I consider idioms and proverbs as the most difficult but funniest part in learning a foreign language. They might be interesting, fascinating, and even bizarre with their story behind. Would you mind to share either an idiom or a proverb from your native language? Preferably with the story behind.
Alright. I start with an idiom in my native language Turkish: "avucunu yalamak." Literally it can be translated as "to lick his/her own palm." It is used in contexts where someone won’t be getting what they expect or hope for.
Apparently, the idiom is originated from bears who retire into caves for their winter hibernation. When the bear gets hungry, it knows that going out for food is pointless as there aren’t any prey. So to venture out, use up precious energy and get nothing in vain. Instead, the bears lick their palms to suppress their hunger and fall back asleep. Weird but creative.
Ohn this is a nice one! I am personally very bad with foreign languages, so idioms are terrible for me, but love them so!
My native language is Dutch, well, Flamisch to be exact. There are differences in idioms between Dutch from the Netherlands en Dutch in Belgium.
You make it difficuelt to choose only one xD, but this is a nice one: 'Met je gat in de boter vallen' --> To fall with your but in the butter.
It means that you are verry lucky to have friends/family who are so nice for you and help you a lot/give you a great time
I have one, don't know if it is an official idiom but my dad says it: Dieren praten met hun ogen verstandiger dan mensen met hun mond. Translation: animals talk more sensible with their eyes than humans with their mouths. I think this needs no further explanation 🙂
I have one, don't know if it is an official idiom but my dad says it: Dieren praten met hun ogen verstandiger dan mensen met hun mond. Translation: animals talk more sensible with their eyes than humans with their mouths. I think this needs no further explanation 🙂
Wisely said! If not already, it should become an official proverb.
There is a Kashmiri proverb, unfortunately I can’t say it in its original language as I don’t know how to speak it but it is; “ Life cannot be trusted; death can come at any moment.”
And then there is the other one; “Bad times came to be; hens on thrones we were to see.”
Hi guys in Chinese there are a lot of idioms. My favorite one is 有志者事竟成 which means: (English:where there is a will there is a way; Français:Vouloir c’est pouvoir). It's quite encouraging!!!
Hi guys in Chinese there are a lot of idioms. My favorite one is 有志者事竟成 which means: (English:where there is a will there is a way; Français:Vouloir c’est pouvoir). It's quite encouraging!!!
Ooh so nice! In belgium we use the same idiom! 'Waar een wil is, is een weg'. So nice that even in China we have some of the same idioms
An old one from the 20's or before is calling something the bees knees. That means it's very high quality. One web site says it was originally used to describe something that doesn't exist such as an item that was out of stock at a store. Something along the same lines is the cat's pajamas.
When I was working in the 90's we had a team from India come over to work with us. Occasionally during a meeting someone from the US team would say something and all of the team from India would suddenly have confused looks in their faces. We'd realize that someone had used an idiom and would have to explain the meaning. So even though we all spoke English our idioms were different than the ones they had been exposed to.
An old one from the 20's or before is calling something the bees knees. That means it's very high quality. One web site says it was originally used to describe something that doesn't exist such as an item that was out of stock at a store. Something along the same lines is the cat's pajamas.
When I was working in the 90's we had a team from India come over to work with us. Occasionally during a meeting someone from the US team would say something and all of the team from India would suddenly have confused looks in their faces. We'd realize that someone had used an idiom and would have to explain the meaning. So even though we all spoke English our idioms were different than the ones they had been exposed to.
Indeed! English idioms are truly surprising and confusing but always with good stories in the background. When I heard the idiom "mad as a hatter" for first time, it made no sense at all. I was like "why on the Earth a hatter should be mad?!" But after learning its story, it made a perfect sense. "In the 18th and 19th centuries, industrial workers used a toxic substance, mercury nitrate, as part of the process of turning the fur of small animals, such as rabbits, into felt for hats. Workplace safety standards often were lax and prolonged exposure to mercury caused employees to develop a variety of physical and mental ailments, including tremors (dubbed “hatter’s shakes”), speech problems, emotional instability and hallucinations."
I just had another one pop into my head, "chomping at the bit" meaning being impatient for something to start. I'm wondering if there is an equivalent phrase in other places where horses were widely used.
