Tagged Questions
-2
votes
0answers
53 views
Whose window? - What's the idiom for unpredictable unknown beneficial opportunities that might come up?
I've heard an idiom that contains the word 'window' and I think it is of the form, somebody's window. Pandora's window or something. I don't remember the somebody.
It applies to beneficial unknown ...
1
vote
2answers
146 views
Is there an idiom beginning “when a dog is cornered”?
Is there any saying in a complete sentence including “a dog which is cornered”? I have tried to find a complete one, but there seems to be no one.
Actually, what I want to know is how to explain the ...
0
votes
1answer
89 views
What do you say when you wish someone to do well the next time they run?
A friend of mine was leaving to start running as an exercise and I said "Have a good run!". Then I found out it is an idiom with a different meaning. What is the right thing to say in that case?
1
vote
4answers
98 views
What is the proper phrase for being in one's official limits, probably when quoting something?
While quoting something, the consideration of the fact that it does not offend the sentiments of a community or culture one belongs to. How do we ask that in one sentence e.g Did I remain in my ...
2
votes
3answers
154 views
Idiom wanted for means and ends
There is a common Russian expression, literally translated as "winners are not judged". The meaning is that one can get away with cutting corners and/or employing less-than-wholesome means in pursuit ...
14
votes
7answers
740 views
English equivalent of a Kannada proverb
The saying goes like "ಬಡವನ ಸಿಟ್ಟು ದವಡೆಗೆ ಮೂಲ".
When roughly translated to English it means:
A poor man's anger only hurts his jaw [due to all the grinding of teeth in the process].
How to ...
8
votes
10answers
586 views
“You get what you deserve nothing more nothing less”
In this world we reside, what we acquire depends on what we can acquire. In other words, if we have the money to, we can buy a house; if we have the necessary educational qualifications to, we can get ...
33
votes
10answers
2k views
“To shoot out of cannon into sparrows”
In Russian we have idiom/saying "To shoot out of cannon into sparrows" (literal translation) which is used to convey an idea of applying too drastic measures to small problems. I believe there should ...
4
votes
5answers
233 views
Is there an English idiom “in threes and fives” to describe arriving, gathering, or leaving of people in a pair, trio, or group in succession?
We say ‘san-san-go-go – 三三五五’ in Japanese to describe the status of people coming, arriving, gathering, going, or leaving in a pair, trio, or group in succession in such a way, People gathered in the ...
9
votes
5answers
848 views
An idiom to describe someone who thinks he/she is wiser than others
Is there an idiom in English to describe someone who thinks he/she is smarter/wiser than everyone else?
In Polish, we have an idiom, which literally translated, would sound like:
He/she has eaten ...
10
votes
7answers
689 views
Is there an idiom that corresponds to the Hungarian expression “fall off the other side of the horse”?
There's a Hungarian phrase that can be literally translated as something like "fall off the other side of the horse". (The literal implication is either that instead of falling off this side of the ...
3
votes
1answer
187 views
Opposite of “straight talk”
What is the opposite for the straight talk idiom? How do I best call the activity when someone makes a very long preamble before he says what he wants?
4
votes
3answers
158 views
What would be a good idiom for this?
In Hebrew there is an idiom that translates to English like this: "To go without and to feel with". The usual meaning is that one doesn't have some object or ability but is nevertheless is able to act ...
1
vote
1answer
266 views
Idiom for “The solution for the problem is the cause itself”
Is there an idiom or phrase which means:
The solution for the problem is the cause itself.
I was thinking of
Use the snake to suck out the venom
which, I'm unsure, is a valid phrase.
5
votes
5answers
151 views
Phrase which describes falsely improving something
Is there an aphorism or proverb in English which describes attempting to improve something fundamentally flawed by dressing it with a lot of ornament?
6
votes
7answers
261 views
Does the idiom “stop shooting the ball to my opponent” make sense?
Getting into a fight with someone, I think the other person is accusing me of being the wrong one and is trying to show that everything that has happened is my fault. Stop shooting the ball to my ...
2
votes
4answers
267 views
Is there an idiom about wasting money and a window?
Is there an equivalent to the french idiom
Jeter l'argent par la fenêtre
which means throwing money through a window? (I'm not sure about the translation, especially through.)
-1
votes
2answers
137 views
What could be the correct idiom for expressing that someone is baking up false allegations without evidence?
Are "barking up the wrong bush" or "sailing on the wings of imagination" close?
2
votes
2answers
363 views
Idiom to describe something that has little to no effect?
I'm looking for an idiom to describe something that has a negligible effect.
The only similar question I found here was: An idiom meaning someone's doing something useless and has no result at ...
3
votes
3answers
166 views
What is the best way to idiomatically translate this pun into English?
I'm trying to translate some text from Russian to English.
The text discusses both chairs and power over people (it is a fantasy work discussing a Chair of Power for a Lord).
At one point, it has a ...
3
votes
4answers
263 views
Is there an “opposite” to the idiom “throwing the baby out with the bathwater”?
"Throwing the baby out with the bathwater" means that something essential is lost in the process of getting rid of something unwanted (and relatively minor).
I'm looking for a phrase that means that ...
-2
votes
2answers
971 views
How to say “I'm calling to touch base” without using the idiom? [closed]
Is there a common phrase or a word to convey the same meaning?
7
votes
13answers
2k views
Idiom, word, or expression meaning an easy-to-do task
I am looking for a term, expression, word, or idiom to describe a task as an easy one to do or to go through.
What I’d normally say is:
Actually it’s not difficult, it’s as easy as drinking a ...
7
votes
8answers
2k views
What is an alternative (more positive) analogy to “beating a dead horse”?
I'm looking for an analogy for my repeated attempts to revive interest in a project. The phrase beating a dead horse almost fits the bill, but a dead horse refers to a subject that is no longer ...
4
votes
3answers
463 views
Idiomatic saying for “just over” and “just under”
Is there an idiomatic saying to say that a distance is about x kilometer, including the connotation of "a little bit more than" or "a little bit less than" as "just over" and "just under" respectively ...
1
vote
4answers
121 views
Is it correct to use “train has surfaced”?
Can you say The train has surfaced to describe the moment when a train emerges from a tunnel?
3
votes
5answers
537 views
Idiom that describes a person who doesn't have an acceptable witness
We Persians have a proverb that says:
They asked the fox, "Who's your witness?" The fox said, "My tail!"
What do Americans say when a person only has their ally as a witness? Is there any idiom ...
3
votes
3answers
524 views
“Nobody does something for nothing”
I have a proverb in my native tongue saying something like "there is no cat chasing fish for God" which implies that anyone who does anything that may seem beneficial to you, is doing it for ...
5
votes
3answers
305 views
English equivalent of the expression “a longer arm than résumé”
I've heard a non-native English speaker use the expression "in this place, having a long arm to scratch someone else's back is more important than having a long résumé", conveying the idea of ...
6
votes
4answers
336 views
An idiom meaning “failure is not the end”
There's a motto in my native language which literally means:
If the ball is full of air, then when it is hit against the ground, it will go up more.
Is there an idiom with the same meaning and ...
9
votes
7answers
684 views
What's a good phrase for “refining a process which is hopelessly broken”?
I'm looking for a turn of phrase to describe a situation where the powers that be wish to continue making small improvements to a process which, due to deep-rooted flaws, will never be close to ...
22
votes
14answers
3k views
Opposite of 'Midas touch'?
I'm wondering what word or phrase could be used for the counter examples of 'Midas touch' effect.
The Midas touch, or the gift of profiting from whatever one undertakes, is named for a legendary ...
0
votes
4answers
135 views
Expression for “be a little faster”
Is there an expression for the following:
A: Let's go for lunch.
B: Okay.
A: I am coming in a few minutes.
B: Okay, but be a little bit faster
Do native speakers say this? Or is ...
20
votes
23answers
9k views
An idiom meaning someone's doing something useless and has no result at the end
In my native language, we use an idiom to warn someone that they're doing something which has no result at the end:
Trying to convince him is like squashing water ...
Is there any idiom in ...
2
votes
8answers
1k views
A better way of expressing “burst like a soap bubble”?
So the other day my friend was telling me about this employment contract which he said would "burst like a soap bubble". It doesn't seem to be a common idiom in English, but he seemed to mean by it ...
24
votes
9answers
1k views
“Saving on the parrot's chocolate is futile”
In Catalan there is an expression "ser la xocolata del lloro" that can be translated as "saving by not giving chocolate to the parrot is futile", conveying the meaning that when a household wants to ...
1
vote
6answers
320 views
A phrase for ignoring the disparity at a low level, while seeking commonality at a high level
I'm having a hard time describing the phrase I'm looking for, so I think the best way to ask the question is to simply present the problem.
At work I've been tasked with merging the guidelines (the ...
1
vote
1answer
523 views
Is there a word/phrase/idiom for temporarily satisfying strong feeling of hunger?
Imagine a situation where you've been invited to dinner at a friend's place. You're extremely hungry but you learn that the dinner won't be ready for another half an hour. So you decide to eat an ...
1
vote
3answers
920 views
Idiom about tackling smaller problems instead of tackling the root [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Phrase for focusing on unimportant details
I'm trying to find an idiom about tackling smaller problems instead of tackling their root cause. For example,
Instead of ...
64
votes
18answers
4k views
How to say that food is hot (temperature) without the listener thinking that I mean “spicy”?
There is an excellent discussion of spicy vs. hot here: Difference between "spicy" and "hot"
However, having read the previous question, I did not see any answer that tells how to ...
2
votes
4answers
303 views
Word for person always after what he does not have and not cherishing what he has [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Term for “constantly unsatisfied soul”
Is there a word for a person who is always after what he does not have and does not cherish what he has? If not, any ...
3
votes
3answers
3k views
Phrases that would be similar to “Tip of the Iceberg” but with a positive connotation
I am looking for phrases that would be similar in meaning to 'tip of the iceberg,' but has a positive connotation. My understanding is that 'tip of the iceberg' has a negative "hidden" connotation.
...
3
votes
1answer
252 views
Request for an idiom (if any) or an expression that describes the following phenomenon
I've been doing some data mining experiments, and something really weird happened one hour ago in the experiment result, and just now something similarly weird happened again.
I'm trying to think of ...
3
votes
3answers
441 views
Term for pleasure or joy obtained on top of others' misery or unhappiness [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
An idiom for deriving pleasure from another's suffering
We often experience the following:
We feel happy when our fellow classmates get a bad grade and not
...
2
votes
4answers
227 views
Is there an idiom for “can take truth unprettified whatever it is”?
Here's the scenario: I screwed something and that caused some real harm. Now another person could just tell me, “Dude, you screwed X and this caused this and this harm," but instead he will try to be ...
1
vote
3answers
480 views
“Pot calling the kettle black” … but what if the kettle isn't black (figuratively speaking)?
The pot calling the kettle black is a well accepted idiom in English, and has many equivalents in other languages.
But there are some occasions when this phrase is not quite appropriate. When one ...
10
votes
3answers
524 views
What's a good opposite of “keep track”? [closed]
How can I say the opposite of "keep track"? I was trying to keep track of something but something happened and I lost the track.
I'd like to say "lose track". Is it possible to say it this way or is ...
10
votes
11answers
2k views
What's an idiom for doing something in an unnecessarily complicated way?
For an example, I'll quote C.S. Lewis' The Voyage of the Dawn Treader:
One day the cat got into the dairy and twenty of them were at work moving all the milk out; no one thought of moving the cat.
...
6
votes
9answers
3k views
What is an idiom/slang for “someone who pretends to be good when they're not”?
This is not from real life, but from a movie on my local TV. A character in the movie is really bad, but when she talks with others, she pretends to be an innocent/ good woman. I want to know how to ...
63
votes
28answers
5k views
Is there an American English equivalent of the British idiom “carrying coals to Newcastle”?
I'm an American living in the Netherlands who is learning Dutch. There's an idiom in Dutch that describes performing a needless/futile activity, "water naar de zee dragen," which literally translates ...
