the Finnish for Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Finnish is truly opaque, and the only word in the phrase that has any relationship to other languages as far as I know is "Joulua", which is "Yule" with a nice Finnish suffix.

(Use a) nail for that!

Lapin Kulta

This phrase, decorously expressed in Latin, occurs in a Victorian anatomical guide to the fair sex written for young men (who are assumed virtuously innocent of such knowledge).

Costain Skanska Bafry

My cousin loves reggae and reggae loves him, baby.

Sein oder Nichtsein, das ist hier die Frage

Sigh over the night scene, because you're about to get mugged.

Theon oudeis popote tetheatai, ean agapomen allelous, ho theos en hemin menei kai he agape autou en emin teteleiomene estin.
This odious puppet theatre, its fittings all loose, has those at home agape and television is preferred.

Comment allez vous?

Do you have anything to say in response to these allegations?

rubor, calor, tumor, dolor, functio laeso

Rubber, gas, cancer, the DHSS... that's life.

Den som gräver en grop åt andra faller själv däri.

Den is some groover! But he did grope the outside of Andrea, and fell over, being slightly doozy.

Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin.

That gents' lavatory seems oddly popular today.

Gotterdämmerung
Ascend the woman's ladder.

And, to keep gil happy,

matkailutoimisto

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