The richness of the English language

pottssteve

Hullo!

Working "internationally" I often have conversations with colleagues regarding translations to and from English. One thing that strikes me is the sheer number of everyday phrases that are not standard English, which we take for granted but are baffling to non-native English speakers. This got me thinking about my favourite phrase or saying that would take some explaining to a foreigner.

I've decided that my favourite is, which I used when constantly disturbed, "I'm up and down like a whore's nightie".

What are yours?

Steve

shouldbeinbed

You're as mad a a box of frogs

shockedsoshocked

Absolutely mafting.

pneumatic

When I used to teach English to foreigners, the thing that really upset them was "phrasal verbs" (a verb and a preposition that have no logical meaning)

The best illustration of the problem they faced was having to learn the difference between:

To get on with her

and

To get off with her

:shock: Priceless!

Verbal

Trying to explain to some American friends the difference between something that is just "b0ll0cks" and something that is "THE b0ll0cks".

Then throwing into the mix something that is "the dog's b0ll0cks" which then sometimes gets shortened to the more simpliefied "the dogs".

Cue confused faces all round!

deptfordmarmoset

pneumatic wrote:

When I used to teach English to foreigners, the thing that really upset them was "phrasal verbs" (a verb and a preposition that have no logical meaning)

The best illustration of the problem they faced was having to learn the difference between:

To get on with her

and

To get off with her

:shock: Priceless!

Yes, they're completely mad. They might learn that up, down, out, in, on, etc, have designated meanings but when you combine them with ''take'' they go bonkers:

Take up
Take down
Take out
Take in
Take on

....and mean nothing like what they're suppose to mean.

term1te

My boss is Swiss, and as you’d expect has almost perfect English. He loves throwing in idioms to his conversation to make his English sound more natural. As a result, an English colleague and I have started to use made up or comical idioms in the hope he will copy us. My favourite was borrowed from “The office”. We somehow managed to get “eagles may soar, but weasels don’t get sucked into jet engines” into the conversation. The guy actually wrote this down, I’m just waiting for the day in some important meeting where he wants to particularly impress with his English.

I have to confess I often cause great hilarity when I attempt German, most of the time I have no idea why.

spinndrift

It's running like a dog.

In my experience dogs are bloody good at running.

Rigga

Up to' ballacks in it!!

Translated - up to ones testicles in work...

Translated - Im very busy...

downfader

Ones I use:

Load of old coblers

Sweating like a Vicar in a Brothel.

OffTheBackAdam

And it's "Up & down like a whore's drawers" anyway!

"As much use as a chocolate teapot/fireguard"

"Couldn't score in a brothel"

"You look like you've lost a bob & found a tanner"

awallace

In and out like a dirty dogs d1ck -

My driving instructor advising me about manouvering!

briantrumpet

"That's not half bad" would take a bit of explaining if using logic. And probably not to be sneezed at. The late great Miles Kington noticed this interesting use of (negative) language in this article of 2003.

shockedsoshocked

Term1te wrote:

My boss is Swiss, and as you’d expect has almost perfect English. He loves throwing in idioms to his conversation to make his English sound more natural. As a result, an English colleague and I have started to use made up or comical idioms in the hope he will copy us. My favourite was borrowed from “The office”. We somehow managed to get “eagles may soar, but weasels don’t get sucked into jet engines” into the conversation. The guy actually wrote this down, I’m just waiting for the day in some important meeting where he wants to particularly impress with his English.

I have to confess I often cause great hilarity when I attempt German, most of the time I have no idea why.

I used to have a German friend (I played online games with a few mates), and as a result of him hearing us speak he picked up a lot of north-eastern phrases.

He went on to take English at university, only to be asked repeatedly if he'd ever visited the North of England Apparently he did first introduce himself to his tutor with "Now then".

Crapaud

OffTheBackAdam wrote:

"Couldn't score in a brothel"

Couldn't score in a barrel of fannies, surely. :?

thesquireofbanwell

How about;Couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery.

Graculus

It's not only odd phrases, it's the whole variation of pronunciation that must be confusing. Found this poem on another site.

When the English Tongue we speak
Why is break not rhymed with freak?
Will you tell me why it's true
We say sew but likewise few?
Cow is cow but low is low;
Shoe is never rhymed with foe.
Think of hose and close and lose,
And of goose and yet of choose.
Think of comb and tomb and bomb,
Doll and roll and home and some.
Just compare heart, beard and heard,
Dies and diet, lord and word.
Now I surely will not plague you
With such words as plague and ague,
But be careful how you speak:
Say break and steak, but bleak and streak;
Cloven, oven, how and low,
Script, receipt; show, poem and toe.
Billet does not rhyme with ballet,
Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet.
And your pronunciation's OK
When you correctly say croquet.
Rounded, wounded, grieve and sieve,
Friend and fiend, alive and live.
Soul but foul, haunt but aunt,
Font, front, wont; grand and grant,
Shoes, goes, does; now first say finger
And then singer, ginger, linger.
Real, zeal, mauve, gauze; gouge and gauge
Marriage, foliage, mirage and age.
We say hallowed but allowed
People, leopard, towed but rowed;
Face but preface, not efface,
Phlegm, phlegmatic; ass, glass, bass.
Large but target; gin, give, verging,
Ought, out, joust and scour, scourging.
Ear but earn, and wear and tear
Do not rhyme with here but ere.
Finally, what rhymes with enough
Though, through, plough or dough or cough?
Hiccough has the sound of cup,
My advice is to give up!

rick_chasey

Any preposition used in a cookery programme.


"Fry it up" "boil it down" etc etc

bails87

"You can't have your cake and eat it."

If someone said they'd 'had some cake' you'd assume they'd eaten it (unless they've got a filthy cake fetish), so if they're the same thing why does one exclude the other?


Is it because it's meant to be something along the lines of "you can't eat your cake and keep it"?

Le Commentateur

Turn granny to the wall!

Headhuunter

awallace wrote:

In and out like a dirty dogs d1ck -

My driving instructor advising me about manouvering!

"Shaking like a sh1tting dog"
"At it like a fiddler's elbow"

shedhead

"face like a bag of spanners"

"Like a blind cobblers' thumb"

"he's a mad as a hat-stand"

Medders

"does the pope sh*t in the woods"


hmmm. confused.

stage_fright

Turning this round the other way, I have always been amazed by the number of foriegn sports people - and several I have dealt with seem to love the phrase - who think that 'for sure' is a common English phrase.

'for sure the car was good today..' or 'I was for sure going to win and then..'

I wonder if someowhere there is a whole learn English course that missed out the word definitely.

pneumatic

Stage Fright wrote:

Turning this round the other way, I have always been amazed by the number of foriegn sports people - and several I have dealt with seem to love the phrase - who think that 'for sure' is a common English phrase.

'for sure the car was good today..' or 'I was for sure going to win and then..'

I wonder if someowhere there is a whole learn English course that missed out the word definitely.

there are a lot of Irish people teaching English as a Foreign Language, for sure!

deptfordmarmoset

pneumatic wrote:

Stage Fright wrote:

Turning this round the other way, I have always been amazed by the number of foriegn sports people - and several I have dealt with seem to love the phrase - who think that 'for sure' is a common English phrase.

'for sure the car was good today..' or 'I was for sure going to win and then..'

I wonder if someowhere there is a whole learn English course that missed out the word definitely.

there are a lot of Irish people teaching English as a Foreign Language, for sure!

If you go down to the Thames when the tide's out, you can see the foreshore, for sure, and if you glance from one bank over to the other bank you'll see foreshore, foreshore, for sure.

But that will be three shores, not four. Though I'm not entirely certain about this.

Frank the tank

Flammable, inflammable.

I love the English language.

Le Commentateur

Aural / oral.

wiffachip

looking forward to a sharp lowse tomorrow

schweiz

Term1te wrote:

My boss is Swiss, and as you’d expect has almost perfect English. He loves throwing in idioms to his conversation to make his English sound more natural. As a result, an English colleague and I have started to use made up or comical idioms in the hope he will copy us. My favourite was borrowed from “The office”. We somehow managed to get “eagles may soar, but weasels don’t get sucked into jet engines” into the conversation. The guy actually wrote this down, I’m just waiting for the day in some important meeting where he wants to particularly impress with his English.

I have to confess I often cause great hilarity when I attempt German, most of the time I have no idea why.

I know what you mean about the Swiss wanting to appear like they have a better grasp of English. I remember once in a pre-meeting that an English guy said a suppliers stance on a problem was 'f***ing bollocks' Half an hour later in the telcon with said (US) supplier, our Swiss boss used they exact same phrase! :oops:

Here's some literal English translations of german words and idioms



http://www.glariosa.ch/ackermann/d/schraeges6c.htm

Crapaud

schweiz wrote:

... I remember once in a pre-meeting that an English guy said a suppliers stance on a problem was 'f***ing bollocks' Half an hour later in the telcon with said (US) supplier, our Swiss boss used they exact same phrase! :oops: ...

One of my French teachers was told that when something's not going right, it's described as 'a cnut'. She must have trusted whoever told her this and didn't check it's meaning and she used it at the wrong time and nearly lost her job.