Wednesday September 9, 2009
Fun, weird sayings
By LUCILLE DASS
THE article The idiotic joys of idioms by Jag Bhalla (MOE, 21 Aug) made interesting reading. His encouraging parting call to share some of our “favourite expressions in English or other languages” promptly transported me back in time to some expressions in my mother’s tongue (in all honesty, I am ill qualified to claim it as my mother tongue) that I was exposed to in my growing years.
Despite never being fluent and worse, having long remained passive in practice of my mother tongue, certain set expressions, rhythmic or musical verse, kitchen table wise sayings or part thereof, and particular idioms, mostly heard while growing up, are still registered in the recesses of my mind.
Significantly, the ones that have lingered are either meant to impart some moral values, or conversely, when translated literally into English are rendered hilarious, near ridiculous, even weird or funny.
To begin with, the writer’s name “Bhalla” – interestingly, meaning “good” or “a grace-filled/goodwill act” (also a food item!) in Hindi, brought to mind a value-laden expression which roughly translates to: Do good to/and reap good in return. I recall a few more Hindi expressions, especially some that are food-related, which have stayed with me for reasons cited above.
In this multiple language matchmaking exercise on idiomatic expressions, I shall attempt a literal translation of each (which may contribute to the hilarity intended), and locate a “close English cousin”, bearing in mind that twins or equivalents in the target language are difficult to find. (In all humility, I’m willing to be corrected by those more conversant in the said language in each case.) I begin with Hindi:
> To sound out your throat: to boast
> There is some black in the dhal: there is more than meets the eye
> Chicken cooked at home is equivalent to dhal: a prophet is seldom accepted in his own country
> Bore holes in the plate that feeds you: bite the hand that feeds you
> Milk will remain milk; water will remain water: justice will be served
> When the birds have taken away the harvest: useless to cry over spilled milk
> To cook one’s own meal/porridge: to each his own
> A monkey/donkey has neither taste for, nor knows the benefits of, ginger/ to play the sitar in front of a buffalo: casting pearls before swine
> To become enmeshed in a tangle of “ifs” and “buts”: to stall
Next, a few in Malayalam, courtesy of my husband who speaks only a smattering of the language, but like me, recalls some that may have an English link:
> When trees are available in the forest, and the elephant belongs to the village headman, you can pull all (the trees, I presume) you want: make hay while the sun shines/strike while the iron is hot
> Like a dog visiting the marketplace: like a fish out of water; be a square peg in a round hole; an unwanted presence
> A donkey does not know the smell of camphor – similar to the Hindi saying: casting pearls before swine
> To hold open an umbrella at midnight (doesn’t say if it’s raining!): doing something utterly useless.
I also recall a couple from my days of having studied French, again, because their literal translation makes them appear meaningless or sound crazy, but fun! And yes, never mind if they become ungrammatical in the process:
> To have a spider in one’s head: to have a screw loose/to have bats in one’s belfry
> To see 36 candles: to see stars
> By horn and cry: a hue and cry
> To make white cabbage: to draw a blank
> To drown in a glass of water: to make a mountain out of a molehill
> With body lost: headlong
> A glass of wine a day keeps the doctor away: An apple a day keeps the doctor away, for the rest of us.
Then of course we have a host of expressions in our national language, sounding equally humorous when literally translated, and similarly finding their idiomatic sense preserved in some “distant English relations”.
> Diam diam ubi berisi, which literally translates to “silently, silently the tapioca fills out”: still waters run deep
> Berbadan dua, literally “double-bodied”: to be in the family way/pregnant
> Telan mati emak, diluah mati bapak. Literally, “if you swallow, your mother may die; spit out, and your father may die”: catch-22; to be in a spot
> Pencuci mulut literally, “mouthwash”: dessert
> Tak pandai menari, dikatakan lantai jungkang-jungkit, which refers to someone who can’t dance but blames the floor for being uneven: a bad workman blames his tools
> Hangat-hangat tahi ayam, which means “hot, hot chicken sh**”: new broom sweeps clean.
It is interesting and significant that unity and value are addressed when the intended sense contained in a particular saying finds expression across cultures.
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