February 20, 2016, 21:30
KallehSayings that don't make sense...
I referred to this in the foreign words thread: My daughter brought up an interesting post on Facebook about her experience with taking Spanish. It led to my mother's often saying that que tiene usted means "what's the matter with you?", when it does not mean that literally in Spanish. However, I brought up that there are lots of expressions in English that don't make much sense when translated literally, like the "apple of one's eye," though
Quinion clarified that one for me. There are other expressions
here that don't make a lot of sense, either, though the comments are lighthearted and downright stupid sometimes.
What are some other sayings in English that don't make sense when literally translated?
February 24, 2016, 21:01
KallehOkay - I'll offer another: Break a leg!
However, from
Quinion apparently other languages (French, German) have similar sayings.
February 26, 2016, 11:51
GeoffFew expressions regarding imbibing alcohol or copulating make sense. F'rinstance, how does "shit-faced" relate to being intoxicated? Welllll, if you're drinking in a corral and fall down, maybe...
February 26, 2016, 20:21
KallehHmmm - I have never heard of "shit-faced" as meaning intoxicated. In fact, not sure I've heard the term "shit-faced" at all.
February 27, 2016, 08:16
BobHaleDefinitely one I know and use though - maybe just not American?
February 27, 2016, 08:18
GeoffThat's probably because you associate with higher-class people than I do.
Blue collar Geoff
February 27, 2016, 20:50
KallehSo "shit-faced" means drunk?
February 28, 2016, 01:16
tinmanA shit-face was "a despicable or hated person (OED) in 1923: 1923 P. Mathers tr.
Bk. Thousand Nights & One Night IX. dlxiii. 202 Khalif eyed him askance, and answered: ‘What is that to you, shit-face?’.
From that came the adj. shit-faced, "Contemptible; ugly. Also as a more general term of abuse": 1932 E. Hemingway
Let. 5 Jan. in
Sel. Lett. (1981) 351 Then some shitfaced critic writes Mr. Hemingway retires to his comfortable library to write about despair.
Then later " Intoxicated with alcohol or drugs;
spec. extremely drunk: 1963
Amer. Speech 38 174 One who is in the more extreme states of drunkenness is referred to as..shit-faced.
March 01, 2016, 20:05
KallehI wonder what made it change. I could understand the original definition of it.
March 02, 2016, 22:45
tinmanI don't see it as such a great change. A despicable or hated person could certainly be seen as contemptible or ugly, as could a drunk person.
March 04, 2016, 20:57
KallehYes, I suppose you are right, generally speaking.