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Proverbs and sayings are a special segment of the vocabulary of any language, which is not always translated into a foreign language by some meaningful sentence. In order not to be unfounded, we will give an example. The Russian proverb 'A fisherman sees another fisherman from far away' does not translate as 'A fisherman sees another fisherman from far away'. If you say that to an Englishman, he will not understand you at all. But if you remember the English equivalent of this proverb - 'Birds of feather flock together', then this is another matter. However, even here it was not without pitfalls: the fact is that this English proverb is used in a negative sense - namely, when applied to people with bad intentions.
Therefore, in this article we do not offer you translations of popular English proverbs, but simply give an explanation. And since modern interests, as a rule, revolve around two things - money and relations between a man and a woman - the prevailing number of these proverbs relate to precisely these topics.
Table. English proverbs and sayings
| Proverb/Translation | Explanation |
|---|---|
|
A fool and his money are soon parted |
Stupid people spend money mindlessly, and they soon run out |
|
A good name is better than riches |
"Honor is more precious than money" |
|
He who pays the piper calls the tune |
"Who pays, he calls the music" |
|
Health is better than wealth |
"You can't buy health" |
|
If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys |
If the employer pays low wages, then the employees will not perform well. |
|
Money doesn't grow on trees |
Making money is difficult, it is impossible to get it as easy as picking fruit from a tree. |
|
Money is a good servant, but a bad master |
If you have money, it is for your benefit. But if you owe someone, it constantly gnaws at you and makes you feel uncomfortable. |
|
Money is the root of all evil |
Money is the cause of all troubles |
|
A good husband makes a good wife |
A man himself must make sure that his woman is a good wife |
|
Behind every successful man is a woman |
Many men owe their success to the support of their spouses. |
|
The way to a man's heart is through his stomach |
Many women win the hearts of men with good food and homemade food. |
|
Crime doesn't pay |
If you get involved in illegal cases, then in the end you will not gain anything from them. |
|
Garbage in, garbage out. GIGO |
Wrong actions lead to wrong results |
|
If it ain't broke, don't fix it |
It's better not to go where everything is all right |
|
Put the pedal to the metal |
"Press the gas" |
|
There's no such thing as a free lunch |
"Free cheese only in a mousetrap" |
|
What you see is what you get |
"Everything hidden becomes clear" |
There is another category of "untranslatable" words - these are idioms or, in other words, figurative expressions. They differ from proverbs in that they are not whole sentences, but only phrases. We present you the most interesting in our opinion.
- A penny for your thoughts - "Penny for your thoughts." Used when you want to get what they think out of someone.
- A hot potato - "Hot topic"
- Once in a blue moon - "When the cancer hangs on the mountain"
- See eye to eye - "Achieve understanding"
- Miss the boat - "Miss the opportunity"
- Kill two birds with one stone - "Kill two birds with one stone"
- On the ball - "In the know"
- Cost an arm and a leg- "Cost a fortune"
- Sit on the fence - "Drag with something, don't make a decision"
- Put wool over other people's eyes - "Powder brains"
- Feeling a bit under the weather – «get sick»
- Speak of the devil! - "Light in sight!"
