Common Phrases

English – cats and dogs

Iceland – fire and brimstone

Greece – chair legs

Colombia – husbands

Catalonia – barrels and casks

Ireland – cobblers’ knives

Brazil – lizards and snakes

Czech Republic – wheelbarrows

Norway – witches

Denmark – shoemaker’s apprentices

Slovakia – tractors

France – ropes

Wales – knives and forks

Poland – frogs

Germany – puppies

I find this list terrifying to the extreme.

I’ve spent my life fearing the occasional English downpour—expecting cats and dogs to plummet from the heavens, perhaps swept up by Midwest tornadoes. But husbands (and not wives)? Shoemaker’s apprentices (but not the shoemakers themselves)? And Greek chair legs?

It’s all too much.

I already carry a full toolkit of irrational fears. I simply cannot relocate to another country. French ropes? What does that even mean—are they coiled or taut? Falling vertically or lashing about?

There’s something quietly menacing about Polish frogs and Brazilian snakes. But Slovak tractors? That’s not even symbolic—it’s just a straight-up agricultural hazard.

I blame the weather.

(With thanks to James Chapman, soundimals.com)