Make your bed, lie in it
(Illustration: Henning Studte)
Why the Germans have to eat their soup and the Poles have to drink the beer they brew - weekly selection of common proverbs across Europe
You made your bed, now lie in it, goes the old adage. In Germany, the bed becomes a bowl of soup: you have to die Suppe auslöffeln, die man sich eingebrockt hat (eat all the pieces of bread you have put in your soup), whilst the bowl of soup becomes a keg of beer in Poland: pic piwo, którego sie nawazylo (drink the beer that you brew).
Don’t expect any sympathy southside either, because in Italy, chi è causa del suo mal, pianga se stesso (whoever is the cause of their own misfortune can cry for themselves). They also have another more visual and laconic saying: Hai voluto la bicicletta? Ora pedala! (You wanted the bike? Now pedal!)
However the Germans have a bit of luck in French misfortune. You have to manger du pain noir (eat brown bread) if you want to own up to your own responsibilities across the Rhein - perfect for someone from the land of Schwarzbrot!
Those who look away too often run the risk of coming last. Spaniards pagar los platos rotos (pay for the broken plates) whilst the Brits carry the can . The Germans understand the expression with etwas ausbaden (empty the bath) - an Ausbader is someone who has to empty a bathwater using a jug.
Georgi Khaindrava: ‘Russia can't remain a member of the G8’
The Caucasus war viewed through Europe's blogs
Abkhazia's Maxim Gunjia: 'the US reaction was openly pro-Georgian'
Josefa Idem wins Olympic silver for canoe
Holidays at Silvio Berlusconi’s luxury pad
British and French tourists behave badly
Beijing 2008: 273 Olympic medals for the EU
The Verve, Mo’Horizons – music in August
