It says “I caught you cheating” – trying to trick someone.
Its a funny wannabe sticker. To catch someone with “Ocaua mica” means you caught them cheating at the scale weights, like giving you 900 ml instead of one litre or milk.
It says “I caught you using small <<ocaua>>”
“Ocaua” is a very old unit measure.
The phrase “ocaua mica” is famous from a local story/legend from over 100 years ago, where the “Vodă” (country lord) caught one peasent stealing from buyers by using wrong measurement units (he used bowls with thicker walls).
Ocaua is a unit of measurement used in the past. There is a legend that a Romanian prince was checking undercover the market stalls and found that some vendors used a unit of measurement that was smaller than the usual ocaua hence the name mică which means small. In the context above the author doesn’t like small alcohol bottles.
I’m more impressed you figured out it’s Romanian
E simplu. V-am prins ca beti la sticla mica de 0.33. Daca era la 2l. nu era nicio problema. Ce draku sa faci cu 0.33 la frigul din Finlanda? 🙂 Mi se pare normal ca e interzis 🙂
It means : I caught you with small bottle. Bring the big bottles. : )
It’s also a pun against packaging alcohol in small bottles. For some of us even 0.5/0.75 L glass bottles are not enough so we go for 2.0+ L PET bottles.
Corneliu Vadim Tudor: *V-am prins cu OCARA mică, piticii dracului!*
Știți cine-s autorii? Honor et Patria, grup ultras de la națională fondat în 2003 de o mână de oameni printre care și… ați ghicit… toți în coooor…. Simion :)))))
It’s a pun about units of measurement: the idiom means “I caught you tipping the scales” but the literal meaning is “I caught you using the small ounce” both of these being meaningful, since .33L bottles are actually 12oz bottles.
Means something like: caught you red handed.
Hahah
People here explained that it means something like “i caught you using the wrong measurement”.
Well, fun fact:
The right measurement (as opposed to the “wrong” one) was introduced by a guy who was celebrated precisely today.
Today was a national holiday in Romania, commemorating a partial unification in 1859. 2 of the 3 historical romanian countries unified by choosing the same leader – the guy in the story.
Then he introduced the right measurement. :p
Cred ca se refera ca după conversia de 12oz = 355ml în final a ajuns la 330 rotunjit în Europa… in consecinta te fura cu ocaua mica
Aoleo.
Most probable this is a sarcasm regarding the paid price vs received quantity, like the price was for 0.5l but received 0.33 l instead (the sense of the original sentence is the theft, by the seller towards the buyer)!
Caught you redhanded, “caught you with the smaller measure unit” literally.
It’s a legend of prince Cuza going incognito to market stalls to see if his laws are abided, and he catches a merchant using fraudulent scales to sell his merchandise to the customers. Take “oca” as a gram for simplication, for the merchant 1g=0.7g.
In the context of his sticker, your Romanian co-national does not like your small bottles of alcohol (beer). You see, even if recently 0,33l bottles are starting to become the norm (unfortunately), we’ve grown up with increments of 0,5, 1, 2, 3l. The smallest glass bottle of alcohol should be 0,5l as it was, then come the (normal to us) plastic pets of larger sizes up to 3,5l taken from the supermarket.
0,33l is a fraud, “ocaua mica” (smaller measurement), and I agree with the poster, it should be illegal. 0,5 atleast or 1l should be the norm again.
bottom line is: you can’t call yourself a man if you drink 0.33l beers
Thanks all! Interesting stuff. Over here 0,33l bottles have always been the standard, and only foreign companies produce 0,5l bottles of beer. I guess we’re just happy to drink two of those instead of one bigger one…
I remember a story about Vlad the Impaler about ” ocaua mică ” .
20 comments
It says “I caught you cheating” – trying to trick someone.
Its a funny wannabe sticker. To catch someone with “Ocaua mica” means you caught them cheating at the scale weights, like giving you 900 ml instead of one litre or milk.
It says “I caught you using small <<ocaua>>”
“Ocaua” is a very old unit measure.
The phrase “ocaua mica” is famous from a local story/legend from over 100 years ago, where the “Vodă” (country lord) caught one peasent stealing from buyers by using wrong measurement units (he used bowls with thicker walls).
Ocaua is a unit of measurement used in the past. There is a legend that a Romanian prince was checking undercover the market stalls and found that some vendors used a unit of measurement that was smaller than the usual ocaua hence the name mică which means small. In the context above the author doesn’t like small alcohol bottles.
I’m more impressed you figured out it’s Romanian
E simplu. V-am prins ca beti la sticla mica de 0.33. Daca era la 2l. nu era nicio problema. Ce draku sa faci cu 0.33 la frigul din Finlanda? 🙂 Mi se pare normal ca e interzis 🙂
It means : I caught you with small bottle. Bring the big bottles. : )
It’s also a pun against packaging alcohol in small bottles. For some of us even 0.5/0.75 L glass bottles are not enough so we go for 2.0+ L PET bottles.
Corneliu Vadim Tudor: *V-am prins cu OCARA mică, piticii dracului!*
Știți cine-s autorii? Honor et Patria, grup ultras de la națională fondat în 2003 de o mână de oameni printre care și… ați ghicit… toți în coooor…. Simion :)))))
It’s a pun about units of measurement: the idiom means “I caught you tipping the scales” but the literal meaning is “I caught you using the small ounce” both of these being meaningful, since .33L bottles are actually 12oz bottles.
Means something like: caught you red handed.
Hahah
People here explained that it means something like “i caught you using the wrong measurement”.
Well, fun fact:
The right measurement (as opposed to the “wrong” one) was introduced by a guy who was celebrated precisely today.
Today was a national holiday in Romania, commemorating a partial unification in 1859. 2 of the 3 historical romanian countries unified by choosing the same leader – the guy in the story.
Then he introduced the right measurement. :p
Cred ca se refera ca după conversia de 12oz = 355ml în final a ajuns la 330 rotunjit în Europa… in consecinta te fura cu ocaua mica
Aoleo.
Most probable this is a sarcasm regarding the paid price vs received quantity, like the price was for 0.5l but received 0.33 l instead (the sense of the original sentence is the theft, by the seller towards the buyer)!
Caught you redhanded, “caught you with the smaller measure unit” literally.
It’s a legend of prince Cuza going incognito to market stalls to see if his laws are abided, and he catches a merchant using fraudulent scales to sell his merchandise to the customers. Take “oca” as a gram for simplication, for the merchant 1g=0.7g.
In the context of his sticker, your Romanian co-national does not like your small bottles of alcohol (beer). You see, even if recently 0,33l bottles are starting to become the norm (unfortunately), we’ve grown up with increments of 0,5, 1, 2, 3l. The smallest glass bottle of alcohol should be 0,5l as it was, then come the (normal to us) plastic pets of larger sizes up to 3,5l taken from the supermarket.
0,33l is a fraud, “ocaua mica” (smaller measurement), and I agree with the poster, it should be illegal. 0,5 atleast or 1l should be the norm again.
bottom line is: you can’t call yourself a man if you drink 0.33l beers
Thanks all! Interesting stuff. Over here 0,33l bottles have always been the standard, and only foreign companies produce 0,5l bottles of beer. I guess we’re just happy to drink two of those instead of one bigger one…
I remember a story about Vlad the Impaler about ” ocaua mică ” .