{"id":15268,"date":"2018-03-20T17:54:19","date_gmt":"2018-03-20T16:54:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/blog\/?p=15268"},"modified":"2018-03-20T17:54:19","modified_gmt":"2018-03-20T16:54:19","slug":"fox-paths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/?p=15268","title":{"rendered":"Fox paths"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/images\/blog\/foxpath.jpg\" width=\"275\" height=\"183\" style=\"float:right; margin:0 0 20px 50px;\" alt=\"Language quiz image\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The other day I saw <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/omniglot\/?multi_permalinks=10156144650234666\">post<\/a> on the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/omniglot\/\"> Omniglot fan clu<\/a>b on Facebook about fox-related idioms. The discussion started with a fox-related Swedish idiom: <b>Ha en r\u00e4v bakom \u00f6rat<\/b> (&#8220;to have a fox behind one&#8217;s ear&#8221;) = to be cunning like a fox.<\/p>\n<p>I found a few of interesting fox-related expressions in Welsh:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Cysgu llywnog<\/b> [k\u0259sg\u0268 \u026c\u028a\u0268n\u0254g] (&#8220;fox&#8217;s sleep&#8221;) = simulated sleep to deceive the onlooker<\/li>\n<li><b>Llwybr llwynog<\/b> [\u026c\u028a\u0268br \u026c\u028a\u0268n\u0254g] (&#8220;fox&#8217;s path&#8221;) = a secret path used by quarrymen when late for work to avoid being seen by the steward<\/li>\n<li><b>Tywydd llwynog<\/b> [t\u0259\u028a\u0268\u00f0 \u026c\u028a\u0268n\u0254g] (&#8220;fox weather&#8221;) = unsettled weather<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I particularly like the second one.<\/p>\n<p>In English you might someone is a <b>sly fox<\/b>, or <b>as sly\/cunning as a fox<\/b> if they&#8217;re particularly cunning and\/or clever. This association is an old one mentioned in folk tales such as Aesop&#8217;s Fables, and also in Shakespeare&#8217;s plays [<a href=\"https:\/\/wonderopolis.org\/wonder\/are-you-sly-as-a-fox\">source<\/a>]. You can also <b>outfox<\/b> someone when you outwit them, especially if you&#8217;re a <b>wily old fox<\/b>.<\/p>\n<p>Do you know any other interesting fox-related idioms?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The other day I saw post on the Omniglot fan club on Facebook about fox-related idioms. The discussion started with a fox-related Swedish idiom: Ha en r\u00e4v bakom \u00f6rat (&#8220;to have a fox behind one&#8217;s ear&#8221;) = to be cunning like a fox. I found a few of interesting fox-related expressions in Welsh: Cysgu llywnog [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104,10,67,77,78],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english","category-language","category-swedish","category-welsh","category-words-and-phrases"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15268\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}