![]() *When people use the word “diverse” or “diversity,” they’re often talking about racial diversity. I didn’t want to have to say it, but this is becoming the elephant in the room. The truth is, we aren’t reaching a wider audience because our writing team isn’t diverse* enough. Usually, “the elephant in the room” is something that makes people uncomfortable, which is why no one’s talking about it. If you say that something is the elephant in the room, you mean that thing is very obvious, but no one’s talking about it. This might be one of the weirdest English phrases in existence. Let’s look at what their meanings are and how you can use them in conversation. Ready to learn some funny English phrases? The ones below are very common and useful. This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that youĬlick here to get a copy. Where to Find More Funny English Sayings.So get ready to laugh as we take a look look at 42 funny English sayings, and prepare to build your vocabulary along the way. Plus, a lot of idiomatic phrases are just plain funny. Once you know what they mean, it’s hard to forget! Th en you can easily use them in conversations yourself. 塞翁失马 is also commonly followed by 焉知非福 (how would one tell whether it’s a misfortune or a blessing), meaning “loss is not always a bad thing, but a blessing in disguise.” And that’s exactly the kind of attitude which we need to have in real life.Ī lost may turn out to be a blessing in disguise or when God closes a door, he always opens a window.Ma42 Funny English Sayings for Learners to Laugh AtĪs you might already know, idioms are phrases that have their own special meanings. It also means that a bad thing can be turned into a good thing under certain conditions. This metaphor of “an old man (翁) living in the borders (塞) losing (失) a horse(马)” means that although we suffer losses, we might gain benefits later on. But the old man’s son was saved because of his lame leg. A year later, when the war broke, all the men in the village were forced to join the army and most of them died. When one of his horses ran off to the other side he said, “why can’t it be a blessing?” A few months later, when his horse returned with many fine horses, he said, “why can’t it be a catastrophe?” When his son fell off a horse and broke his leg, he said, “why can’t it be a good thing?”. An old man living near the country borders had a talent of fortune-telling. This is based on a story from a book written in the Western Han Dynasty (西汉). It is also a metaphor for making up facts out of thin air. Snakes do not have feet, otherwise, we would call them lizards. An idiom used to express doing something completely unnecessary-not only that it is useless, but it might also be inappropriate. After adding the crowning touch, the two dragons with eyes rose to the sky.Īnother idiom related to painting and animals is 画蛇添足 “painting a snake and adding it with feet”, which is the Chinese version of “gild the lily”. But people didn’t believe that and urged him to complete the painting. When he was asked why he answered: “if I do the dragons will fly away”. A famous artist painted four dragons on the wall of a temple, but neither had any eyes. It is based on a magical story that supposedly happened in the Tang Dynasty (唐朝). This idiom means to “add the crowning touch to an article or speech, using a few words to bring out its essence, making the content more vivid and powerful”. “painting a dragon and dots its eyes as the finishing touch”.
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