Do other languages have idioms similar to "finders, keepers"?

June 16, 2020 2:59 PM

For those unfamiliar, according to Wikipedia, "Finders, keepers is an English adage with the premise that when something is unowned or abandoned, whoever finds it first can claim it." It would also be great to find examples of sayings in other languages about how people own the fruits of their labor. Thanks in advance!
posted by mrmanvir to Writing & Language (13 answers total)

I don't think that "finders keepers" is about owning the fruits of your labor, is it? "Finders keepers losers weepers" is the full version, at least from my childhood. Like, if you drop something on the street, too bad for you, and no one has the moral obligation to try to return it to you.
posted by sheldman at 3:09 PM on June 16, 2020 [13 favorites]

Response by poster: @sheldman — right, right. Ideally, I'd like to find idioms about both ideas — the idea that I own something if I find it and the idea that I own something if I put labor into producing it.
posted by mrmanvir at 3:17 PM on June 16, 2020

Best answer: Polish has "znalezione nie kradzione" which is "FOUND not stolen" - I'm not a native speaker but the fact it rhymes and has "found" first makes it feel very similar to the full english "finders keepers / losers weepers" rhyme.
posted by samj at 4:19 PM on June 16, 2020 [7 favorites]

Best answer: Wiktionary has some translations, though no guarantees on how common they are.
posted by Rhaomi at 4:23 PM on June 16, 2020

Best answer: I am not a fluent Portuguese speaker, but based on a quick Google search, the expression "achado não é roubado" ("found is not stolen") seems to be commonly used in Portugal and Brazil to justify keeping lost or dropped articles one finds on the street. However, this does not seem to have the same connotation of "finders keepers" where one encounters truly abandoned property, and is fully justified in claiming immediate possession of it.
posted by J.K. Seazer at 4:47 PM on June 16, 2020 [1 favorite]

Because French Immersion classes in Ontario are not the best, I’m not sure how truly idiomatic this is but when I was in school we said “ Qui va à la chasse perd sa place.” (Who goes off on a chase loses their place.)
posted by warriorqueen at 8:50 PM on June 16, 2020 [1 favorite]

"You snooze, you lose" - is similar; if you're not paying attention and don't take something when you have the opportunity, tough luck.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 2:25 AM on June 17, 2020

Qui va à la chasse perd sa place
It's idiomatic but the meaning is "if you find a nice place (or position) and leave it, someone else may take it". It comes from Genesis 27:5–7 when Esau goes hunting and Jacob steal his brother's birthright.
There's no equivalent of "finders keepers" in French. Translators of pop culture media have been struggling with this for a while, and it's often rendered as "Qui trouve garde" (in one of the Witcher games for instance). "Trouver c'est garder" isn't idiomatic either. These translations lack the proper rhythm to make it sound idiomatic (like "Donner c’est donner, reprendre c’est voler").
posted by elgilito at 3:23 AM on June 17, 2020 [1 favorite]

“ Qui va à la chasse perd sa place.”

The Dutch version of that is 'Opgestaan, plaats vergaan', meaning: got up (off a chair), spot/seat gone. In other words, if you get up, someone else may take your seat.

We also say 'hebben is houden en krijgen is de kunst'. To have is to keep, and to get (to acquire) is the trick/art/skill.
posted by Too-Ticky at 8:49 AM on June 17, 2020

>>Qui va à la chasse perd sa place

> It's idiomatic but the meaning is "if you find a nice place (or position) and leave it, someone else may take it".

Yeah I believe the English equivalent of this is not "finders keepers losers weepers" but "move your feet lose your seat."
posted by babelfish at 11:12 AM on June 17, 2020

Best answer: @samj Polish can be a very sparse language because of its grammatical structure. A more full translation of "znalezione nie kradzione" is "that which is found is not stolen", which essentially has the same meaning as "finders keepers". In fact there's a Stephen King novel called Finders Keepers, and Znalezione nie kradzione is the title of the Polish translation. :)

(A comma after "znalezione" would make it mean something like "this is found, not stolen", which is not the same thing at all.)
posted by confluency at 2:12 AM on June 18, 2020

Best answer: (Oh, and the rhyming is mostly a coincidence; adjectives declined in the same way are likely to have similar suffixes. And -zione and -dzione don't *quite* rhyme. :) )
posted by confluency at 2:13 AM on June 18, 2020

The Dutch version of that is 'Opgestaan, plaats vergaan', meaning: got up (off a chair), spot/seat gone. In other words, if you get up, someone else may take your seat.

English has a separate phrase for this, so I don't think it's comparable to "finders keepers". It's "move your feet, lose your seat". Apparently the US (and maybe other countries) is absolutely invested in the idea that anything you say is yours, is yours. *mumbles about colonialism*
posted by FirstMateKate at 7:28 AM on June 19, 2020