Tag: idioms

Better Safe than Sorry

By Simon

In the past week or so I’ve had a number of vaccinations to prepare for my trip to China, and have more to come. As they say, better safe than sorry, but what do they say in other languages?

The Big Spill

The phrase better safe than sorry means it is preferable to be cautious in one’s choices and actions than to act recklessly and suffer afterwards.

Phrases with similar meanings in English include:

  • err on the side of caution
  • measure twice, cut once
  • play it safe
  • prevention is better than cure
  • an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure

Equivalent phrases in other languages include:

  • Azerbaijani – htiyat igidin yaraşığıdır
    (“prudence is the adornment of a brave man”)
  • Bulgarian – който сам се пази и Бог го пази (koĭto sam se pazi i Bog go pazi) – (“He who protects himself and God protects him”)
  • Chinese (Mandarin) – 小心驶得万年船 [小心駛得萬年船]
    (xiǎoxīn shǐ dé wànnián chuán) – (“If you are careful, you can steer your ship safely for a myriad of years”)
  • French – mieux vaut prévenir que guérir
    (“prevention is better than cure”)
  • German – Vorsicht ist besser als Nachsicht
    (“caution is better than clemency”)
  • Greek – κάλλιο γαϊδουρόδενε παρά γαϊδουρογύρευε (kállio gaïdouródene pará gaïdourogýreve) – (“Better to tie a donkey than to ride a donkey.”)
  • Irish – is fearr glas ná amhras
    (“better a lock than a doubt”)
  • Japanese – 転ばぬ先の杖 (korobanu saki no tsue) – (“a walking stick before stumbling”)
  • Korean – 돌다리도 두들겨 보고 건너라 (doldalido dudeulgyeo bogo geonneola) – (“even if you cross a stone bridge, test it first.”)
  • Polish – żeby kózka nie skakała, toby nóżki nie złamała
    (“if the goat had not been jumping, it would not have broken its leg”)
  • Welsh – gwell diogel nac edifar
    (“better safe than sorry”)

Source: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/better_safe_than_sorry

How about in other languages?

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Once in a Blue Moon

By Simon

If something doesn’t happen very often, you might say that it happens once in a blue moon English. What about in other languages?

Blue Moon Daytime Moon

The phrase once in a blue moon first appeared in first around 1821 and refers to something that happens very rarely, very infrequently or almost never. An alternative version is apparently once in a purple moon [source].

A blue moon is a second full moon during a calendar month, which happens once every 32 months. A blue moon can also refer to a full moon that appears to be blue and bigger than usual [source].

In (Mandarin) Chinese, the equivalent is 千载难逢 [千載難逢] (qiān​zǎi​nán​féng), which means “an opportunity difficult to come by even in a thousand years”. This expression comes from folk tales, in which such rare opportunities might lead to success or life-changing events [source].

In Czech, the equivalent is jednou za uherský rok , which means ‘once in a Hungarian year’. Apparently this idiom dates from the Turkish wars, when Czech soldiers were hired in Hungary for a certain period of time, which was constantly extended [source]. The Slovak equivalent, raz za uhorský rok (“once a Hungarian year”), probably comes from the same roots.

In Polish, they say raz na ruski rok (“once in a Ruthenian year”), which refers to the fact that the Gregorian calendar used by East Slavs has longer months [source]. Alternatively, they say od wielkiego dzwonu (“from the big bell”), which refers to The Sigismund Bell, the largest of the five bells in the Sigismund Tower of Wawel Cathedral in Kraków, which is used only on special occasions [source].

In French, you might say tous les trente-six du mois (“every 36th of the month”) or une fois toutes les lunes (“once every moon”) [source].

In German, you could say alle Jubeljahre (“every jubilee year”), which refers to biblical jubliees that come round every 50 years [source].

In Russian, they say раз в сто лет (“once every hundred years”) [source].

In Spanish, they say cada muerte de obispo (“every death of a bishop”), or de Pascuas a Ramos (“from Easter (Day) til Palm Sunday”) – Palm Sunday comes before Easter Day [source].

In Welsh, one equivalent is unwaith yn y pedwar amser (“once in the four seasons”) and another is unwaith yn y pedwar gwynt (“once in the four winds”) [source].

Are there interesting similar idioms in other languages?

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Good Intentions

By Simon

One of the things that came up in conversation last night was the expression the road to hell is paved with good intentions. This got me wondering about where it comes from and whether there are similar phrases in other languages.

The Road to Hell

The road to hell is paved with good intentions means that well-intended acts can potentially lead to disasters. Phrases with a similar meaning is hell is full of good meanings, but heaven is full of good works and the streets of hell are paved with promises [source].

The origins of this phrase are not known, but there have been sayings with a similar meaning going back a long way. For example, in the Aeneid (book 6, lines 126-129), Virgil wrote:

“facilis descensus Averno;
noctes atque dies patet atri ianua Ditis;
sed revocare gradum superasque evadere ad auras,
hoc opus, hic labor est” [source].
“The gates of hell are open night and day;
Smooth the descent, and easy is the way:
But to return, and view the cheerful skies,
In this the task and mighty labor lies” [source].

In the Bible (Ecclesiasticus 21:10) we have:

“The way of sinners is made plain with stones, but at the end thereof is the pit of hell.”

In around 1604, Bernard Clairvaux is claimed to have written, though probably didn’t:

L’enfer est plein de bonnes volontés ou désirs
“Hell is full of good meanings and wills”

In 1670 in A Collection of English Proverbs collected by John Ray we have:

“Hell is full of good meanings and wishes”

In 1741 John Wesley wrote in his sermon The Almost Christian:

“‘Hell is paved’, saith one, ‘with good intentions.'”

In 1791 in James Boswell’s biography of Samuel Johnson, Boswell quotes Johnson as saying to an acquaintance:

“Sir, hell is paved with good intentions.”

In 1811 in an English translation of a book by Johann Jacob Rambach we find:

“Der Weg zur Höllen sey mit lauter gutem Vorsatz gepflastert.”
“The road to hell is paved with good resolutions”

Related phrases in other languages include:

  • Catalan: l’infern està ple de bones intencions
    (Hell is full of good intentions.)
  • French: l’enfer est pavé de bonnes intentions
    (Hell is paved with good intentions)
  • Mandarin Chinese: 好心没好报 [好心沒好報] (hǎoxīn méi hǎobào)
    (Good intentions don’t go unrewarded)
  • Spanish: el infierno está empedrado de buenas intenciones
    (Hell is paved with good intentions)

How about in other languages?

Sources and more information about these expressions
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_road_to_hell_is_paved_with_good_intentions
https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/the-road-to-hell-is-paved-with-good-intentions.html
https://idiomorigins.org/origin/road-to-hell-is-paved-with-good-intentions

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Swallowing Camels

By Simon

This week my Danish lessons have been focusing on idioms, and an interesting idiom that came up is sluge en kamel, which literally means ‘to swallow a camel’, but what other meanings does it have? Let’s find out.

Kameler

According to Wiktionary, this idioms means ‘to accept a change or amendment (to a proposal)’ or ‘to agree to something one would not have if one had fully understood the implications from the beginning’.

According to Den Danske Ordbog, it means ‘acceptere eller gå med til noget der egentlig strider imod ens idealer og ønsker’ (to accept or agree to something that actually goes against one’s ideals and desires), and another version of the idiom is sluge kamelen (to eat the camel).

According to SpeakAndLearn.dk, it means ‘to admit that you are wrong, even though you have clearly stated that you were absolutely sure, that you were right’.

So it seems it has a variety of meanings. Are there similar idioms involving camels in other languages?

In English, you might liken doing something unpleasant or undesirable to swallowing a frog – Mark Twain is sometimes quoted as having said or written “Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.” There’s apparently no evidence that he did in fact say or write this. The idea of eating a frog in the morning possibly comes from Nicolas Chamfort, a French writer, who wrote in the 1790s:

… il faudrait avaler un crapaud tous les matins, pour ne trouver plus rien de dégoûtant le reste de la journée, … (it would be necessary to swallow a toad every morning so as not to find anything else disgusting during the rest of the day)

[source]

Other interesting Danish idioms involving animals include:

  • klap lige hesten (‘just pat the horse’) = shut up, relax, take it easy
  • det blæser en halv pelikan (‘it’s blowing half a pelican’) = it’s very windy and the weather is awful
  • Jeg har ikke en rød reje (‘I don’t have a red shrimp’) = I’m skint, I have no money
  • ingen ko på isen (‘no cow on the ice’) = everything is okay – whatever the problem is, it’s not a big deal so don’t worry about it
  • så er den ged barberet (‘then the goat is shaved’) = the work has been done, or the problem has been resolved

Source: https://ling-app.com/da/funny-danish-phrases/

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