Do you have a saying for selecting only the best from a range of options?

16 comments

1. _Kimazsoláz_

   It’s a (pretty compact) verb literally meaning picking out the raisins from anything, but almost exclusively meaning the same concept you mention.

2. Sich die Rosinen rauspicken. – To pick the raisins for oneself. It seems Germans are as fond of dried grapes as Finns and Hungarians. I’m impressed that the latter manage to say it in one word.

3. “Choisir la crème de la crème” comes to my mind, meaning “to pick the cream of the cream”.

4. “plocka russinen ur kakan”, to pick the raisins out of the ~pastry.

   Which is interesting, considering the raisins are objectively the worst part in any pastry containing raisins.

5. De los bueno, lo mejor. 🇪🇸. Or something similar, to take the best among the good

6. “Het neusje van de zalm”, the little nose of the salmon

7. I’ve never understood why those raisins are a metaphor for the best. They’re terrible inside a bun. The same for liver casserole.

8. My mother always said that *”köyhällä ei ole varaa halpaan”* – “poor people cannot afford cheap things”, meaning that if you have to buy something it should be decent quality thus more expensive than the cheapest option. I usually follow that advice and rather try to find something that is built to last for lifetime if there is that kind of option available even save for it if necessary than settle for disposable junk.

9. De krenten uit de pap halen – to pick the raisins from the porridge

10. Unsurprisingly, same in Swedish, “plocka russinen ur kakan” = pick the rasisins from the bun/cake.

11. In Bulgaria we say “topa na topa”. It means the best of the best.

12. We say top Toyota which means the best of the best

13. Why are there so many people hating on raisins. They’re honestly delicious.

14. As someone said in English it’ll usually be cream of the crop.

    If all options are bad then “best of a bad bunch” also works.

15. “Vyberať si hrozienka z koláča” (to pick the raisins from a cake/pie) in Slovak.

16. In Estonian we say “*terad sõkaldest eraldama*” – “separate the grain from the chaff”,
    and “*koort riisuma*” – “to scrape the cream (fat) off milk”;
    the idea of something like “*rosinad välja nokkima*” – “to pick out the raisins” is also familiar, but I’m not sure if it’s a fixed saying in Estonian, more like a metaphor, maybe?