Fascinating world of Telugu idioms

My mother tongue is Telugu (spoken in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh in India). However, owing to my first job and friends’ group, I was more adept at speaking English than Telugu. Many people mistook me as a non-local Telugu speaker, so they conversed in English, which stuck with me for many years.

Recently, I have made a conscious effort to break away from this habit and learned to speak Telugu within my friends’ group. This situation introduced me to the fascinating world of Telugu idioms. This fun discovery helped me understand the language faster while having a good laugh at the same time.

I call it fun discovery because when translated literally, these phrases do not make much sense, but the meaning and lesson they convey are very relevant. I bet every language has a similar set of proverbs and idioms, but this discovery about my mother tongue made me love the language all the more.

Here are a few idioms as a reference:

ఆలు లేదు షూలు లేదు కొడుకు పేరు సోమలింగం (Aalu ledu soolu ledu koduku peru somalingam): 

When translated literally, it means no wife and no pregnancy, but you named your son ‘Somalingam.’

The meaning of this idiom is to build castles in the air; it is used to describe daydreamers who live in their dream world.

Here is another one:

మింగ మెతుకు లేదు మీసాలకు సంపంగి నూనె (Miṅga metuku lēdu mīsālaku sampaṅgi nūne):

Literal translation: Not a grain of food to swallow, but fragrant tuberose oil for your mustache.

This idiom speaks about the pretensions of a show-off who demands rich, fragrant Tuberose oil for his mustache, though he does not have money for his basic needs.

This one also talks about pretentions and pretentious people. It says “పైన పటారం, లోన లొటారం (Paina paṭāraṁ, lōna loṭāraṁ.)”

“నక్కకి నాగలోకానికి ఉన్నంత తేడ (Nakkaki nāgalōkāniki unnanta tēḍa)”. This idiom is similar to “As different as chalk and cheese.” However when translated, it literally means as different as a fox and the world of snakes. This idiom requires a bit of backstory; a fox is considered a cunning animal that signifies all things crooked, whereas ‘naagalokam’ or snake kingdom is revered in India.

“సీత కష్టాలు సీతవి పీత కష్టాలు పీతవి(Sīta kaṣṭālu sītavi pīta kaṣṭālu pītavi)”. The translation says: Sita’s troubles are Sita’s, and a crab’s troubles are a crab’s. This idiom teaches us that each being or person has their own trials and tribulations. While Sita Devi faced insurmountable challenges, the troubles of an insignificant crab cannot be discounted either.

I have given very few examples of Telugu’s many fun, engaging, and insightful idioms. Some might argue that these are not the best representations of the language, but I found them funny. So, feel free to add more Telugu idioms if you have them.