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Re: Over the hill [by linlin]

Sun, 27 Sep 2015 17:52:01 +0800

Idioms and Proverbs （成語與諺語）:: Over the hill
Our google lao shi will say.."Old and past one's prime"

Re: 金雞母,搖錢樹..英文怎麼說？ [by 123]

Fri, 13 Mar 2015 23:04:15 +0800

Idioms and Proverbs （成語與諺語）:: 金雞母,搖錢樹..英文怎麼說？
Quote:

deadserpent wrote:
cash cow, milch cow, money tree, moneymaker, money-spinner

疑所以也有跟tree有關的用法!Thanks.

Re: a Santayana saying [by montanius]

Sat, 7 Dec 2013 00:33:26 +0800

Idioms and Proverbs （成語與諺語）:: a Santayana saying
Hi "deadserpent",

Thanks for the help! Now, this is really interesting. I went throught the chapter and I state that both interpretations is correct.
In the article in which the sentece appears he writes of evolution, thus it can be interpreted as simply a "technical" question - it runs like this "(...) and when experience is not retained, as among saveges, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remeber the past are condemend to repeat it.(...) This is the condition of children and barbarians,(...)" - in other words, this in not an ethical question, it is not about reapeting foul deeds or something but any deed - because it is a "pre-moral world".
But some pages back he says: "(...) as we shall see, there is actually a similar foundation in all human and even in all animal natures, which supports a rudimentary morality common to all,(...)": in this case the translation with 重蹈覆辙 is correct, it is about moral and we have to learn our history for avoiding to make the same evil deeds.

(A note: easy to see that the two train of thoughts make the whole text inconsistent. Apart from this Santayana is a good guy, he-he.)

Thanks for your kind help again!

Quote:

deadserpent wrote:
重蹈覆辙
repeating bad history
repeating error(s)

The saying:
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
Cited from:
The Life of Reason - Reason in Common Sense, (Scribner's) 1905, page 284

Re: in the black [by Elinor]

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 21:04:18 +0800

Idioms and Proverbs （成語與諺語）:: in the black
Black Friday (shopping)

Black Friday is the day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, traditionally the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. On this day, most major retailers open extremely early, often at 4 a.m., or earlier, and offer promotional sales to kick off the shopping season, similar to Boxing Day sales in many Commonwealth Nations. Black Friday is not actually a holiday, but some non-retail employers give their employees the day off, increasing the number of potential shoppers. It has routinely been the busiest shopping day of the year since 2005, although news reports, which at that time were inaccurate, have described it as the busiest shopping day of the year for a much longer period of time.

The day's name originated in Philadelphia, where it originally was used to describe the heavy and disruptive pedestrian and vehicle traffic which would occur on the day after Thanksgiving. Use of the term started before 1966 and began to see broader use outside Philadelphia around 1975. Later an alternative explanation began to be offered: that "Black Friday" indicates the point at which retailers begin to turn a profit, or are "in the black".

For many years, it was common for retailers to open at 6:00, but in the late 2000s, many had crept to 5:00 or even 4:00. This was taken to a new extreme in 2011, when several retailers (including Target, Kohls, Macy's, Best Buy, and Bealls) opened at midnight for the first time. An online petition with more than 200,000 virtual signatures is aimed at asking Target not to open so early. Walmart opened at 10:00 pm on Thanksgiving and Toys 'R' Us at 9:00 pm. In 2010, Sears was open on Thanksgiving Day.

Because Thanksgiving falls on the fourth Thursday in November in the United States, the day after occurs between the 23rd and the 29th of November.

Accounting practice

Many merchants objected to the use of a negative term to refer to one of the most important shopping days in the year. By the early 1980s, an alternative theory began to be circulated: that retailers traditionally operated at a financial loss for most of the year (January through November) and made their profit during the holiday season, beginning on the day after Thanksgiving. When this would be recorded in the financial records, once-common accounting practices would use red ink to show negative amounts and black ink to show positive amounts. Black Friday, under this theory, is the beginning of the period where retailers would no longer have losses (the red) and instead take in the year's profits (the black).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Friday_%28shopping%29

Re: M~O~O~N [by Elinor]

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 19:41:05 +0800

Idioms and Proverbs （成語與諺語）:: M~O~O~N
Futari,

Thank you so much for the explanation.

Re: Handsome is as handsome does. [by futari]

Mon, 30 May 2011 01:24:50 +0800

Idioms and Proverbs （成語與諺語）:: Handsome is as handsome does.
Quote:

SoutheLily wrote:
Hello Futari:

Dont you think it would be great if we can have a barrel of monkeys around?

I guess I'll have to take a pill or two of pain-killer before I can join the party!

Re: Fudge the issue [by Elinor]

Tue, 10 May 2011 20:41:27 +0800

Idioms and Proverbs （成語與諺語）:: Fudge the issue
Futari,

Thanks again.

I will not leave. I will keep a close watch on you! Ha ha ha ……

Re: one man’s meat is another man’s poison [by 123]

Tue, 6 Apr 2010 19:30:14 +0800

Idioms and Proverbs （成語與諺語）:: one man’s meat is another man’s poison
Quote:

margtam wrote:
『甲之熊掌，乙之砒霜』

source: 亦舒小說

To Margtam:
I will read more nobles from now on.

Re: Make的意思..您知到多少個? [by 123]

Sun, 16 Aug 2009 22:45:48 +0800

Idioms and Proverbs （成語與諺語）:: Make的意思..您知到多少個?
To Futari:
Thanks and long time no see!

Have legs [by Tim Luo]

Sat, 3 Nov 2007 23:35:02 +0800

Idioms and Proverbs （成語與諺語）:: Have legs
This is an American expression. If an idea or plan has legs it is a good one that is likely to succeed.

Everyone knows Arnold Schwarzenegger movies have legs.

We need a financial expert to advise us, someone to tell us whether this thing has legs or not.

Source: Longman Idioms Dictionary