We were all sitting at the dinner table (yes, at the same time, must have been a full moon, or something) don't ask me which day (I forget) when my oldest daughter (she's 16) lamented the fact that my youngest daughter (who is 9) isn't much of a girly girl, anymore.

"My friends think it's cool I'm a tomboy!"

This year.

"Who am I going to dress up and put makeup on?"

On the one hand, the thought of Holly playing with her baby sister, without having to be asked or paid...real money...is very cute.

"But, mommy lets YOU wear makeup!?!?"

On the other hand, idioms tend to annoy me and, well, they just don't make a lick of sense.

[one beat, two beats]

D'oh!

However, it never dawned on me, until now, those funny little Hungarian sayings my grandmother would throw out, every now and again (especially, when my twin brother or I got into trouble) translated pretty well in English, too.

For example:

A szomszéd rétje mindig zöldebb: The neighbor's meadow is always greener (and, well, heck, it's hard not to be a little envious, when all you've got is, you know, grass!)

Bagoly mondja verébnek, hogy nagyfejű: The owl tells the sparrow that it is big-headed (sort of like the pot calling the kettle black, stupid owl!)

Csepp a tengerben: A drop in the sea (Especially, when you don't have a bucket, or your neighbor borrowed it and, you know, misplaced it in the frickin' meadow somewhere.)

Egyik tizenkilenc, másik egy híján húsz: One of them is nineteen, the other one is less than twenty (Either way, equally bad when considering marriage or the price of eggs today!)

Feldobja a bakancsot: Throw the boots up (When kicking the bucket seems futile...see above.)

Hideg zuhany: Cold shower (which is pretty much international and doesn't count, unless you are nineteen, or twenty, I think.)

Jobb félni, mint megijedni: Is it better to fear, than to get frightened (Not when you consider discretion is the better part of valor or your kid has a nasty case of the hiccups...for the last hour.)

Könnyebb utolérni a hazugot, mint a sánta kutyát: It is easier to catch a liar than a lame dog (Yes, but it didn't help that my grandmother had very long legs and could run pretty gosh-darned fast...too...DAMMIT.)

Mint elefánt a porcelánüzletben: Like an elephant in a china shop (Which is total bullcrap, considering that stuff seemed to break easily, just by my looking at it.  Wait a minute.  D'oh!  Never mind.)

Aaaand, that's just half of the ones I can think of (because, I'm old) considering there are 36 letters in the Hungarian alphabet (you're welcome!) and I just remembered something else.

I can't believe it's been 6 years, since she passed, this month (Happy Anniversary in Heaven, Nagy Mama!) and I am missing my grandmother, more than words can say, right now!

Stupid idioms.

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