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Hossein Askari
Proverbs International

Hi, all italki-mates!

As you know proverbs are one of the most loaded cultural aspects of any language. I thought we could share how different cultures express the same meanings using different words.

I mean, for example in Farsi, there is a proverb "زیره به کرمان بردن" which means to bring or get sth to a place where it is mostly produced or made, BUT it literally means " to take  dill to the city of Kerman in Central Iran, where dill is mostly grown there".  It is equal to "to carry coal to Newcastle" in English.

How do YOU say this meaning in your own language? and whats the meaning "literally"?

コメント · 10

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My mother used to use many interesting expressions (Australian idioms as well as British) One of them was to praise someones ability to make an argument, she would say:- “He could sell ice to the Eskimos” I thought this was humorous, in Australia we have many such expressions. Another one is “You are preaching to the converted” which means I already agree with what you are saying (I don’t know if this is relevant in this discussion thread though because it is an expression rather than a proverb)
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Hi  Hossein,

In Hungary, if you go to a party with your girlfriend, where it is to expect, that a lot of singles will be looking for partners, we say this: "Erdőbe fát?" which literally means: "(are you carrying) A tree into the forest?"

:)

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Hi @Hossein and @Zsolt

In Polish exactly "zabierać drzewo do lasu" = "to carry a tree into the forest", used mainly in the same situations as in Hungary ;-)

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According to above mentioned website here it goes in german and swedish.

Deutsch: Eulen nach Athen tragen - Literally: "To bring owls to Athens."

Svenska: Att bjuda bagarbarn på bröd - Literally: "give bread to the baker’s children".

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Thanks a lot, Zsolt,

You see how interesting proverbs literal meanings are. In almost all the examples that you gave, sth is taken into or brought into a place where it is the source for that thing or there are lots of that thing in that place.

It is this commonality which attracted my attention , and the real meaning is the same in proverbs, across different languages.

What's your idea about this saying in Persian : بسیار سفر باید تا پخته شود خامی? literally means a person must travel a lot in order to become skillful or versatile in life.

Does anybody have the same thing in his/her culture?

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