My friend Karin is a dressage rider from Germany, so she was the perfect person to explain the odd German expression: “Ich habe schon Pferde vor der Apotheke kotzen gesehen.” Roughly translated this means “I’ve seen horses puke in front of the pharmacy.”

According to Karin, this phrase is used to express something that is completely unlikely (horse anatomy prevents them from vomiting). For example, “I’m going to clean the house every day” might be met with: “Yes, and I’ve seen horses puke in front of the pharmacy.” – something similar to “Yes, and I’ve seen pigs fly.”

It is true that horses cannot vomit, but why “in front of the pharmacy?”

A horse vomiting in front of the pharmacy is extremely unlikely because 1) Horses don’t vomit and 2) The pharmacy contains all of the possible remedies for vomiting!