[awesomebob]

I first heard this expression in Russian, "первый блин комом", is it actually used in English as well?

Interestingly, Google actually translates this to "better luck next time" instead of "the first pancake will be a lump/clod"

[idlewords]

It's not used in English. All we have is the more forgiving "third time's the charm".

I love the Russian expression and we should steal it.

[jsmthrowaway]

We do use "better luck next time," so perhaps the translator is trying to be idiomatic.

[logfromblammo]

It isn't quite as bad as "we will bury you", but still not a great translation.

Perhaps that was the first cloddy attempt?

[coldpie]

Woah, that's a fun one to play around with. Pancake must be commonly used in idioms. Try deleting each word individually, it's pretty hard to get it down to pancake.