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is there a russian equivalent to that idiom?

Edit: The meaning is not literal but, typically, a commentary on how there is no judging for taste — what one person may think is worthless may be cherished by another.

For example, someone might want to throw out their old clothes, which are trash to them, but another person might want those clothes, e.g. for arts and craft. those clothes are therefore treasure

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  • Hi and welcome to Russian.SE! Could you please clarify the meaning of this idiom and provide a couple of examples of its usage (in English)? This will help those not familiar with it give you a better answer. Thanks!
    – Quassnoi
    Nov 16, 2018 at 17:18
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    Что русскому хорошо, то немцу(meaning a foreigner) смерть.
    – V.V.
    Nov 16, 2018 at 17:38

2 Answers 2

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Can't think of anything having quite that meaning but by way of extrapolation the following might work

Кому война, а кому мать родна

which means that someone's misfortunes are someone else's luck.

Multitran doesn't give any natively Russian equivalents either aside from another extrapolated proverb

Что русскому хорошо, (то) немцу смерть

Both are based on contrast in experience like the English one.

Still if all else fails literal translation will do

Что для одного - (му)сор, (то) для другого - клад/сокровище
Одному (му)сор - другому клад/сокровище
Кому (му)сор, а кому (и) клад/сокровище

Or we may try to make it sound like a proverb since many of them rhyme

Что одним не надо, тому другие рады
Что одним не надо, то другим - награда
Что тебе не надо, то мне - награда
Тебе не надо, а мне - награда

and license it under CC0

And for lulz the version of Google Translate

Мусор одного человека - это еще одно мужское сокровище

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Another version which I think is canonical translation is "На вкус и цвет товарища нет". It is translates to: "You can't find a friend judging by someones preferences in taste and color".

There is a humorous version: "На вкус и цвет все фломастеры разные". Translation: "Judging by taste and color all felt-tip pen are different". Not sure about "felt-tip pen".

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