★ POBEĆI NA ZLATIBOR DA ČUVAMO OVCE
This phrase literally means to run away to Zlatibor mountain in Serbia ‘to herd sheep’ i.e. to enjoy life as a shepherd. This is normally used as an expression of annoyance with the life ‘in the fast lane’, the life in huge cities or ‘the rat race’. One would say this: ‘Odoh/BeŽim na Zlatibor da Čuvam ovce! when they ‘want to get away from it all’ and the only solution to a problem seems to be ‘opting out of society’ OtiĆi means to leave, pobeĆi means to escape or run away, Zlatibor is a beautiful mountain in Serbia , Čuvati means to keep or to herd in this case and ovca/ovce means sheep or a ewe.
★ UZETI NEKOME MERU
Literally means to take one’s measure as if you were a tailor . Metaphorically this idiom means to size up somebody, to take a close , scrutinizing look of a person so as to know whether to trust them or not; uzeti means to take, mera means measure , neko means somebody and nekome is its form in dative grammar case.
★ BITI MIRODJIJA U SVAKOJ ČORBI
Literal translation of this idiomatic expression is ‘to be the spice in every soup/broth’. Mirodjija is a special type of a herb i.e. the dill normally used in soups and broths. Čorba means a type of lavish gourmet soup, svaki means every/each The idiom itself has a negative connotation and is used when we want to express annoyance with someone if they tend to meddle in everybody’s affairs. An equivalent of this in English would be to have your fingers in every pie.
★ DELITI PRAVDU
Literal translation of this idiomatic expression is to deliver the justice and its metaphoric meaning is to be opinionated and judgmental at times. It is normally used in situations when somebody acts as if they were ‘a judge ‘ in each and every life situation so that they deliver the justice in conflicts or somewhat tricky situations of others. It is sometimes used in a positive context when somebody is trying to mediate in a conflict , or act as a go between but it is more often used in a negative context when we want to remind a person not to do that all the time because they come across as only too judgmental and opinionated. One would normally say ‘NEMOJ TI DA DELIŠ pravdu ‘ or NE MORAŠ TI DA DELIŠ PRAVDU” deliti means to deliver ( in this particular collocation) , PRAVDA means justice. NEMOJ means don’t in imperative form.
★ IMATI NEZVANE GOSTE
Literally means to have uninvited guests and it is used to refer to the situations when some people come to your house uninvited or when they decide to gate crash your party or a get together. imati means to have, zvati means to call or invite, nezvani means uncalled or uninvited, gosti means guests.
★ SPAVATI KAO KLADA
Literally means to sleep like a log, to be fast asleep; spavati means to sleep, kao means like or as, klada or balvan means a log.
adapted and submitted by Natasha from Angloland
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