Making an elephant out of a mouse
By Judy Evans
@JudyEv (343707)
Rockingham, Australia
January 18, 2025 7:02pm CST
The photo is Vince’s of the mountains in Nepal.
We have remained friends with several of the people we hosted when we were in couch-surfing. One of them now lives not far from us. She is a FIFO worker (fly in, fly out) and rents a room nearby.
On her weeks off, she often drops in. She is German but has been in Australia for many years although she still has a very strong accent. She has an identical twin sister from whom she is estranged which is a bit sad. She was here last night and we were talking about this and that. She talked about a work colleague making ‘an elephant out of a mouse’. The equivalent English saying would be to make ‘a mountain out of a molehill’.
Have you heard either of these? Both mean the same, don’t they?
10 people like this
11 responses
You taught me a new one with the mouse and elephant.
I love the picture.
@snowy22315 (183693)
• United States
10h
mountain out of molehill is common here. I know someone from online who is German but who has lived in Australia many years. She teaches German in I think Brisbane or around there. She calls her business German on the Coast. That is a beautiful mountain picture.
4 people like this
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that is a funny saying. I’ve never heard that. Makes sense though now that you explain it. I think I recall you mentioning this woman before. Fun life I think to fly all over different places like that.
@DaddyEvil (138979)
• United States
42m
Yes, we say "making a mountain out of a molehill" in my part of the US but I agree, "making an elephant out of a mouse" is the same thing.
@xFiacre (13299)
• Ireland
5h
@judyev Mountain yes, mouse no. We had a German friend at university who was coming to our house and we told her we lived in the second house past the blue pillars. When she got to the street she realised that she didn’t know what a blue pillar was and stopped people in the street asking “What is a blue pillar?” She never got there.
2 people like this
@Beestring (14796)
• Hong Kong
5h
Amazing photo. Never heard of this saying. Learned something new.
2 people like this
@RevivedWarrior (2953)
• India
2h
Loved the picture.Well, although this sentence was the first time I have ever heard of it , I could make out the meaning of the sentence. I have heard mountain out of a molehill but then there are few proverbs introduced by non-native English speakers . They would have taken it rom their native language but then most of times , it is easy to understand. Sometimes , it could be weird as well. It is sad your friend is estranged identical twin sister. Unfortunately there are things in life , that we feel sad and would have thought 'what if'. Anyways , it is their personal life and they know what works best for them.
