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(Message started by: EZ_Lonny on Sep 28th, 2004, 7:12am)
Title: English Sayings (or translated into english)
Post by EZ_Lonny on Sep 28th, 2004, 7:12am
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.
Title: Re: English Sayings (or translated into english)
Post by towr on Sep 28th, 2004, 8:26am
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
Title: Re: English Sayings (or translated into english)
Post by Icarus on Sep 28th, 2004, 8:37pm
"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.
Title: Re: English Sayings (or translated into english)
Post by towr on Sep 29th, 2004, 12:40am
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 ::))
Title: Re: English Sayings (or translated into english)
Post by towr on Sep 29th, 2004, 12:54am
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.
Title: Re: English Sayings (or translated into english)
Post by Noke Lieu on Sep 30th, 2004, 6:28pm
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.
Title: Re: English Sayings (or translated into english)
Post by helenislovely on Dec 21st, 2005, 10:30am
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
Title: Re: English Sayings (or translated into english)
Post by egnorant on Feb 21st, 2006, 12:09pm
One that  heard recently is:
You cannot aim a duck to death.
Bruce
Title: Re: English Sayings (or translated into english)
Post by kiochi on Jan 6th, 2007, 1:07pm
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."
Title: Re: English Sayings (or translated into english)
Post by Icarus on Jan 7th, 2007, 3:36pm
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."
Title: Re: English Sayings (or translated into english)
Post by kiochi on Jan 7th, 2007, 9:58pm
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."
Title: Re: English Sayings (or translated into english)
Post by Icarus on Jan 8th, 2007, 3:42pm
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.
Title: Re: English Sayings (or translated into english)
Post by Aurora on May 27th, 2007, 11:46pm
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.
Title: Re: English Sayings (or translated into english)
Post by ThudanBlunder on May 28th, 2007, 12:58am

on 05/27/07 at 23:46:51, Aurora wrote:
"Saved by the bell"

Probably comes from boxing.
Title: Re: English Sayings (or translated into english)
Post by towr on May 28th, 2007, 2:12am
The webpage http://www.deproverbio.com/DPjournal/DP,1,1,95/BABY.html# discusses the proverb "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water" at length. Indeed quite interesting.
Title: Re: English Sayings (or translated into english)
Post by Aurora on May 28th, 2007, 6:53am
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".
Title: Re: English Sayings (or translated into english)
Post by towr on May 28th, 2007, 7:13am
That doesn't seem to correspond with what I find when I google, there they generally give the boxer explanation.



http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/311000.html
Title: Re: English Sayings (or translated into english)
Post by Aurora on May 28th, 2007, 7:23am
Still, it makes for a pretty good story, don't you think?
Title: Re: English Sayings (or translated into english)
Post by JiNbOtAk on May 28th, 2007, 10:34pm

on 05/28/07 at 02:12:04, towr wrote:
The webpage http://www.deproverbio.com/DPjournal/DP,1,1,95/BABY.html# discusses the proverb "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water" at length. Indeed quite interesting.


We have a similar one in Malay, loosely translated as " Burning the mosquito net, because you're mad at the mosquito "
Title: Re: English Sayings (or translated into english)
Post by ima1trkpny on May 30th, 2007, 2:05pm
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.
Title: Re: English Sayings (or translated into english)
Post by Icarus on Jun 3rd, 2007, 1:04pm

on 05/28/07 at 22:34:24, JiNbOtAk wrote:
We have a similar one in Malay, loosely translated as " Burning the mosquito net, because you're mad at the mosquito "


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.
Title: Re: English Sayings (or translated into english)
Post by iatkrox on Jul 2nd, 2012, 10:29am
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
Title: Re: English Sayings (or translated into english)
Post by fredy210 on Feb 5th, 2014, 5:12am
WOW great collection of nonsensical sayings, Thanks guys!


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