Reverend Conehead
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If you literally translate "He's as drunk as a skunk" into other languages, it doesn't rhyme like it does in English. So they don't say it that way. If you literally translated it into French, it would be:
"Il est aussi saoul comme une moufette." Or: "Il est aussi ivre comme une moufette."
In German it would be:
"Er ist so besoffen wie ein Stinktier."
The German word for "skunk" is "Stinktier," which literally means "stink animal." So literally translate it back and you've got:
"He's as drunk as a stink animal."
French does have a rhyming expressing to mean really drunk. You could say:
"Il est saoul comme un trou."
"Saoul", which means drunk, sounds like "soo", and "trou", which means "hole", sounds like "troo."
So it's like "He is as soo as a troo," which literally means, "He's as drunk as a hole."
German can say "Er ist blau" to mean he is drunk. "Blau" means blue. So literally it's, "He is blue" to mean he's drunk. They don't use "blue" to mean depressed like we do.
But I think English's "drunk as a skunk" is funnier than anything offered by German or French. My French teacher and I were laughing at how silly it sounds translated directly into French. I found these images for her:
She would have never understood any of them if I hadn't explained the English idiom. Who knows? Maybe skunks really are bad about over-consuming alcoholic beverages.
"Il est aussi saoul comme une moufette." Or: "Il est aussi ivre comme une moufette."
In German it would be:
"Er ist so besoffen wie ein Stinktier."
The German word for "skunk" is "Stinktier," which literally means "stink animal." So literally translate it back and you've got:
"He's as drunk as a stink animal."
French does have a rhyming expressing to mean really drunk. You could say:
"Il est saoul comme un trou."
"Saoul", which means drunk, sounds like "soo", and "trou", which means "hole", sounds like "troo."
So it's like "He is as soo as a troo," which literally means, "He's as drunk as a hole."
German can say "Er ist blau" to mean he is drunk. "Blau" means blue. So literally it's, "He is blue" to mean he's drunk. They don't use "blue" to mean depressed like we do.
But I think English's "drunk as a skunk" is funnier than anything offered by German or French. My French teacher and I were laughing at how silly it sounds translated directly into French. I found these images for her:
She would have never understood any of them if I hadn't explained the English idiom. Who knows? Maybe skunks really are bad about over-consuming alcoholic beverages.
