> I have myself long owed a debt of hearty laughter to a French translator who rendered “Englishmen always love an underdog” as “Les Anglais aiment toujours le ventre du chien,” or Englishmen love the belly of the dog.
I don't find this weird. There are plenty of English phrases that have seemingly literal translations in other languages (when you translate back to English), and vice-versa. For example in Hindi (and at least a few dialects), there's a phrase that translates to "you're eating my head". This phrase does not literally mean that, it means: "you're pushing my buttons" or "you're driving me crazy". But "you're pushing my buttons" and "you're driving me crazy" are both English phrases that also should not be taken literally. Both the non-literal Hindi and English phrases are understood to mean "you're annoying me, but I love you, so I'm using this phrase instead of actually getting mad at you".
I don't find this weird. There are plenty of English phrases that have seemingly literal translations in other languages (when you translate back to English), and vice-versa. For example in Hindi (and at least a few dialects), there's a phrase that translates to "you're eating my head". This phrase does not literally mean that, it means: "you're pushing my buttons" or "you're driving me crazy". But "you're pushing my buttons" and "you're driving me crazy" are both English phrases that also should not be taken literally. Both the non-literal Hindi and English phrases are understood to mean "you're annoying me, but I love you, so I'm using this phrase instead of actually getting mad at you".