What does ” Dumm Wie Brot” mean in English ?
The literal translation of this idiom is “Dumb as bread”
This idiom is used to say “Dumb as a box of rocks”
The English equivalent is “Dumb like sand” or “Dumb as toast”
Example of “Dumm Wie Brot” being used:
“Die ist doch dumm wie Brot”
“She’s literally dumb as toast”
“Ich wusste, er ist dumm wie Brot”
“I knew he was dumb as a box of rocks”
What is an idiomatic expression anyway?
It is a phrase that, when translated directly, doesn’t make sense in another language. For example “this project is coming down to the wire.” Translated into another language directly that would make no sense. This example comes from TV shows where people have a timer running and they have to cut the correct wire on the bomb. These expressions take on a new meaning for us. “down to the wire” means “last minute.” By contrast, “last minute” is not an idiomatic expression – if you translate it directly into a foreign language it will make perfect sense,”down to the wire” will not. Every language has idiomatic expressions, and some may argue that these are the expressions that REALLY make the language unique. Just memorizing vocabulary will not help you to learn these, you need to learn all of the idiomatic expressions.
