What kind of food do you eat every morning and is easily found anywhere in the world? If your answer is "bread", that's right! A few days ago I came across the phrase "One's daily bread" which is the equivalent expression to the Portuguese “pão nosso de cada dia”. I didn’t resist the curiosity and I decided to research more on these idioms that have the word "bread" in its structure.

Not only the matters of the expressions are curious, but also the fact that bread is food present in human history for thousands of years. Bread origins are so ancient that it is even difficult to define where and when it first appeared. However, it is estimated that it happened in ancient Mesopotamia about 12,000 years ago. That's enough time for various nations and languages to develop and incorporate “bread idioms”.

Bringing together a few phrases I could see how meanings vary completely. Not all languages have the same expressions and there are a few phrases that can’t be translated literally. The expression “ser mamão com açúcar” (“papaya with sugar” in Portuguese) is equivalent to "ser pan y miel” ("bread and honey" in Spanish), or "to be a piece of cake” in English.

An expression easily found among the three languages mentioned above is "to take the bread out of someone’s mouth," "tirar o pão da boca de alguém" (in Portuguese) and "quitarse el pan de la boca" (in Spanish). I wonder how such expression, which means harming someone so bad that the person loses their living, has emerged. After doing small research, I discovered that in the Ancient Egypt, bread was used as currency for work payment. Such phrases could be related to that time? Hard to say if we consider how much time has passed.

In contrast to such phrases, in which bread is considered essential in one's life are the idioms: "to get on bread and water", "ficar a pão e água" (in Portuguese) and "estar a pan y agua" (in Spanish). They all mean that someone is going through hardship and have his or her resources reduced to meager bread and water. Suddenly the bread has lost the character of "majesty" as in previous expressions.

For some people “bread” has strong religious connotation and the word can be easily found in Christian prayers. Another curious Portuguese expression, without similar translation, is “comer o pão que o diabo amassou”, whose meaning is to go through terrible trials and difficult situations and the literal translation would be “to eat the bread devil has made”!

Are there any curious expressions involving the word bread in your mother tongue? I’ll be awaiting your comments!

http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/bread

[Português]

Que alimento você come todo dia de manhã e facilmente encontra em qualquer parte do mundo? Caso sua resposta seja “pão”, está certo! Há alguns dias me deparei com a expressão “One daily’s bread” que equivale ao nosso “pão de cada dia”. Não resisti à curiosidade e resolvi pesquisar mais dessas expressões idiomáticas que tem a palavra “pão” em sua estrutura.

Não foi somente a questão de as expressões serem curiosas, mas também o fato de que esse é um alimento presente há milhares de anos na história do homem. A origem do pão é tão antiga que é até mesmo difícil definir onde e quando ele apareceu. Entretanto, estima-se que tenha surgido na antiga Mesopotâmia, há 12 mil anos atrás. Isso é tempo suficiente para diversas sociedades e línguas se desenvolverem e incorporarem esse alimento às expressões idiomáticas de cada dia.

Reunindo algumas frases pude observar como os significados variam completamente, além de verificar as inúmeras situações possíveis em que se apresentam. Nem todos os idiomas possuem as mesmas expressões e são poucas as frases que podem ser traduzidas literalmente. O “ser mamão com açúcar” (“muito fácil” em português) equivale ao “ser pan y miel” (“pão e mel” em espanhol), ou ao “to be a piece of cake” (“pedaço de bolo” em inglês).

Uma expressão facilmente encontrada nestes três idiomas citados é “tirar o pão de alguém”; “take the bread out of someone’s mouth” (em inglês); e “quitarse en pan de la boca” (em espanhol). Fico imaginando como tal expressão, que significa prejudicar alguém a ponto de essa pessoa perder seu sustento surgiu. Depois de fazer uma pequena pesquisa, descobri que na época do Antigo Egito o pão era utilizado como moeda de pagamento. Poderiam tais frases estar relacionadas a essa época? Difícil dizer considerando todos os anos que já se passaram.

Em contraponto a tais frases, em que o pão é considerado fundamental na vida de alguém, estão as expressões: “ficar a pão e água”; “bread and water” (em inglês); e “estar a pan y agua” (espanhol). Todas significam que alguém está passando por privações e tem seus recursos reduzidos a míseros pão e água. De repente o pão perdeu ser caráter de “majestade” como nas expressões anteriores.

O pão, para alguns povos, possuiu forte conotação religiosa e a palavra pode ser facilmente encontrada em orações cristãs. Outra expressão curiosa em português sem traduções similares é “comer o pão que o diabo amassou”, cujo significado é passar por terríveis provações e situações difíceis.

Há em sua língua materna expressões curiosas que envolvam a palavra pão? Aguardo seus comentários!

http://www.priberam.pt/dlpo/default.aspx?pal=p%C3%A3o

[English]

I've always been amused by idioms and proverbs even though I don't often use them myself - in fact, I actually tend to mix them up quite a bit. However, it's really entertaining for me to talk with people who use them a lot. I end up paying less attention to the main point of the conversation and more to the idioms. In Spanish speaking countries people tend to use them a lot and they vary deeply from region to region. If you would like to read some idioms in Spanish you can check out one of our past articles about modismos.

Idioms can be very useful, especially when you want to make something clear. Crystal clear, right? Pretty self-explanatory. However, there are some idioms that I just don't get. For example - it's raining cats and dogs. Seriously, why cats and dogs? Why animals? Whoever made that phrase fashionable was very very creative. How about "It's a piece of cake"? Trust me, I've baked some cakes in my time and they're not easy at all. I also don't quite get why in phrases like "to look in the eye", "to turn a blind eye", and "to keep an eye on" eye is always singular. I thought we normally have two.

There are some other proverbs that are simply funny to me. For example:

• "He's a big cheese" (influential person). Can't help picturing it in my mind as a big chunk of cheese with a bow tie.
• I'm as cool as a cucumber (composed and calm). Who exactly thinks cucumbers are cool? And by cool I mean cool in any of its meanings.
• Funny peculiar and funny ha-ha. (funny in a weird sense or in a humorous sense). I guess I just like how they sound.
• To put lipstick on a pig (to make someone attractive superficially). I guess they did that with Miss Piggy. Still funny.
• Give someone a piece of your mind (to criticize strongly.) I can't help but imagining giving part of my brain to somebody. Gross, I know.

Culture definitely plays an important role in the creation and shaping of idioms. That's evident in American English with their wide variety of baseball-related idioms:

• It's a ballpark figure - a guesstimated figure
• To take a rain check - to decline an offer or invitation for something with the idea of leaving it for a later date
• The ball is in your court - it's your turn, it's up to you
• To play hardball - to use any means possible to attain a goal

A good example of the relevance of culture in the creation of idioms is the idiom "It's all Greek to me". Apparently for English speakers Greek parallels to indecipherable. For Spanish and Portuguese speakers it is Chinese, for Polish it is Turkish... and the list goes on.

Let us know if you have any additions of your own!

Gdyby ktoś powiedział mi jeszcze ze trzy miesiące temu, że zamieszkam nie z jednym, ale od razu z DWOMA kotami, pomyślałabym chyba, że zwariował. Zawsze byłam „psiarą”. Od małego marzyłam o psie i ciągle męczyłam moich rodziców, żeby mi w końcu sprawili kudłatego pupila. A jednak nie tak dawno dwa koty wprowadziły się do mojego mieszkania i wprowadziły sporo chaosu w moje życie. Oto moje historie ze zwierzakami w tytule.

Jak już wspomniałam, zawsze bardzo chciałam mieć psa. Jestem jedynaczką i dlatego brakowało mi przytulnego zwierzaka. Wcześniej miałam ślimaki (!) i żółwia, ale ich pielęgnacja i obecność nie wyczerpywały w pełni moich pokładów miłości i troskliwości, mimo, że pana żółwia naprawdę bardzo lubiłam. Ale skrycie ciągle chodził mi po głowie ten pies. Traktowałam tą sprawę zresztą bardzo poważnie i zostałam takim małym psim ekspertem: czytałam książki o psich rasach, chodziłam na wystawy, a w pewnym momencie umiałam nawet wymienić z pamięci wszystkie główne kości w budowie psa. A potem stało się coś, co nieodwracalnie już doprowadziło moje szaleństwo do punktu wrzenia. Moja najlepsza koleżanka i sąsiadka dostała psa. Najchętniej w ogóle nie opuszczałabym w tym czasie jej mieszkania, mogłam godzinami bawić się z tym rozkosznym szczeniakiem. Był do tego stopnia słodki, że również opór moich rodziców stopniowo zaczął powoli tracić na sile.

I w końcu nadszedł ten wspaniały dzień, w którym zgodzili się na psa. Prawdopodobnie jeden z najszczęśliwszych dni w moim życiu. Podobnie jak dzień, w którym przywieźliśmy tą małą, futrzaną kulkę do domu. Nawet moja mama, która do samego końca podchodziła do całej sprawy z pewnym sceptycyzmem, zakochała się w psiaku, gdy tylko przekroczył on próg naszego mieszkania. I był to początek wspaniałej przyjaźni. Impet, mój pies, ma dziś już 14 lat i jest dystyngowanym, choć ciągle na szczęście żwawym staruszkiem. Odkąd wyprowadziłam się z domu, tęsknię za nim bardzo każdego dnia. Psy są wierne i przyjazne. Nic dziwnego, że mówi się po polsku nawet wierny jak pies. To z kolei sprowadza mnie do językowej części moich dywagacji. Takich powiedzeń czy idiomów z psami jest całe mnóstwo. Poniżej kilka przykładów:

• zejść na psy

• pies ogrodnika

• z niego jest pies na baby

• goić się jak na psie

• czuć się pod psem

• pies z kulawą nogą

• nie dla psa kiełbasa

A zastanawialiście się kiedyś, dlaczego psy w różnych językach wydają „różne” dźwięki? Przykładowo angielskojęzyczny pies robi ‘bow-wow’ albo ‘woof’, polski ‘hau’, a niemiecki ‘wau’. A jak posłuchać prawdziwego psiego szczekania to okazuje się, że żaden z tych wyrazów nie oddaje w pełni tego dźwięku.

Pora kończyć moje zwierzęce rozważania na dziś. Zapraszam ponownie już wkrótce! Napiszę wtedy w końcu więcej o moich przygodach z dwoma nowymi kotami… (i o tym jak właściwie do mnie trafiły).

[English]

If someone had told me three months ago that I was going to live with not one but TWO cats I would have thought they had gone crazy. I’ve always been a dog person. Since I was a little kid I’ve dreamed of having a dog and have been constantly nagging my parents to get me one. Yet, not so long ago, two cats moved into my flat, but rather than turning me into a cat person they have turned my world upside down. Here is my pet story.

As I already mentioned, as a child, I really wanted a dog. I am an only child and really craved a four legged friend. I had snails (!) and a turtle as pets, but they didn’t fully exhaust my love and care potential. I really liked the turtle, though. But a dog was always on my mind. I took the matter very seriously - to the extent that I became a little expert on dogs, I read books, went to dog fairs and at some point I knew all the bones in a dog’s body by heart. A little dog nerd, that is. And then it happened. My closest friend and neighbor got a dog. Now that was it. If I could have, I would have spent every waking moment at her place stroking this cute puppy. His cuteness turned to be the best weapon against my parents’ reluctance to buy me a dog - I just brought him home and slowly my parents’ resistance began to melt.

Finally, the day came when they said yes. Words cannot express how happy I was. And the day we brought the tiny ball of fur home was one of the most memorable ones in my entire life. Even my mom, who was skeptical to the very end and didn’t join us when went to get the pup, fell in love the instant she saw him. And that was a beginning of a wonderful friendship. Impet, my dog, is now 14 and a dignified, yet still energetic, old boy. Ever since I moved out I have missed him every single day. Dogs are loyal and friendly. In Poland we even say 'loyal as a dog' (wierny jak pies). That brings me the linguistic part of the story – I was amazed to discover how many idioms and proverbs there are connected with dogs.

Let me quote a few of my favorites -

• every dog has its day (everyone is successful during some period in their life)

• it’s dog eat dog (cruel world)

• it’s a dog’s life (a life that is difficult and unpleasant)

• like a dog with two tails (very pleased and happy because something good has happened)

• to be dressed up like a dog’s dinner (meant to be impressive or fashionable but that other people think is not)

• there’s life in the old dog yet (although someone is old, they still have enough energy to do things)

Have you ever wondered why dogs (and other animals) make ‘different’ noises in different languages? An English-speaking dog would say ‘bow-wow’ or ‘woof’ for example, whereas a Polish one says ‘hau’ and a German ‘wau’. After all, when you hear a real dog bark it doesn’t sound like any of those.

Well, enough of those animally linguistic thoughts for today. Stay tuned, though! Next time I’ll finally to tell you something about my adventures with my new cats… (and how they actually got to live with me).

[Polski]

В русскоговорящем мире, также как и в других странах, использование идиом очень распространено. Сегодня мы поговорим об идиомах характеризующих природные явления и отношения людей к ним.
В русском языке существуют несколько значимых народных выражений характерезующих температуру окружающией среды. В большинстве случаев эти выражения обозначают либо очень холодную либо очень жаркую погоду. Разного рода природные ненастья тоже имеют тенденцию быть отображенными в народных выражениях. Незначительный поиск предлагает две идиомы характеризующие холодную и жаркую погоду. «Жарко как в аду» и «Замерз как цуцик» по мнению многих людей являются наиболее распространенными выражениями описывающими стужу и жару.

Как они сформировались?
Словари определяют слово цуцик как "щенок небольшой собаки". Есть, правда, и еще одно значение - название вида рыб. Но вряд ли рыба мерзнет и дрожит! Итак, цуцик - это щенок по-украински. Мелкие щенята, если вы их видели, часто дрожат, то ли от холода, то ли оттого, что мир такой большой, а они такие маленькие. Как бы то ни было, выражение дрожит как цуцик, а вслед за ним замерз как цуцик произошло именно благодаря этим малышам.

Что касается выражения жарко как в аду. Существуют несколько версий происхождения данного выражения. Главным образом большинство источников ссылаются на религиозный аргумент и популистское описание ада. Ад по мнению многих представляется очень жарким местом. Жарче чем ад ничего быть не может. Поэтому выражение жарко как в аду характеризует очень жаркую погоду.

In Russian language idiom is generally a colloquial metaphor which requires some foundational knowledge, information, or experience, to use only within a culture where parties must have common reference. Idioms are therefore not considered a part of the language, but rather a part of the culture. As cultures are typically localized, idioms are often not useful outside of that local context.

The topic of weather is very popular among people living in Russia; consequently the amount of idioms about weather is also very significant.

The majority of idioms characterize either very low or very high temperatures. Bad weather is another very important source of idioms.

Talking about low temperatures there are several idioms that characterize it; however the most vivid one has Ukranian roots meaning “to be frozen as a puppy”. Замерз как цуцик is a very commonly used idiom in Russian speaking world.

On the other side, extremely high temperatures are described by the idioms characterizing hell. Жарко как в аду is a very popular idiom that can be translated as hot as in hell. The roots of the idiom come from the historical development of the nation. Russians in its majority are Christians with traditional for Christianity beliefs. The populist perception of hell usually implies burning places with high temperatures.

The weather in Hamburg is really changeable during the summer. Sometimes there is a combination of rain, sun, wind, and cloud throughout a single day. The rain can come without warning and then one second later the sun will be shining again. However, in China everywhere is the same temperature throughout the summer, with sporadic thunderstorms at dusk in cities such as Beijing.

At the moment many of my friends in Beijing are complaining about the high temperatures (38℃ or 39℃) and day-long heat waves. All they want to do is to hide in a room with air conditioning and watch TV or surf the Internet. They simply cannot bear the hot weather anymore, saying that ‘the clouds are on a fire’ (火云如烧) or that ‘people are sweating like it is raining’ (挥汗如雨). Both are Chinese idioms about hot weather.

Aside from these idioms about certain weather conditions, there are also many Chinese proverbs to forecast weather. Most of them come from the agriculture and farming community because the farmers need to adjust their farming methods according to the weather. Listed here are eight Chinese proverbs, which combine animal responses and the weather forecast. They have no direct English equivalents so I have included a literal translation for each.

• 泥鳅叫，雨来到；泥鳅静，天气晴。
The rain comes when the loaches are loud; the sun shines when the loaches are quiet.

•青蛙叫，大雨到。
Heavy rain is on the way with loud calls from the frogs.

•鸡进笼晚照阴雨。
Rains are ahead, when the chickens go to their cages late.

•蚂蚁搬家早晚要下。
It is going to rain when the ants are moving.

•蜜蜂归巢迟，来日好天气。
It is going to be sunny the next day when the bees come back late.

•鱼儿出水跳，风雨就来到。
Wind and Rain are expected when the fish jump out of water.

•蜻蜓飞得低，出门要带笠。
Bring an umbrella when the dragonflies fly low.

•黑蜻蜓乱，天气要旱。
There comes the drought when the black dragonflies are in a chaos.

Try this quiz if you have more interest in Chinese proverbs related to weather. With the knowledge above, it is now much easier.

汉堡夏天的天气真是变幻莫测，有时一天中既有雨，又有风，还有太阳，前一秒还是阳光普照，后一秒就可能是倾盆大雨，而且大雨来的一点征兆都没有。但是在中国，几乎所有的城市夏天都很热，当然在一些城市，傍晚时分的雷阵雨也不时带来丝丝水意，排解一天的闷热。

我很多在北京的朋友都抱怨难耐的酷暑和整日的热浪，他们已经无法忍受接连数日38或39度的高温，只想躲进空调房看电视或者上网。几天前收到国内朋友的邮件描述北京的烈日是如火烧云般的，我突然觉得汉语成语的表达是如此丰富，形容天气炎热，可以说热，也可以说挥汗如雨，汗流浃背，骄阳似火等；形容天气寒冷，可以说冷，也可以说冰天雪地，滴水成冰，天寒地冻等等。

除了成语，中文中还有很多谚语可以用来预测天气，尤其是在农业生产方面，比如下面列出的8个用动物反应来预测天气的谚语。

泥鳅叫，雨来到；泥鳅静，天气晴。

青蛙叫，大雨到。

鸡进笼晚照阴雨。

蚂蚁搬家早晚要下。

蜜蜂归巢迟，来日好天气。

鱼儿出水跳，风雨就来到。

蜻蜓飞得低，出门要带笠。

黑蜻蜓乱，天气要旱。

如果你对这些谚语很感兴趣，可以尝试下面的测试，熟悉了上面8句话，相信这个测试对你来说一定很简单吧。

영어권 국가에서 비가 매우 많이 오는 것을 „비가 강아지와 고양이처럼 오네! (It rains like cats and dogs!)라고 표현 하듯이, 나라별로 날씨와 관련하여 특이하고 참신한 표현들이 있다. 4계절이 뚜렷한 한국 또한, 날씨와 관련한 표현들이 많이 있다. 서늘하거나 따뜻한 봄과 가을 보다는, 매우 더운 여름 또는 매우 추운 겨울 날씨와 관련된 표현들이 많다.

한국의 여름은 6월 중순부터 더워지기 시작하며 7월 말에서 8월이 더위의 최고치를 달하게 된다. 이 때쯤에는 바깥 온도가 37도 (99F)도 정도를 기록한다. 햇빛이 매우 강렬하여, 밖에서 가만히 서있기만 하여도 땀이 나는데, 한국 사람들은 이런 더위를 “찜통 더위” 라고 부른다. “찜통”은 음식을 찔 때 쓰는 냄비로 밥솥과 비슷한 기능을 한다고 생각하면 된다. 즉, 너무나 더운 날씨에서 생활하는 것을 “찜통 속에 들어 있는 기분이야!” 라고 표현한다.

한국의 여름은 매우 덥기도 하지만, 비도 매우 많이 온다. 한국에 1년 동안 내리는 강수량의 70% 이상이 6~8월 사이에 내린다. 본격적인 장마철이 시작되면, 며칠 동안 쉬지 않고 굵은 비가 내리는데, 한국 사람들은 이를 보고 “어허, 하늘에 구멍이 뚫렸다.” 라고 말한다. 하늘에 큰 구멍이 생겨서 그 많은 빗물이 쏟아지는 거라니, 참 재미있는 표현이다.

이렇게 더운 여름날과 다르게 한국의 겨울은 평균 온도 -4도 정도로 (25F) 매우 추운 편이다. 시베리아 기단의 영향으로 바람도 많이 불어서 겨울 바람과 관련된 표현이 많다. 한국의 겨울바람은 매우 날쌔고, 차가우며 뼛속까지 으슬으슬하게 만드는 바람들이다. 한국 사람들은 이러한 바람을 “칼바람” 이라고 부른다. 바람이 너무나 차갑고 빨라서, 그 바람이 마치 날카로운 칼날 같다는 의미이다.

그 바람과 관련하여 또 하나의 표현이 있는데, 바로 “옆구리가 시리다”라는 표현이다. 이 말은 애인이 없음과 그에 대해 유감을 나타내는 말이다. 애인이 있으면 서로 꼭 붙어 다니니, 차가운 겨울 바람이 옆구리에 미치지 않지만, 애인이 없어서 혼자 다니면, 그 바람을 옆구리까지 다 맞아야 한다는 의미이다. 젊은 사람들이 자주 쓰는 표현으로, 인터넷 상에서 또는, 길거리에서 자주 접할 수 있는 표현이다.

이 외에도, 엄청난 사람들의 환호와 박수를 일컫는 말로, “우레와 같은 박수”가 있다. 사람들의 생활에 날씨가 밀접한 영향을 끼치는 만큼 이와 관련한 숙어적 표현이 많은 것 같다.