I can't draw to save my life but even I can manage a pin man standing under a few raindrops, so this, along with the words "a bit under the weather" is the image I use to introduce the concept of idioms to students.
One of the English colour idioms I was working on with students yesterday was "as white as a sheet". As Italians pronounce "shit" in exactly the same way as they do "sheet", you may imagine what they made of the expression at first!
Funny post. As white as a sheet or the other.
ReplyDelete...As Italians pronounce "shit" in exactly the same way as they do "sheet", you may imagine what they made of the expression at first!...
ReplyDeleteSame situation over here and another good one is "beach".
WL -
ReplyDeleteDon't you wish now that you'd said, "white as a ghost"? Or, following the Blackadder formulation, "white as a very white white thing"?
Hmm.. yes indeed WCL. I kinda remember a dire "comedy 'sheet'" put my way some years ago that also recorded, in writing, the Italian 'accent' of the word 'fork'. It was, in fact, quite funny at the time. (About hotel stuff & so on.)
ReplyDeleteHehehehehee...those Italians must think the British sheet in a strange colour! ;)
ReplyDeleteIn North Cornwall where we spend a lot of time, there is a restaurant called Life's a Beach. The Italians would be the only ones to get it right.
ReplyDeleteThe owner is a mate of Rick Stein. It is noisy and overpriced. But that's just an interlinea.
My mother, being Greek, has the same difficulty with her pronunciation
ReplyDeleteAs white as the sheets of a ship
ReplyDeleteGlad it made you smile, Steve. Didn't realise there was the same problem in Russian, James. Do Russians also have a problem with tonic stress in English? Well, Ludlingtonian, at least they had a good laugh so they might remember the expression! Lizzie, I can just imagine! [Actually that reminds me of something I'll post in a minute.] Lee, I think they do! That's a witty name for the restaurant, eurodog. I can imagine a meal there costs the earth! Ellee, yes, it's a pronunciation problem most continental Europeans have. WW, quite so!
ReplyDeleteToby loved this when I told him !!
ReplyDeletehugs
Shani
Must have been fun! Plenty of opportunity there for 'innocent' mistakes.
ReplyDeleteGlad Toby liked it, Shani. Hi, Liz. Yes, it was rather fun.
ReplyDelete