Thread: Help with a certain phrase.

Hi ^-^/

I've heard and seen this phrase a few times

"Береги свою голову, там мозги"

I tried to translate it by myself, and I got
"Take care of your head, brains are there"

Then i tried googling it and couldn't find any translation. So I was wondering if my translation was correct and whether or not this an idiom or something?

Thanks in advance

Hmm, not sure what's causing the confusion here. You did translate the phrase, didn't you? Your brain is basically all that you are, so it makes sense to take care of it. Don't know, maybe it's your translation that's somehow ambigous to you.

Let no harm come to your head, it contains your brain.

Anyway, this phrase is somewhat of a joke. For example you can say that to someone who wants to go out when it's freezing without a knit cap on their head. On a sidenote, let's see how you can crack a similar one.

Не ковыряй в носу, мозги поцарапаешь!

UPD

I also found this
click

I suppose you actualy heard and saw this one. It's a bit funnier like this and with wider "application"

Yep that's the one I saw xD i tried finding that one but I found a different one instead and thought it was the same phrase :3 sorry.

"Не ковыряй в носу, мозги поцарапаешь!"

Umm "Do not pick your nose, "...?" your brains"?
Never heard of that last word :P

to scratch / to make scratch (little wound)

So...
"Do not pick your nose, you will scratch your brains"?

That's about it, yes.

"Береги свою голову, там мозги"

In English, when it comes to fancy sayings, usually "head" is already used to mean "brains" or "mind" by extension, so when I first read it, I hit a bit of a wall too. I read the first half already thinking of the mind, so then the second half didn't seem as if it was adding anything. "Protect your mind, that's where your.... 'brain matter' is?...Uh... Well sure I guess..."

That's a super interesting difference!

In that case I think we should substitute "head" for "skull" then.

Originally Posted by xXHoax

In English, when it comes to fancy sayings, usually "head" is already used to mean "brains" or "mind" by extension...

In russian in can be often true also. Phrases: "светлая голова", "у него с головой не в порядке", "не бери в голову" all are about 'mind' or 'brains'.
But 'keep your head' (in russian) is about bending in low door frame.

Голова, голова,...
А ещё я в неё ем!