this list is inspired by edward gorey's method of using strange disjointed sentences from translation books as dialogue in such works of his as the grand passion & the doleful domesticity. here are some bizarre examples from a dictionary/phrasebook of my parents’ native language:

• I am going to whip you.
• Why are the animals dead?
• It has three eyes!
• What is your motive for belittling me?
• You are blind with your eyes open.
• No matter what you say, you can't poison my mind.
• Will you be happy about it if he dies?
• He supposedly died being shot.
• They saw each other in the pineapple field.
• When they went there, they cried.
• They pretended to laugh out of the shame.
• He is pretending to cook with others.
• These noodles are infested with flies.
• The rice cake is hard.
• Does it have curative powers?
• I can’t forget their almost forgetting me the last time I went home.

with very specific single words for

• rice crust
• being a fake lawyer
• carrying around a machete
• praying insincerely
• wearing shoes inappropriately
• everyone doing their own cleaning at the same time

& so many synonyms for “bowlegged”.