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There is an old saying that the language of love is the same the world over ... but when you start looking at how people truly express the varying degrees of love in other languages, it just ain't true.

In English we say we are "head over heels" (which is oddly the direction we are usually are -- upright). Germans say they are "neck over head." The supposedly romantic French don't "sow their wild oats" but rather "strike the 400 blows." Neighboring Italians don't "rekindle an old flame," their equivalent (and far less heartwarming) saying is to "reheat cabbage." A bit farther east, a Japanese man in a serious relationship who's feeling "under the thumb" of his mate, would instead indicate that he's "under his wife's buttocks."

The language of love is a colorful one indeed. Keep reading to see some of our favorite weird ways to talk about love, appropriately set against the backdrop of witty black-and-white cartoons.

Weird Love Expressions

    Like dry firewood meeting a flame > instant attraction (Chinese)

    Julia Suits / National Geographic Books

    By candlelight a goat looks like a lady > proverb -look before you leap (French)

    Julia Suits / National Geographic Books

    Thighs as shapely as banana trees > a compliment to an attractive woman (Bengali)

    Julia Suits / National Geographic Books

    To lift up the bottom of your kimono to reveal your buttocks > show defiance (Japanese)

    Julia Suits / National Geographic Books

    A lover of a goat whose hair is combed > a womanizer (French)

    Julia Suits / National Geographic Books

    To give pumpkins > to stand someone up (Spanish, Latin America)

    Julia Suits / National Geographic Books

    To fix the cake > to patch things up (Spanish)

    Julia Suits / National Geographic Books

    To bang your butt on the line > to die laughing (French)

    Julia Suits / National Geographic Books

    To hang oneself > to get married (Spanish, Mexico)

    Julia Suits / National Geographic Books



Jag Bhalla is the author of "I'm Not Hanging Noodles on Your Ears and Other Intriguing Idioms From Around the World." We presume he will not be found hanging noodles on anyone's ears either now or in the future.

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