Smart, crafty, shrewd, experienced and streetwise (or rather, wise to the ways of seafarers) — when Germans describe someone as "washed with all the waters" ("mit allen Wassern gewaschen"), that is what they mean. The phrase with the nautical imagery conjures sailors who have sailed the seven seas — and know every trick in the book.

The German phrase "nicht das Wasser reichen können" translates literally to, "you can't hand someone the water" and means you can't hold a candle to someone, you are not as good, you are inferior. It goes back to medieval times when a page would hand his masters a bowl with water after a meal at court so they could wash their hands. Rank mattered among the servants, too.

Up to your neck in water — the imagery of standing in water that keeps on rising is unambiguous: you are in trouble. The colloquial German phrase "das Wasser steht bis zum Hals" is usually used in connection with financial problems like debt.

When Germans say a person "kann kein Wässerchen trüben" (literally, can't muddy small waters), the English-language idiom is "butter wouldn't melt in someone's mouth." Someone is responsible for a mess or mistake, but all you get is a look of complete innocence. It's like: "Who, me?!"

"Nah am Wasser gebaut" — if a person is "built close to the water," it's not about real estate on a lake, but a descriptive way of saying they weep easily, they are quick to be flooded by tears.

The idiomatic German phrase "auch nur mit Wasser kochen" literally translates as a person really just cooks with water. It means they are like everybody else, nothing special. Unlike some phrases that use the same imagery in both languages (such as "blood is thicker than water"), the English equivalent here is: people put their pants on one leg at a time.

The German term "ins kalte Wasser springen" literally means to jump into cold water, or, as the English idiom has it, to jump in at the deep end. The water imagery suggests that a person has the heart and courage to do something unfamiliar or daunting.