An Idiom Abroad | With Adam Sharp
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In Lithuanian slang, a lazybones is ‘a director of free air’. In Norwegian, ‘a flaccid fish’. In Danish, ‘a sluggish banana’.
In Welsh, it doesn’t rain cats and dogs. It rains old ladies and sticks. In Estonian, it rains little boys and machetes. And in Uruguay, it’s raining penguins headfirst.
An Idiom Abroad is a tour of the strangest and funniest expressions humans have come up with for saying the same few things. Part reading, part monologue, part stand-up, with asides and anecdotes along the way.
Halfway through, the audience is invited to compose the best curse for their worst enemy. The winning entry at a previous festival was ‘may the available petrol pump always be on the wrong side for your car’. There is a prize.
‘A glorious, laugh-a-minute ride. We loved An Idiom Abroad!’ (Tamar Valley Writers Festival)
‘A rapid-fire gigglefest’ (Bath Book Festival)
‘Such a fun and entertaining event, the audience were absolutely buzzing on the way out’ (York Festival of Ideas)
Adam Sharp is an author, academic and alliteration appreciator. He wrote The Correct Order of Biscuits and The Wheel Is Spinning But the Hamster Is Dead, writes a column on international idioms for the Swiss daily Neue Zürcher Zeitung, and is the 2026 Hedberg Writer-in-Residence at the University of Tasmania. He also spent several years touring the world as a stilt walker.
Join Adam at the Afterword Cafe.
Tickets available on Trybooking: https://www.trybooking.com/DRIZP
In Welsh, it doesn’t rain cats and dogs. It rains old ladies and sticks. In Estonian, it rains little boys and machetes. And in Uruguay, it’s raining penguins headfirst.
An Idiom Abroad is a tour of the strangest and funniest expressions humans have come up with for saying the same few things. Part reading, part monologue, part stand-up, with asides and anecdotes along the way.
Halfway through, the audience is invited to compose the best curse for their worst enemy. The winning entry at a previous festival was ‘may the available petrol pump always be on the wrong side for your car’. There is a prize.
‘A glorious, laugh-a-minute ride. We loved An Idiom Abroad!’ (Tamar Valley Writers Festival)
‘A rapid-fire gigglefest’ (Bath Book Festival)
‘Such a fun and entertaining event, the audience were absolutely buzzing on the way out’ (York Festival of Ideas)
Adam Sharp is an author, academic and alliteration appreciator. He wrote The Correct Order of Biscuits and The Wheel Is Spinning But the Hamster Is Dead, writes a column on international idioms for the Swiss daily Neue Zürcher Zeitung, and is the 2026 Hedberg Writer-in-Residence at the University of Tasmania. He also spent several years touring the world as a stilt walker.
Join Adam at the Afterword Cafe.
Tickets available on Trybooking: https://www.trybooking.com/DRIZP
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Where is it happening?
131 Collins Street, Hobart, TAS, Australia, Tasmania 7000
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.
Host or PublisherFullers Bookshop
