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Topic: English Sayings (or translated into english) (Read 18274 times) |
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EZ_Lonny
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English Sayings (or translated into english)
« on: Sep 28th, 2004, 7:12am » |
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I am not that familiair with english sayings. So I 'd like to get to know some.
In Holland, where I live, there are some real dumb ones.
e.g.:
Behind the clouds, the sun is shining.
The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
East, West, Home best.
Like the clock is ticking at home, it's ticking nowhere.
Do you have other suggestions? I wonder if any of them mean anything in english.
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| « Last Edit: Sep 28th, 2004, 7:12am by EZ_Lonny » |
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towr
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Re: English Sayings (or translated into english)
« Reply #1 on: Sep 28th, 2004, 8:26am » |
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Bah, they're not stupid.. Unless you translate them..
But pretty much any saying is stupid after you've translated it to another language, literally.. Moreso pretty much everything translated literally to another language is stupid..
If you want ones that are the same in (many) different languages, try ones of biblical origin.
Like "an eye for an eye", "oog om oog" or "You reap what you sow", "je oogst wat je zaait" etc
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Icarus
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Re: English Sayings (or translated into english)
« Reply #2 on: Sep 28th, 2004, 8:37pm » |
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"The apple doesn't fall far from the tree" (Meaning: children tend to be similar in character/behavior/talents to their parents) is a common English saying as well.
I have also heard "East or west, home is best" before, but only once or twice.
"Behind the clouds, the sun is shining" is new to me, but appears to be similar in meaning to "Every cloud has a silver lining" (meaning: there is good in every situation, if you look for it).
"Like the clock is ticking at home, it's ticking nowhere" appears to be a classic case of what towr was refering to: the actual meaning is lost in translation. It makes no sense to me.
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towr
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Re: English Sayings (or translated into english)
« Reply #3 on: Sep 29th, 2004, 12:40am » |
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It might have been phrased a bit better imo, but even then the true meaning would have been just as lost.
Basicly it's equivalent to "there's no place like home", even the ticking of the clock (imagine a pendulum clock) is different elsewhere (even if it's the same type of clock, it just feels different.
Actually, after my dad had the living room repainted the ticking of the clock there didn't sound like home anymore either, the acoustics had changed  )
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towr
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Re: English Sayings (or translated into english)
« Reply #4 on: Sep 29th, 2004, 12:54am » |
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btw, if you are interested in the prevalence of words, phrases or saying, google is a nice tool.
"east, west, home best" gives some 600 hits for instance
and "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree" gives over 5000
It may not have the authority of a proper linguistic survey, but it's much cheaper and nonetheless gives a decent indication.
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| « Last Edit: Sep 29th, 2004, 12:56am by towr » |
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Noke Lieu
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Re: English Sayings (or translated into english)
« Reply #5 on: Sep 30th, 2004, 6:28pm » |
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there's a spanish saying about having monkey's on your face- roughly translated as "stop looking at me as if I was stupid".
Actually, there are many cool spanish sayings that translate wierdly but nicely in to english.
Every cloud has a silver lining.
supposed to be optimistic. But the truth is that its far more likely that every cloud has a lining of lead from the pollution we keep pumping out, so we are slowly killing our selves with every glass of water we drink.
don't count your chickens before they're hatched.
It's not over till the fat lady sings.
One swallow doesn't make you my girlfriend. sorry, make a summer.
Don't rest on you laurels... all mean roughly the same thing. obviously subtly different. Don't take anything for granted.
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helenislovely
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Re: English Sayings (or translated into english)
« Reply #6 on: Dec 21st, 2005, 10:30am » |
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all that glitters is not gold
mighty oaks from little acorns grow
a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step
kissing don't last, cookery do
nothing weeps more copiously than a block of ice
even a piece of paper has two sides
talking pays no toll
blood is thicker than water
Favourite proverb isn't English and is probably bastardised in my translation but I love it anyway...
Man with mouth open wait long time for roast duck to fly in
And perhaps a new one that I should pay attention to...
novels don't get written by reading riddle sites
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egnorant
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Re: English Sayings (or translated into english)
« Reply #7 on: Feb 21st, 2006, 12:09pm » |
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One that heard recently is:
You cannot aim a duck to death.
Bruce
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kiochi
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Re: English Sayings (or translated into english)
« Reply #8 on: Jan 6th, 2007, 1:07pm » |
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I have heard many nonsensical sayings. One I heard just today went something like, "A horse won't drink when the barn doors are closed."
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Icarus
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Re: English Sayings (or translated into english)
« Reply #9 on: Jan 7th, 2007, 3:36pm » |
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That one, and the one from egnorant above it, both sound like malapropisms to me, rather than real proverbs (A malapropism is a common saying that the speaker messes up. Yogi Bera is famous for them.)
The horse one is probably a mixing of "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink" and "Closing the barn door after the horse has escaped."
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I wonder: Which is larger
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kiochi
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Re: English Sayings (or translated into english)
« Reply #10 on: Jan 7th, 2007, 9:58pm » |
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I agree about the horse one, but I think the duck saying, "you can't aim a duck to death," is probably not a malapropism. I think an intended meaning might be something like "preparation alone won't get you anywhere--at some point you have to act."
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Icarus
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Re: English Sayings (or translated into english)
« Reply #11 on: Jan 8th, 2007, 3:42pm » |
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You're right. I was interpreting it as "aiming the duck" rather than "aiming at the duck", which made no sense. But once I got the right interpretation, it is sensible.
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"Pi goes on and on and on ...
And e is just as cursed.
I wonder: Which is larger
When their digits are reversed? " - Anonymous
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Aurora
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Re: English Sayings (or translated into english)
« Reply #12 on: May 27th, 2007, 11:46pm » |
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Never mind about the meaning, it's the origin of some of these sayings that fascinate me:
"Don't throw the baby out with the bath water"
and
"Saved by the bell" are two that are particulaly good.
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ThudnBlunder
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Re: English Sayings (or translated into english)
« Reply #13 on: May 28th, 2007, 12:58am » |
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on May 27th, 2007, 11:46pm, Aurora wrote:
Probably comes from boxing.
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Aurora
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Re: English Sayings (or translated into english)
« Reply #15 on: May 28th, 2007, 6:53am » |
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Surprisingly ThudanBlunder, the phrase "Saved by the bell" originated in the same way that "Dad ringers" did. In the days when medicine was very basic, it wasn't uncommon for people to be put in a coffin and buried when only unconscious, but still alive. At first, these people would knock on the inside of their coffin, hoping for a reply, until someone had the idea of attacting one end of a piece of string to a bell and placing the other end inside the coffin. There was always someone to listen for the ringing of a bell and, if necessary, would dig out the person who would have been "Saved by the bell".
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"In these days, a man who says a thing cannot be done is quite apt to be interrupted by some idiot doing it."- Elbert Green Hubbard
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Aurora
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Re: English Sayings (or translated into english)
« Reply #17 on: May 28th, 2007, 7:23am » |
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Still, it makes for a pretty good story, don't you think?
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JiNbOtAk
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Re: English Sayings (or translated into english)
« Reply #18 on: May 28th, 2007, 10:34pm » |
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on May 28th, 2007, 2:12am, towr wrote:
We have a similar one in Malay, loosely translated as " Burning the mosquito net, because you're mad at the mosquito "
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ima1trkpny
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Re: English Sayings (or translated into english)
« Reply #19 on: May 30th, 2007, 2:05pm » |
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I heard the same story as Aurora. People in the Victorian era were absolutely terrified of being buried alive, in fact they used to have watchmen who would sit in the graveyard all night listening for the bells to ring and that is how we got the term "graveyard shift" we use for jobs where you work in the middle of the night.
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Icarus
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Re: English Sayings (or translated into english)
« Reply #20 on: Jun 3rd, 2007, 1:04pm » |
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on May 28th, 2007, 10:34pm, JiNbOtAk wrote:| We have a similar one in Malay, loosely translated as " Burning the mosquito net, because you're mad at the mosquito " |
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That one strikes me as closer to the english proverb "Don't cut off your nose to spite your face". This is similar to the meaning of "don't throw out the baby with the bathwater", but differs somewhat: the nose proverb warns against deliberate harm, the baby proverb warns against carelessness causing accidental harm.
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"Pi goes on and on and on ...
And e is just as cursed.
I wonder: Which is larger
When their digits are reversed? " - Anonymous
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iatkrox
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Re: English Sayings (or translated into english)
« Reply #21 on: Jul 2nd, 2012, 10:29am » |
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My heart bleeds My heart bleeds
Wear your heart on your sleeve Wear your heart on your sleeve
Brighten up the day Brighten up the day
Many a happy colt makes a fine horse Many a happy colt makes a fine horse
Riches alone make no man happy Riches alone make no man happy
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fredy210
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Re: English Sayings (or translated into english)
« Reply #22 on: Feb 5th, 2014, 5:12am » |
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WOW great collection of nonsensical sayings, Thanks guys!
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