Some members are rained on for several weeks in Asia, Europe and elsewhere. I propose to discuss expressions (not necessarily English) that have relations to rain and water.
Here are examples.
Water has flown under the bridge. (Time has effected a lot of changes)
Could I take a raincheck? (Could I postpone?)
Mary rained on John’s parade. (Mary intentionally ruined John’s highlight)
"Water has flown under the bridge" has as Spanish equivalent "Much rain has fallen (ever since)" / [I]Ha llovido mucho (desde entonces)[/I].
Also, with the recent rainy mariage of Crown Prince Felipe de Borbón with Letizia Ortiz, this one has been heard a lot: [I]Novia mojada, novia afortunada[/I]/ "Wet bridegroom, lucky bridegroom".
Regarding weather we have: [I]En abril, aguas mil[/I] / "In april, thousand (water)springs".
Most ironic of all, concerning rumours: [I]Cuando el río suena, agua lleva[/I] / "When the river sounds, water flows".
I’d appreciate if anyone could give me the English equivalents for these Spanish examples
Thanks a lot,
WS.
[edit]My translations are not necessarily exact, for I’ve tried to achieve a bit of the rhyme that makes these sayings so popular.[/edit]
That’s water under the bridge. (I’d use flowed rather than flown, though. You can say time has flown, but water so seldom gets airborne…) That’s water over the dam also means past events that cannot be remedied.
The 1934 strike was a watershed in the labor movement. (That’s when the tide turned against corrupt management.) Come hell or high water, (no matter what happens) the union will will see that its demands are met, even though the new labor representative is like a fish out of water (doesn’t fit in) in the executive boardroom. But the talk around the water cooler (office gossip) is that management will not cave because the union plan doesn’t hold water (isn’t viable). The arbiter is of the first water (of high quality) and doing his best to pour oil on troubled waters (defuse the situation).
A phrase that’s quite appropriate for a language board is:
The rain in Spain stays mainly on the plain.
It’s what Professor Higgins tries to get Eliza Doolittle to say, to cure her bad accent, in My Fair Lady.
- Garzo. I don’t care what the weatherman says
when the weatherman says it’s raining.
You’ll never hear me complaining:
I’m certain the sun will shine.
There’s also the rhyme:
"April showers brings May flowers."
The sayings:
"Every cloud has a silver lining."
"It’s an ill wind that doesn’t bring somebody some good." (not water, but clouds bring rain and usually there’s a breeze with it.)
Both mean that even if things looks bad, you can find some good.
"Still waters run deep."
There is great depth in someone quiet. (either that or they’re sleeping without snoring! )
You can also spend money like water (if you’ve got it!) - to spend money freely or lavishly.
You can test the water(s) - to explore the possibility of doing something.
You can water something down - such as drinks to weaken the potency (and increase your profit if you’re a barkeep).
You can make water (in the privacy of your own home, please!).
You can be a rainmaker which in slang means an influential person who can bring success or infuse new ideas in an enterprise.
To get your raincheque, an event could be "rained out" as in postponed because of rain.
... Next!
Swe Våren regnig och kall gör bondens lada all —-> A rainy and cold spring makes the farmer’s barn full
Jap Fukusui bon ni kaerazu—> Thrown water out (of a) vessel won’t return (equv. No good crying over spilled milk)
Fra Laisser couler l’eau—> (Let the water flow) e.g. to pretend nothing has happened Faire la pluie et le beau temps—> (Make rain and good weather) e.g. to be a busbody
(or is it busibody/busybody —please excuse my poor comand of English)
Another Japanese one:
Mizu kusai-zo. (You smell water (intransitive)) i.e., Don’t be so formal with me.
"Fukusui etc, . . ." is from a Chinese legend of an ingenious military adviser to the founders of Zhou dynasty. When he was young his wife dispised him for being poor, going fishing and reading books all day and she divorced him. After Zhou was founded largely due to his stratagem, the ex-wife came to him and pleaded for re-start their marriage. The ex-husband threw water from a vessel and challenged her to take it back. Wooo, what a revenge.
ANothter Japanese saying conceriining rain.
"Women’s heart and the weather in rainy season change seven times a day: [s]their change half-baked[/s] they shift wishy-washy."
On male psychology and meteology:
"Men’s heart and the autumn sky, sometimes they are fine sometimes they are cloudy."
Flam,
who hopes if he waits for the eighth change he might have some chance.
Farmer’s thought on a Swedish rainfall: Good for my ‘taters and the neighbour’s dry hay.
The water hollowing the stone must be found everywhere in Europe: Ovid wrote "Gutta cavat lapidem", meaning that the drop will hollow the stone. Usually (my dictionary says) it is followed by "non vi, sed saepe cadendo", not by its force, but by continuously falling, which is said to come from Giordano Bruno. I have also seen the second part as "consumitur annulus usu": and the ring is worn out by being constantly worn.
"Much water has flowed under the bridges since…" is a rather common phrase to indicate a long period of time.
A heavy rainfall doesn’t consist of cats and dogs, but of small nails: Det regnar småspik.
A favourite, often only quoted as the first half, is "Vatten är ett farligt gift / som omger Visby stift": Water is a dangerous poison, surrounding the diocese of Visby (consisting of the island of Gotland).
<PS> The rain in Spain was translated into Swedish as "Den spanska räven rev en annan räv": The Spanish fox clawed another fox. Some varieties of Swedish don’t distinguish between ä [æ] and e [e], but use [e] for both. Some find this merging uneducated.
[quote author=Garzo link=board=idiom;num=1088945247;start=0#11 date=07/06/04 at 10:00:29]Euronews shows Madrid with a rain cloud over it…
It might as well have been a hurricane for all we care!! Man! What a wind!! It still whistles.. I was having a siesta after lunch -which means around 16:00- and suddenly a strong racket woke me up… It was the wind that blew like I’ve never seen it here… and later on the heavy rain, only stopped to let the hailstone pass!
[quote author=WonderingSpaniard link=board=idiom;num=1088945247;start=0#14 date=07/06/04 at 13:57:37]
It might as well have been a hurricane for all we care!! Man! What a wind!! It still whistles.. I was having a siesta after lunch -which means around 16:00- and suddenly a strong racket woke me up… It was the wind that blew like I’ve never seen it here… and later on the heavy rain, only stopped to let the hailstone pass!
sounds like the storm we had a few weeks ago.
