Sayings that do not Translate.

lol upon googling the question, i found a simialar discussion on another forum... lol. VERY SIMILAR! Raining cats and dogs Three sheets to the wind f**king the dog There is more than one way to skin a cat Head over heels The cold shoulder You're the bee's knees

Doesn't every language have strange sayings that would confuse a new speaker? Most of our sayings go so far back that no one has a clue where they came from much less what they really meant when they were first used. They are just silly sayings. I believe that the shake a stick means that you would get too weary to shake it at all of them before you got done. I have no clue about the grin thing. It is a bit bizarre. I can tell you that most of the superstitions that you will hear people talk about actually origionated in China. I have studied these for a long time. Many also are nautical in origion. Just a bit of trivia, if you ever run into that. Shalom~Adoniah

Hello Angelwhispers, I believe that this discussion will serve as learning experience for me and I'll be following it! When I started reading the contents of your post and reached at that phrase, I said to myself, "Now I'll have to ask her what it means..." but following lines saved my asking:-) I have always learnt something from you, really! especially with regards to english language and vocabulory. And, the last time when I responded to your post, I really didn't know and still don't know what it means "to talk to talking rabbits" And, it's just not english, All the language that I know, have profoundly based phrases that have their own sense and meaning and they don't fall under gramatical or linguistic rules or regulations. They are exceptions of their own kind. In my mother tongue, there are so many exceptions that I, too, think that it will be very difficult for a foreigner to learn or to grasp the real meaning of deeply cultural based old developed phrases. Though I would like to think that my english has gotten a little better but sometimes I just feel lost trying to understand what the other person really mean!:-) Then, there is another little problem and it is about meaning of some common phrases which can be percieved differently even within same language class. they change in their meanings mysteriously, by that I mean no body really knows when actually they changed their meaning. Like "blood is thicker than water" is believed to be originated in opposite meaning to what is understood now! Languages are weird and perhaps that adds to crisp and charm in them, eh?

Now you got me curious so I did a search....Here's what I found about the expression..."shake a stick at" means ..."The modern use of the phrase always exists as part of the extended and fixed phrase “more ... than you can shake a stick at”, meaning an abundance, plenty. The phrase without the “more than” element is rather older, but not by much...." The whole explanation is here.. http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/339663 Yes we have a lot of weird expressions..like what for instance does it means exactly..."Like water under the bridge" What bridge? What water? Where? I once was being a smartass when someone asked what did the saying mean.."People in glass houses.." And I said..."Shouldn't walk around naked"..LOL

As I can understand she irritated and she rejected your good offer. “I have many shoes” is a disappointing answer. She seemed to tell that many people expose their love with me, but they all are on my foot. It is my personal imagination and point of view. I have more shoe; means I have more friends. Then I can shake a stick at; means that she does not care all of them. I am not an English speaking but I tried to explain as I followed and understood. Wish you best of luck angel.

"Shake a stick at," is an olde English Sheparding term meaning,- you have so many animals you can't shake a stick at them all. Is English any harder to learn than Mandarin? How does it compare with other Asian languages?

I grew up in the south and something that I heard many times but never understood was "that makes my a$$ crave hot buttermilk." This phrase was used when something had made the person saying the phrase mad or if they saw something that irritated them. I have thought and thought about the statement and have never been able to make sense of it! Perhaps someone here could enlighten me?!

Colloquialisms are definitely challenging to foreign speakers - and sometimes to the rest of us. Here's what I found about this one at http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-sha2.htm : Its recorded history began — at least, so far as the Oxford English Dictionary knows — in the issue of the Lancaster Journal of Pennsylvania dated 5 August 1818: “We have in Lancaster as many Taverns as you can shake a stick at”. Another early example is from Davy Crockett’s Tour to the North and Down East of 1835: “This was a temperance house, and there was nothing to treat a friend that was worth shaking a stick at”. A little later, in A Book of Vagaries by James K Paulding of 1868, this appears: “The roistering barbecue fellow swore he was equal to any man you could shake a stick at”. The modern use of the phrase always exists as part of the extended and fixed phrase “more ... than you can shake a stick at”, meaning an abundance, plenty. The phrase without the “more than” element is rather older, but not by much. Shaking a stick at somebody, of course, is a threatening gesture, or at least one of defiance. So to say that you have shaken a stick at somebody is to suggest that person is an opponent, perhaps a worthy one. The sense in the second and third quotations above seem to fit this idea: “nothing worth shaking a stick at” means nothing of value; “equal to any man you could shake a stick at” means that the speaker is equal to any man of consequence. Where it comes from can only be conjecture. One possibility that has been put forward is that it derives from the counting of farm animals, which one might do by pointing one’s stick at each in turn. So having more than one can shake one’s stick at, or tally, would imply a great number. This doesn’t fit the early examples, though, which don’t have any idea of counting about them. Another idea is that it comes from battle, in which one might shake a stick at one’s vanquished enemy. This could possibly have led into the early usages. Following publication of this piece in the World Wide Words newsletter, Suzan Hendren and Sherwin Cogan suggested that it might have come from the Native American practice of counting coup, in which merit was gained by touching a vanquished enemy in battle. In that case, “too many to shake a stick at” might indicate a surplus of fallen enemies, and “not worth shaking a stick at” would equate a person with “an enemy who is so cowardly or worthless that there is no merit to be gained from counting coup on him”, as Sherwin Cogan put it. An intriguing idea, but there’s no evidence that I know of. Let me summarise: nobody knows for sure.

Idioms in any language make it a challenge for those for whom it is not their first language. I remember when I was taking Spanish and there was the phrase "Don't take a cat for a hare." Stumped me, until we were told that once skinned a cat and a rabbit look very much alike and sometimes are sold as such in markets. It means the same as our expression "Don't buy a pig in a poke." A fun place to explore is http://www.idiomconnection.com/

Many sayings go back to things common some time back, and even have lost some of what was said which makes them even more cryptic. Recently ran across the origin of the saying 'here is mud in your eye', when having a drink. Seems that in the 19th century coming up with such saying was a major thing. This one originally was 'Here is mud in your eye while I look over your new girlfriend'. ;-) Makes much more sense that way...

How about "I'm so full I feel like a fat tick on a skinny dog???"

there are all sorts of those like When I was knee high to a grass hopper or fit to be tied I'll try and think of some more

Well, expressions can't be translated word by word, or something very funny might come out. For instance, we still use expressions like: "Pooling somebody''s leg", or "Oh, boy!". These, translated word by word would have some funny sentences coming out.

It's strange that the shake-a-stick-at idiom is not included, but on this site there are definitions for several other sayings: http://www.idiomsite.com I think the "grin" one would be sheepish. I've heard that from time to time. I'm grinning like a hog-tied mule (made that up just now)

Lol Angel I have not heard that one before either There are a lot of sayings that sometimes make think lol but I will be honest I can not think of one right now I am under the Influence of the Pain Killer lol just waiting to fall asleep Hugs

Funny, indeed. And also figures of seech, to make the statement clearer. If she said: "I have too many shoes" that won't make it clear enough about how she thinks and feels.

I disagree with you when you say that English is the hardest language to learn. My first language is Dutch and I started learning French when I was 10 years old, I started learning English when I was 13 and I speak English much more fluently than French. I think English actually is a rather easy language to learn. Every language has its sayings that don't really make sense. :)

OK HERE'S A GOOD ONE Up sh*ts creek without a paddle LMAO

Love to see your great words here,and I feel quiet happy to have a friend like this.I would feel a lot to keep on par with you.