Das ist mir Wurst. | It's sausage to me. | I don't care. |
Das ist nicht mein Bier. | That's not my beer. | It's not my problem. |
eine beleidigte Leberwurst sein | to be an insulted liver sausage (liver paté, or sausage with liver in it) | to be easily offended, or more offended than warranted by the circumstances |
seinen Senf dazugeben | to add one's mustard | state one's opinion about something (unasked and usually also not too welcome) |
mit dem ist nicht gut Kirschen essen | this person is not good to eat cherries with | it's hard to get along with this person |
seine Brötchen verdienen | earn one's bread rolls | make money for living/work |
das macht das Kraut nicht fett | this doesn't make the cabbage greasy | it's not accounting for much in the overall picture |
die dümmsten Bauern haben die dicksten Kartoffeln | the most stupid farmer has the largest potatoes | usually said when someone gets a lot of money without effort |
nicht die Bohne | not a bean | not at all |
Tomaten auf den Augen haben | to have tomatoes on the eyes | to be blind/not see something that should be obvious |
Petersilie in den Ohren haben | to have parsley in the ears | the audio equivalent to the tomatoes - to not hear something |
ein armes Würstchen sein | to be a poor sausage | poor devil/poor thing |
der schaut, als hätten ihm die Hühner das Brot weggefressen | that one has a look as if the chickens ate his bread | to look helpless or perplexed |
sich ein Ei legen | lay oneself an egg | to dig a hole for yourself |
für'n Apfel und ein Ei | for an apple and an egg | for very little money |
dumm wie Bohnenstroh | dumb as bean straw | dumb as a post |
es wird nichts so heiß gegessen, wie es gekocht wird | nothing is eaten as hot as it's being cooked | it won't be as bad as it seems at first |
der satten Maus schmeckt das süße Mehl bitter | the satiated mouse finds the sweet flour tastes bitter | things lose their appeal when you have had enough of them |
wie Kraut und Rüben | like cabbage and turnips | completely dis-ordered |
das ist nicht das Gelbe vom Ei | that's not the yolk of the egg | that's not the best situation/solution |
die Rosinen aus dem Kuchen picken | to pick the raisins out of the cake | only take the best bits and leave the rest |
"um den heißen Brei herumreden" = eine Sache nicht offen und sachlich ansprechen
"Saure-Gurken-Zeit" https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sauregurkenzeit
Heather, it is supposed to be 'dumb' as in stupid.
'Appels met peren vergelijken', comparing apples with pears, trying to compare non comparable items or concepts.
'Daar komt een schip met zure appels aan', here comes a ship with sour apples, there is a rainstorm coming (this one is from the north only).
'Met de gebakken peren zitten', being stuck with the fried pears, when one has done something that went completely wrong and leaves one in a big mess.
'Zoete broodjes bakken', baking little sweet buns, being overly friendly to get what you want.
'De kool en de geit sparen', rescuing the cabbage and the goat, trying to find a middleway to save everything and everyone.
Instead of comparing apples with pears, in English it's apples and oranges.
"Bun in the oven" means pregnant.
"When life gives you lemons, make lemonade" means to make the best of a bad situation
"Trim the fat" means to eliminate excess or eliminate waste.
"Chew the fat" means to talk (generally about trivial topics).
"Give them the sausage, don't grind the meat!" is advice given to technical experts presenting to executive managers. It means to give the summary or abstract, not the whole detailed paper.
Thank you everyone for your comments - I vastly enjoyed learning about more food idioms, especially the English and Dutch ones! Pregnant Germans, by the way, don't have a bun in the oven, but a roast. We don't get to the meat of the matter, though - the idiom for that is non-food-related. While the "um den heißen Brei herumreden" that Beatrix mentioned is the opposite, not getting to the meat of the matter, by way of talking around the hot porridge...