An interesting French expression I learnt last week is beau comme un camion, which literally means “pretty as a truck/lorry”, and actually means pretty, cute or beautiful.
Apparently this idiom appeared around the middle of the 20th century and was at first ironic, as few people find trucks pretty. However it came to mean graceful and beautiful, and the use of the word camion (truck/lorry) emphasizes the importance of the word beau (pretty, beautiful) [source].
Here are some equivalents of this phrase in other languages:
English
– pretty as a picture
– easy on the eye(s)
– cute as a button
Spanish
– estar como un tren = to be like a train
Flemish
– een lust voor het oog = a pleasure for the eye
Dutch
– een ‘stoot’ zijn = a punch in the gob
– zo mooi als een madonna / plaatje = pretty like a madona/picture
– als een vlag op een modderschuit = like a flag on a barge filled with mud
– beeldschoon = pretty as a picture
– een plaatje = a photo
Romanian
– a fi rupt din soare = to be detached from the sun
Serbian
– lep k’o slika = pretty as a picture
Swedish
– vacker som en dag = pretty as a day
From: http://www.expressio.fr/expressions/beau-comme-un-camion.php
What about in your language(s)?
Finnish
– kaunis kuin kukka = beautiful as a flower
– kuvankaunis = beautiful as a picture
– kaunis kuin enkeli = beautiful as an angel
In French there’s also beau “comme un dieu” – beautiful as a god.
Hello Simon, just a quick note for the Dutch expression: “als een vlag op een modderschuit.”
It’s more meant to denote ‘wasted beauty’. “Like a flag on a privy.”, Also to denote the idea of a clash between a nice thing and an ugly thing. And the futility of trying to spruce up something that’s un-spruce-uppable.