UNIVERZA V MARIBORU

FILOZOFSKA FAKULTETA

Oddelek za prevodoslovje

DIPLOMSKO DELO

Štefani Hren

Maribor, 2014

UNIVERZA V MARIBORU

FILOZOFSKA FAKZLTETA

Oddelek za prevodoslovje

Diplomsko delo

FRAZEMI O ZNAČAJU IN VIDEZU V ANGLEŠČINI IN SLOVENŠČINI:

KONTRASTIVNI POGLED

Graduation thesis

CHARACTER AND APPEARANCE IDIOMS IN ENGLISH AND

SLOVENE: A CONTRASTIVE VIEW

Mentorica: Kandidatka:

doc. dr. Katja Plemenitaš Štefani Hren

Maribor, 2014

Lektorica povzetka:

Mojca Benkovič, univ. dipl. prev. in tol. za ang. in prof. slo.

“If natural language had been designed by a logician, idioms would not

exist.”

(Cacciari and Tabossi)

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to express my gratitude to my mentor doc. dr. Katja

Plemenitaš for all her help, guidance and assistance.

I would especially like to thank my family and my boyfriend for all their help

and support during my years of study.

Koroška cesta 160 2000 Maribor, Slovenija

IZJAVA O AVTORSTVU DIPLOMSKEGA DELA

Podpisana Štefani Hren, rojena 24. 3. 1988, študentka Filozofske fakultete

Univerze v Mariboru, smer Prevajanje in tolmačenje nemščina in

Prevajanje in tolmačenje angleščina, izjavljam, da je diplomsko delo z

naslovom FRAZEMI O ZNAČAJU IN VIDEZU V ANGLEŠČINI IN

SLOVENŠČINI: KONTRASTIVNI POGLED, pri mentorici doc. dr. Katji

Plemenitaš, avtorsko delo.

V diplomskem delu so uporabljeni viri in literatura korektno navedeni;

teksti niso prepisani brez navedbe avtorjev.

____________________________

(podpis študentke)

Maribor, 14. 10. 2014

Koroška cesta 160 2000 Maribor, Slovenija

IZJAVA LEKTORICE

Podpisana Mojca Benkovič, univ. dipl. prev. in tol. za ang. in prof. slo.,

rojena 22. 7. 1988, izjavljam, da je povzetek diplomskega dela z naslovom

FRAZEMI O ZNAČAJU IN VIDEZU V ANGLEŠČINI IN SLOVENŠČINI:

KONTRASTIVNI POGLED, avtorice Štefani Hren, napisan slovnično,

strokovno in jezikovno pravilno.

Maribor, 14. 10. 2014

________________________

(podpis lektorice)

ABSTRACT

The goal of this graduation thesis is to find out the similarities in the use of

character and appearance idioms in English and Slovene. Idioms

represent an important part of the vocabulary of a language and the

English and the Slovene language are not an exception. An idiom is a

fixed word combination, consisting of at least two words. Its meaning is

non-literal, i.e. it cannot be predicted from the individual meaning of the

words it consists of. Therefore, idioms can represent a problem for

translators. They are widely used, especially in informal, spoken language.

I collected 150 character and appearance idioms and classified them into

four groups according to the way they are translated into Slovene. The

results of the analysis have shown that only approximately a quarter of the

idioms have the same structure and meaning in English and Slovene. One

third of the idioms have a different structure but share the same meaning.

Almost half of the English idioms have no established Slovene translation

at all or have no equivalent idiomatic translation. There are several

reasons for the differences in the use of idioms between these two

languages. The most important ones are culture, religion, history and the

geographical distance. In my graduation thesis I was also interested in the

similarities in the use of character and appearance idioms in different

genres in English and Slovene. For this purpose I randomly selected 5

idioms from each group of idioms which have the same structure and

meaning in both languages and researched their use in the corpuses

COCA and FidaPLUS.

Key words: idiom, character and appearance, translation, cultural

differences, non-literal meaning.

POVZETEK

Namen diplomskega dela je bil ugotoviti podobnosti v rabi idiomov o

značaju in videzu v angleškem in slovenskem jeziku. Idiomi predstavljajo

pomemben del besedišča določenega jezika in tudi angleški in slovenski

jezik nista izjemi. Idiomi so stalne besedne zveze, ki so sestavljene iz

najmanj dveh besed. Njihov pomen je prenesen, kar pomeni, da ga ni

mogoče razbrati iz pomena posameznih besed. Zaradi prenesenega

pomena tudi velikokrat predstavljajo težave pri prevajanju. Idiomi se

pogosto uporabljajo še posebej v neformalnem, govorjenem jeziku. V

diplomskem delu je zbranih 150 idiomov o značaju in videzu, ki so

razdeljeni v štiri skupine, glede na to, kako so prevedeni v slovenski jezik.

Rezultati analize so pokazali, da ima le slaba četrtina idiomov enak pomen

in strukturo v angleščini in slovenščini. Tretjina ima ustreznice z enakim

pomenom in drugačno strukturo v slovenskem jeziku. Slaba polovica

idiomov sploh nima ustaljenega slovenskega prevoda ali slovenske

idiomatske ustreznice. Razlogov za različno rabo idiomov med angleškim

in slovenskim jezikom je več. Najpomembnejša sta prav gotovo različna

kultura in versko ozadje. Pomembno vlogo imajo tudi zgodovinske in

geografske značilnosti. Zadnje poglavje v diplomskem delu je namenjeno

raziskovanju pogostosti rabe obravnavanih idiomov v različnih žanrih in

podobnosti te rabe v angleškem in slovenskem jeziku. Za to je bilo iz

skupin idiomov z enakim pomenom in strukturo v obeh jezikih naključno

izbranih 5 idiomov o značaju in videzu. Raziskava je bila izvedena s

pomočjo korpusov COCA in FidaPLUS.

Ključne besede: idiom, značaj in videz, prevod, kulturne razlike,

preneseni pomen.

i

CONTENTS

1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................ 1

2 IDIOMS ............................................................................................... 3

2.1 Definitions ..................................................................................... 3

2.2 Classification of idioms and their features ..................................... 6

2.2.1 Frozenness and flexibility ....................................................... 6

2.2.2 Transparency and opacity ...................................................... 6

2.2.3 Syntactic functions of idioms .................................................. 7

3 TRANSLATING IDIOMS ..................................................................... 8

4 RESEARCH ........................................................................................ 9

4.1 Methodology ................................................................................. 9

4.2 Idiom presentation ...................................................................... 10

5 CHARACTER AND APPEARANCE IDIOMS IN ENGLISH AND

SLOVENE ................................................................................................ 14

5.1 Positive character and appearance idioms ................................. 14

5.2 Negative character and appearance idioms ................................ 25

5.3 Miscellaneous ............................................................................. 39

6 DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION ..................................... 42

6.1 Character and appearance idioms that have the same lexical

structure and meaning in English and Slovene .................................... 44

6.2 Character and appearance idioms that have a different lexical

structure, but share the same meaning ................................................ 47

6.3 Character and appearance idioms with no equivalent Slovene

idioms ................................................................................................... 50

6.4 Character and appearance idioms with no established Slovene

translation ............................................................................................. 52

6.5 Discussion of the results of the analysis ..................................... 56

7 IDIOMS IN USE ................................................................................ 58

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7.1 Positive character and appearance idioms in the corpus COCA 60

7.2 Positive character and appearance idioms in the corpus

FidaPLUS ............................................................................................. 61

7.3 Similarities and differences in the use of the positive character

and appearance idioms in English and Slovene ................................... 63

7.4 Negative character and appearance idioms in the corpus COCA 64

7.5 Negative character and appearance idioms in the corpus

FidaPLUS ............................................................................................. 66

7.6 Similarities and differences in the use of the negative character

and appearance idioms in English and Slovene ................................... 67

7.7 Character and appearance idioms in the miscellaneous group in

the corpus COCA ................................................................................. 69

7.8 Character and appearance idioms in the miscellaneous group in

the corpus FidaPLUS ........................................................................... 70

7.9 Similarities and differences in the use of the idioms in the

miscellaneous group ............................................................................ 72

8 CONCLUSION .................................................................................. 73

BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................................................................... 75

iii

LIST OF GRAPHS

Graph 1: Proportion of the character and appearance idioms according to

the group .................................................................................................. 43

Graph 2: Proportion of idioms that have the same lexical structure and

meaning in English and Slovene .............................................................. 46

Graph 3: Proportion of idioms that have a different lexical structure, but

share the same meaning ......................................................................... 50

Graph 4: Proportion of English idioms with no equivalent Slovene idioms

................................................................................................................. 52

Graph 5: Proportion of English idioms with no established Slovene

translation ................................................................................................ 55

Graph 6: Comparison of groups of idioms according to the way they are

translated ................................................................................................. 56

Graph 7: Comparison of the frequency of the positive character and

appearance idioms in the corpus FidaPLUS ............................................ 62

Graph 8: Comparison of the frequency of the negative character and

appearance idioms in the corpus COCA .................................................. 65

Graph 9: Comparison of the frequency of the negative character and

appearance idioms in the corpus FidaPLUS ............................................ 66

Graph 10: Comparison of the frequency of the character and appearance

idioms in the miscellaneous group in the corpus COCA .......................... 69

Graph 11: Comparison of the frequency of the character and appearance

idioms in the miscellaneous group in the corpus FidaPLUS .................... 71

iv

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Positive character and appearance idioms that have the same

lexical structure and meaning in English and Slovene ............................ 45

Table 2: Negative character and appearance idioms that have the same

lexical structure and meaning in English and Slovene ............................ 46

Table 3: Idioms that have the same lexical structure and meaning in

English and Slovene in the miscellaneous group ..................................... 46

Table 4: Positive character and appearance idioms that have a different

lexical structure, but share the same meaning ......................................... 48

Table 5: Negative character and appearance idioms that have a different

lexical structure, but share the same meaning ......................................... 49

Table 6: Character and appearance idioms that have a different lexical

structure, but share the same meaning in the miscellaneous group ........ 49

Table 7: Positive character and appearance idioms with no equivalent

Slovene idioms ......................................................................................... 51

Table 8: Negative character and appearance idioms with no equivalent

Slovene idioms ......................................................................................... 51

Table 9: Character and appearance idioms with no equivalent Slovene

idioms in the miscellaneous group ........................................................... 52

Table 10: Positive character and appearance idioms with no established

Slovene translation .................................................................................. 53

Table 11: Negative character and appearance idioms with no established

Slovene translation .................................................................................. 54

Table 12: Idioms with no established Slovene translation in the

miscellaneous group ................................................................................ 54

Table 13: Classification of groups of idioms into four groups according to

the way they are translated ...................................................................... 55

Table 14: Frequency of the positive character and appearance idioms in

the corpus COCA ..................................................................................... 60

Table 15: Frequency of the positive character and appearance idioms in

the corpus FidaPLUS ............................................................................... 61

v

Table 16: Frequency of the negative character and appearance idioms in

the corpus COCA ..................................................................................... 64

Table 17: Frequency of the negative character and appearance idioms in

the corpus FidaPLUS ............................................................................... 66

Table 18: Frequency of the character and appearance idioms in the

miscellaneous group in the corpus COCA .............................................. 69

Table 19: Frequency of the character and appearance idioms in the

miscellaneous group in the corpus FidaPLUS ......................................... 70

1

1 INTRODUCTION

Idioms have fascinated me since I was a little girl. I like how their meaning

can be completely different from what one may think. During my studies I

came across a lot of English idioms as the English language, like most

languages, is filled with idioms and other idiomatic expressions (Brenner,

2003, p.2). There are over 10,000 idioms in the English language (ibid). It

is important to know the idioms and other idiomatic expression of a

language in all kinds of linguistic activities, including translation, since they

represent an important part of the language.

There are idioms for every aspect of life, and it was hard to decide for the

topic of my graduation thesis. As people like to talk about personalities

and appearances of other people and therefore often use idiomatic

expressions to convey more subtle themes, I chose idioms which describe

character traits and appearance to be the topic of my graduation thesis.

Idioms present an important part in our everyday communication, in chat

as well as in formal conversation and all forms of writing. There are idioms

for almost every occasion, life situation, human activity and emotion.

People like to use them as they make their language richer and more

colourful. In many cases, the idioms can better describe the full meaning,

as they can be more precise than the literal words. As the meaning of an

idiom does not depend on its individual words and is often culturally

bound, idioms can be a problem for those who learn a second language. It

also takes time and a lot of practice and patience to master them (ibid,

p.1-2).

My graduation thesis consists of two parts: the theoretical and empirical

part. In the first part, definitions and classification of idioms according to

their features are given (Chapter 2). Chapter 3 is a chapter on translating

idioms.

2

The second, empirical part of my graduation thesis begins with Chapter 4,

where the methodology and idiom presentation are included.

In Chapter 5, 150 character and appearance idioms with explanations are

presented. The use of all these idioms is illustrated in sample sentences.

Where it was possible, the equivalent Slovene idioms are given, where

this was not the case, I gave my suggestions on how they could be

translated into Slovene. The idioms are classified into three groups

depending on their meaning. The first group is the group of positive

character and appearance idioms, the second group is the group of

negative character and appearance idioms, and the last group is the

miscellaneous group with idioms that are neither positive nor negative.

In Chapter 6, data analysis follows. In this chapter idioms are further

divided into four groups according to the way they can be translated. The

first group consists of idioms that have the same structure and meaning in

English and Slovene. The second group consists of idioms which have a

different structure, but share the same meaning. The third group consists

of English idioms with no equivalent Slovene idioms. The last group

represents idioms which do not have a Slovene translation. The

translations in this group are only my suggestions on how they could be

translated.

As I was interested in which genre the idioms are used most and how

frequently people use them in English and Slovene, I randomly chose 5

idioms of each group and researched their use in the Corpus of

Contemporary American English and the Slovene corpus FidaPLUS. The

results of this study of idiom use are presented in Chapter 7.

The purpose of my graduation thesis is to present English character and

appearance idioms and their possible Slovene translations. This

3

graduation thesis is meant as a helpful resource for all who will need help

in translating English character and appearance idioms into Slovene.

2 IDIOMS

2.1 Definitions

The study of idioms and other word combinations is called phraseology.

There are many more and less similar definitions of an idiom. For better

understanding I collected idiom definitions from different sources.

In the Collins Cobuild Dictionary of idioms an idiom is defined as “a special

kind of phrase. It is a group of words which have a different meaning when

used together from the one it would have if the meaning of each word

were taken individually” (1995, p. IV).

According to Longman Dictionary of English Idioms (1992), “an idiom is a

fixed group of words with a special different meaning from the meanings of

the separate words”.

In the book Words, Meaning and Vocabulary an idiom is defined as “a

phrase, the meaning of which cannot be predicted from the individual

meaning of the morphemes it comprises” (2004, p. 65-66). The authors

also see idioms as a type of collocation involving two or more words in

context. Idioms may also be considered as a type of multiword lexeme, as

their meaning cannot be predicted from the meanings of its constituents.

They also say that idioms can easily be recognized as “frozen metaphors”

(ibid).

4

A simple definition of an idiom is given in the book Teaching Collocation

where an idiom is “an expression which is relatively fixed and allows little

or no change. It is often metaphorical” (2000, p. 50).

Idioms are “fixed word combinations and are reproduced as a whole. They

consist of at least two words, but are smaller than a sentence. The

meaning of the idiom as a whole does not (fully) correlate with the sum of

the meanings of its components” (Higi-Wydler in: Mündelein, 2008, p. 6).

According to Gabrovšek (2005, p. 96), idioms are defined as “sequences

of words which are semantically and often syntactically restricted, so they

function as single units”. He says that idioms are “strings of more than one

word whose syntactic, lexical, and phonological form is to a greater or

lesser degree fixed and whose semantic and pragmatic functions are

opaque and specialized, also to a greater or lesser degree” (ibid).

To sum up the definitions; idioms are fixed word combinations which

means we cannot change their components. Idioms consist of at least two

words. Their meaning is non-literal, i.e. it cannot be predicted from the

individual meaning of the words it consists of.

There are also other widely used multiword expressions beside idioms,

e.g. collocations and proverbs. As they may be confused with idioms, I

decided to briefly introduce these expressions and compare them to

idioms.

According to the book Teaching Collocation (2000, p. 51) a collocation “is

a predictable combination of words: get lost, speak your mind. Some

combinations may be highly predictable from one of the component words

- mineral water. Other may be so common that they hardly seem worth

remarking upon - a big flat, a nice car”.

5

For Gabrovšek (2005, p. 97), collocations are “fixed, identifiable, non-

idiomatic phrases and constructions”. They have standard patterns of co-

occurrence and can be entirely or partly semantic, or simply

combinational. Typical collocations are for example the greetings Merry

Christmas and Happy New Year. While Happy Christmas seems possible,

the other one is odd. Here Gabrovšek explains that there is nothing in the

meaning of the word merry and happy that makes the collocations in the

greetings predictable; the choices in this case are lexical choices. Also

synonyms may have different collocations; for example: students are

expelled, workers are fired, and soldiers are dismissed from the army.

Here the choices are also lexical choices (ibid, p. 90).

Idioms and collocations are multiword units. While the meaning of a

collocation is the sum of the meanings of its parts, the meaning of an

idiom is opaque; it cannot be predicted from the individual meaning of the

words it consists of. In other words, collocations have a literal meaning,

while idioms have a non-literal or idiomatic one; for example: the idiom to

be full of beans means to have a lot of energy and enthusiasm, and not to

have beans inside you.

Proverbs are another category of multiword expressions. “Proverbs can

be regarded as a subclass of idioms that consist of whole sentences and

contain advice about life in general” (Gabrovšek, 2005, p. 208). A proverb

is for example: People who live in glass houses should not throw stones;

meaning: not to criticize other people if you are not perfect yourself. As we

can see, proverbs and idioms both have an idiomatic meaning. The

difference between them is in their length; while idioms consist of two or

more words, proverbs are found in the form of sentences.

6

2.2 Classification of idioms and their features

Idioms are characterized by various features and can therefore be

classified into different groups.

2.2.1 Frozenness and flexibility

In the book Idioms: Processing, Structure, and Interpretation (1993, p. 80),

Flores D´Arcais says that “idioms differ to the degree to which they can

tolerate morphological and syntactic operations. Parts of some idioms can

be quantified, modified, or even omitted; lexical elements can be inserted

at various points, and so on. The degree to which this is possible depends

on the degree of frozenness of an idiom.” Certain changes, for example:

an insertion of an auxiliary in an idiom: he has kicked the bucket vs. he

kicks the bucket are allowed for almost all idioms. Some operations on the

other hand are possible only with certain ones (ibid). Moreover, in

idiomatic expressions none of the words may be replaced by a synonym.

For example, in we look forward to meeting you, look cannot be replaced

by see. If we use it, the expression is not idiomatic anymore (Jackson and

Zé Amvela, 2004, p. 67).

2.2.2 Transparency and opacity

Idioms can be more or less transparent. In transparent idioms, a literal

meaning is possible, whereas in an opaque idiom the literal interpretation

is not possible. An example of a transparent idiom is for example to leave

the cat out of the bag; to take a leak is on the other hand an example of an

idiom, where the literal meaning is not possible (ibid).

7

2.2.3 Syntactic functions of idioms

Idioms can take different positions in a sentence and therefore have

different syntactic functions. They can be prepositional and

conjunctional, adjectival, nominal, adverbial, and verbal (Higi-Wydler

in: Mündelein, 2008, p. 7-10).

- Prepositional idioms consist of nouns that are headed by

prepositions, for example out of the blue1.

- Conjunctional idioms function as a conjunction, for example in

spite of.

- Adjectival idioms are expressions with adjectives or particles that

occur in predicative or in attributive positions, for example right as

rain.

- Nominal idioms are idioms that are headed by a noun, for example

the idioms a good egg and a happy camper.

- Another category of idioms are adverbial idioms, for example in

the nick of time.

- Verbal idioms are the most frequent category. These idioms can

be for example verb-noun combinations (to keep one’s word). They

can also take the function of a sentence, for example have one’s

heart in the right place.

1 The examples given are my own examples.

8

3 TRANSLATING IDIOMS

The book Lexicology and Corpus Linguistics describes a translation as a

“process of rewording the same meaning, a process of finding new words

to express the same meaning” (2004, p. 68-69). Newmark (2005, p. 5)

defines translation as “rendering the meaning of a text into another

language in the way that the author intended the text.” As we know, the

meaning of an idiom is different from the meanings of the words it consists

of. Idioms thus represent a special challenge for translation due to their

metaphorical nature. It is very important that a translator translates the

meaning of an idiom and not the individual words.

Idioms are an important part of culture. Newmark sees culture “as the way

of life and its manifestations that are peculiar to a community that uses a

particular language as its means of expression”. He distinguishes “cultural”

from “universal” and “personal” language. While there are usually no

problems to translate the universals, a problem may occur by translating

cultural words unless there is cultural overlap between the two languages

(2005, p. 94). For a translator it is of great importance to know the culture

into which she translates. It is not enough to master only the vocabulary of

a foreign language, if our goal is to make a good translation. For lots of

idioms (and other idiomatic expressions) it is typical to reflect cultural

norms, therefore they can cause translation problems, especially when

there is no or very small cultural overlap between the cultures.

An additional reason for problems in translating idioms is that there are

almost no bilingual dictionaries of idioms a translator could use. Moreover,

while there are numerous English dictionaries of idioms there is only one

Slovene idioms dictionary and it was published in the year 2011. When

translating idioms a translator should use as many different sources as

possible. A bilingual dictionary is not enough.

9

There are no rules for translating idioms. A general guideline in translating

idioms is to find an idiomatic expression with the same or similar meaning

in the target language. If this is not possible, the translator should use a

paraphrase which explains the idiom. In this case the idiomaticity is lost,

but the meaning is preserved. When translating idioms, it is also very

important to know the culture of the receiver, and consider the context in

which an idiom appears.

4 RESEARCH

4.1 Methodology

In my research, I was focused on the meaning and the explanation of the

character and appearance idioms. My goal was to find the appropriate

Slovene equivalents. I collected 150 character and appearance idioms

from various dictionaries and the lists of idioms I found on the internet. It

should be noted here, however, that the list of character and appearance

idioms is not complete and that it is based on my interpretation of which

idioms belong to this category.

First I looked for the definitions and examples of each selected idiom. For

this task I used the following dictionaries: American idioms dictionary -

Dictionary of Everyday Expressions of Contemporary American English

(1993), Longman Dictionary of English Idioms (1980), A second book of

English Idioms with Explanations (1958), Collins Cobuild Dictionary of

Idioms (1995), Webster’s New World American Idioms Handbook, Oxford

Learner’s Dictionaries, Cambridge Dictionaries Online, and The Free

Dictionary.

10

To find the Slovene character and appearance idioms I used Slovar

slovenskega knjiţnega jezika (2002) and Slovar slovenskih frazemov

(2011).

My goal was to find the equivalent idioms in the Slovene language. Where

there were no equivalents, I tried to find alternative translations. Some

English character and appearance idioms have very obvious equivalents

which were not hard to find, but most of them I had to look up in English-

Slovene dictionaries. For this I used Veliki angleško-slovenski slovar

(2004), Angleški frazeološki slovar (2005), Splošni angleško-slovenski

slovar Pons.

I then divided all the 150 idioms into three groups and arranged them

alphabetically. The grammatical words a, an, the and as are not taken into

account in the idiom sequence.

I then classified all the character and appearance idioms into four groups

according to the way they are translated. The first group consists of idioms

that have the same structure and meaning in the English and Slovene

language. The second group consists of idioms which have a different

structure, but share the same meaning. The third group consists of English

idioms with no equivalent Slovene idioms. The last group represents the

idioms which do not have a Slovene translation. The translations in this

group are only my suggestions on how they could be translated.

4.2 Idiom presentation

I classified the idioms into three categories, taking into account their

meaning, and arranged them alphabetically.

The idioms are described according to the following characteristics:

11

STYLE: The majority of idioms is stylistically neutral and can be used in all

situations; but some idioms can also have different restrictions. Because

of these restrictions they can only be used in certain situations and among

a certain group of people. Idioms with following restrictions are used in this

paper.

- Informal: These idioms should be used very cautiously and only in

informal situations, for example among friends and family. The

expressions are very casual. They are most likely to be spoken and

not written.

- Slang: These expressions are more common in spoken language

and are especially used by a particular group of people, for

example: children, teenagers, criminals, etc.

- Humorous: These idioms indicate that the expressions are

amusing and can make people laugh.

- Old-fashioned: These idioms are out of date. Nowadays they are

generally used by older people rather than by young ones. They

may be found in journalism or literary writing, where the author tries

to create a particular effect.

- Literary: These idioms are used in formal contexts, such as serious

journalism and other kinds of formal writing.

USAGE: There are some distinctions between the idioms used in British

English and in American English but the majority of idioms are common to

both varieties. For example, speakers of British English say mummy’s boy,

whereas speakers of American English say mama’s boy. Idioms used are

accompanied by information about their use (if there is any); the

abbreviation BE stands for British English and AE for American English.

EXPLANATION: The explanations of idioms are taken from various

dictionaries. They make the meaning of an idiom as clear as possible.

12

EXAMPLE: The idioms are used in sample sentences, which show how

the idiom is used in recent British or American English. The examples

were taken from dictionaries.

SLOVENE EQUIVALENTS/TRANSLATIONS: An adequate Slovene

idiom was provided to an English one, where this was possible. All the

idiomatic translational equivalents are taken from the consulted

dictionaries. The Slovene idiom is given in italics. For example, the English

idiom the salt of the earth has an adequate Slovene idiom: biti sol zemlje,

which is given in italics. Where no Slovene equivalent exists, a possible

translation is given. This translation is only my suggestion on how the

idiom could be translated (my suggestions are underlined). If an idiom has

more translations or equivalents, all of them were given.

Each idiom is presented as follows:

IDIOM [STYLE], (USAGE)

→ Explanation

Example sentence

─ Slovene equivalent/translation

ORIGIN: Some idioms are hard to understand as we do not know where

they come from and how they become their metaphorical meaning. In my

opinion, the origin of an idiom is very important if we want to understand

them. Not all idioms have an explanation of their origin, so it was not

possible to include this in my presentation. Below are just some examples

of idioms and their origin which were difficult to understand, as I did not

know their background.

- A good Samaritan: From a story in the Bible, where a person is

injured and left along the road, while others passed by, avoiding

him. Only a Samaritan helped the injured man. Therefore to be a

13

Good Samaritan means to give help and sympathy to people who

need it.

- As mad as a hatter: Mercury salts used to be used in England to

make felt for hats. The mercury salt is a substance then not

understood to be dangerous as we know it to be. Hat makers risked

mercury poisoning, a condition that affects the nervous system. If a

person is exposed to mercury this can cause aggressiveness, mood

swings, and anti-social behaviour. The expression is now commonly

understood to mean crazy, although the original meaning is unclear

(The meaning and or ig in of the expression: As mad as

a hat ter (n. d.)).

- A doubting Thomas: A reference to the apostle Thomas, who did

not believe that Jesus had risen from the dead until he actually

touched the risen Christ. Therefore the meaning not to believe

something until one sees proof of it; a sceptic.

- The milk of human kindness: From Shakespeare's Macbeth

(Macbeth Act 1, scene 5, 15–18), 1605.

Lady Macbeth:

Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be

What thou art promis'd. Yet do I fear thy nature,

It is too full o' th' milk of human kindness

To catch the nearest way.

Lady Macbeth wants her husband to become King of Scotland. She

fears her husband’s kindness may keep him from doing what is

necessary to become king – to murder king Duncan (Shakespeare

Quotes, n. d.).

14

Finally, I analysed and divided the idioms into groups, according to the

way they are translated. The results of the analysis are presented in

Chapter 6.

5 CHARACTER AND APPEARANCE IDIOMS IN ENGLISH

AND SLOVENE

The idioms are classified into three groups:

- the group of positive character and appearance idioms,

- the group of negative character and appearance idioms, and

- the miscellaneous group.

Idioms are arranged alphabetically, under the first word of the phrase

(except the words a, an, as and the).

5.1 Positive character and appearance idioms

An angel of mercy

→ A compassionate, caring or sentimental person.

Mother Teresa was considered an angel of mercy.

─ Angel usmiljenja.

A ball of fire [informal]

→ A person who is full of energy and enthusiasm.

Sally is a ball of fire – she works late every night.

─ Oseba, polna energije.

Be a law unto oneself

→ To behave in an independent way and ignore rules or what other

people want you to do.

15

Boys of that age are a law unto themselves.

─ Biti sam sebi zakon.

(As) busy as a bee/ A busy bee

→ A person who enjoys doing a lot of things and always keep themselves

busy.

He is busy as a bee designing every production in London.

─ Priden kot čebela.

(As) chirpy/lively/merry as a cricket [informal], [old-fashioned]

→ Very happy and carefree.

Mary is as merry as a cricket whenever she has company come to

call.

─ Biti ţidane volje.

Cool, calm and collected

→ In full control of one's emotions.

The bad news didn't seem to distress Jane at all. She remained

cool, calm, and collected.

─ Biti popolnoma miren.

A day person

→ A person who prefers to be active during the daytime.

I am strictly a day person. Have to be in bed early.

─ Dnevni človek.

Down-to-earth

→ Sensible, realistic and practical, in a way that is helpful and friendly.

They came across as natural, down-to-earth people, just as they do

on TV.

16

─ Trezen, preudaren, stvaren, prizemljen2.

Dressed to kill [informal]

→ Wearing the kind of clothes that will make people notice and admire

you.

A person doesn't go on vacation dressed to kill.

─ Biti zapeljivo oblečen.

Dressed up to the nines [informal]

→ To be wearing very fashionable or formal clothes for a special

occasion.

They must have been on their way to a wedding or something.

They were dressed up to the nines.

─ Biti kakor iz škatlice.

(An) eager beaver [informal]

→ Someone who works very hard and is very eager to do things.

Who's the eager beaver who came in at the weekend to finish this

work off?

─ Delaven, marljiv kot mravlja.

(As) fit as a fiddle [informal]

→ In very good physical condition.

You may feel sick now, but after a few days of rest and plenty of

liquids, you'll be fit as a fiddle.

─ Zdrav kot dren; zdrav kot riba.

2 It has to be noted that the word prizemljen has an idiomatic origin - it is derived from the

expression 'biti pri zemlji', which contains the same metaphor as the English idiom.

17

(As) fresh as a daisy

→ Be healthy and full of energy.

You look fresh as a daisy!

─ Zdrav in poln energije.

Full of beans [informal]

→ Happy, excited and full of energy.

He is a likable extrovert, full of beans.

─ Biti pravi živec.

A giving person

→ A person who gives his or her time or attention to others.

He's a very kind and giving person; he does a lot of charity work.

─ Imeti radodarne roke. Radodarneţ.

A go-getter [informal]

→ Someone who is very energetic, determined to be successful,

and able to deal with new or difficult situations easily.

We only recruit go-getters who will be actively involved in the

company's development.

─ Moţ dejanj.

A golden boy

→ A person who is unusually successful at an early age.

He’s the current golden boy of American ice-skating.

─ Zlati deček.

(As) good as gold [informal]

→ Behaving in a way that other people approve of.

We knew that Daddy would not read us a bedtime story unless we

behaved, so we tried to be good as gold.

─ Dober kot kruh.

18

A good egg [old-fashioned], [informal]

→ An agreeable or trustworthy person; a person who you can rely on.

He's a good egg, your brother - he visited me every day while I was

ill.

─ Dobra duša.

A good Samaritan [informal]

→ A person who gives help and sympathy to people who need it.

He's such a good Samaritan. He used to go shopping for my gran

when she was ill.

─ Usmiljeni Samarijan.

(As) happy as the day is long

→ A person who is content, cheerful and happy.

We left the girls playing in the park and they were as happy as the

day is long.

─ Radosten; neizmerno vesel; presrečen.

A happy camper

→ A happy person.

The boss came in this morning and found his hard disk trashed. He

was not a happy camper.

─ Vesel človek.

Happy-go-lucky

→ Not caring or worrying about the future; carefree or easy-going.

I was a happy-go-lucky girl doing well in school, with lots of friends.

─ Brezskrben; lahkomiseln.

Have a good head on one’s shoulder

→ To have common sense; to be sensible and intelligent.

19

John has a good head on his shoulders and can be depended on to

give good advice.

─ Imeti glavo na pravem koncu.

Have a heart [informal]

→ To be compassionate; to be generous and forgiving; to have an

especially compassionate heart.

If Anne had a heart, she'd volunteer to help us on the charity drive.

─ Imeti (dobro) srce.

Have a heart of gold [informal]

→ To be kind and generous, and enjoy helping other people.

He helped all the local sporting organisations – bowls, hockey,

rugby and tennis. He had a heart of gold.

─ Imeti zlato srce.

Have an open mind

→ To be willing to listen to or accept new ideas or suggestions.

Mike might not be guilty - you should keep an open mind until after

his case is heard in court.

─ Biti odprte glave.

Have/keep your feet on the ground

→ To have a sensible and realistic attitude to life.

In spite of his overnight stardom he still manages to keep his feet

on the ground.

─ Stati na trdnih tleh.

Have nerves of steel

→ To be able to remain calm in a difficult or dangerous situation; to be

very brave.

You need to have nerves of steel to be a fighter pilot.

20

─ Biti jeklenih ţivcev.

Have one's heart in the right place [informal]

→ To have a kind or loving nature.

I don't always do what is right, but my heart is in the right place.

─ Imeti srce na pravem mestu.

Have the courage of one’s convictions

→ To have enough courage and determination to carry out one's goals.

It's fine to have noble goals in life and to believe in great things. If

you don't have the courage of your convictions, you'll never reach

your goals.

─ Biti moţ načel.

(As) honest as the day is long [old-fashioned]

→ To be very honest.

This boy is hard-working, ambitious, smart, and honest as the day

is long. They don’t come any better than Russel here.

─ Biti zelo pošten.

An honest Joe [informal]

→ An ordinary honest man who is of no special interest.

He's just an honest Joe trying to earn enough money to live.

─ Zvesti Janez.

In rude health [old-fashioned], (BE)

→ Looking or feeling very healthy.

Isabel had always been in rude health.

─ Zdrav in krepak.

Keep a cool head

→ The ability to stay calm and think clearly in a difficult situation.

21

These are high pressure situations and you have to keep a cool

head.

─ Ohraniti trezno glavo.

(As) keen as a mustard [informal], [old-fashioned], (BE)

→ Very eager and interested in everything; enthusiastic and intelligent.

Why don't we ask Tom to captain the cricket team? He's as keen as

mustard.

─ Biti zelo navdušen, vnet.

Keep one's word

→ To do what one has promised.

She promised not to tell anyone about my illness, but she didn't

keep her word. Now everyone knows.

─ Drţati besedo.

A live wire [informal]

→ A person who is lively and full of energy.

When we saw you in the Starlight Club you were a real live wire.

─ Biti zelo dinamičen.

Look/feel like a million dollars [informal]

→ To look/feel extremely good.

She turned around, still smiling, and looking like a million dollars.

─ Čudovito izgledati.

A man of his word

→ Someone you can trust because you know they will do what they say

they will do; a person who keeps his promises.

Rae was a man of his word - if he said he'd be here on Friday, he'd

be here on Friday.

─ Moţ beseda.

22

A man of parts

→ A man who is able to do many different things.

George is a man of many parts - ruthless businessman, loving

father, and accomplished sportsman, to name a few.

─ Zelo sposoben človek.

A man of the world

→ A person with a lot of experience of life, who is not easily surprised or

shocked.

You're a man of the world, Roger; I'd appreciate your advice on a

rather delicate matter.

─ Svetovljan.

(As) nice as pie [informal]

→ If someone is nice as pie, they are friendly to you when you are

expecting them not to be.

I came in this morning expecting him to be furious with me and he

was nice as pie.

─ Sladek kot med.

Not a hair out of place

→ Someone who's appearance is very tidy or perfect.

She was immaculate as ever, not a hair out of place.

─ Imeti vsak las na svojem mestu.

A people person [informal]

→ A person who enjoys, and is good at, being with and talking to other

people.

Colleagues say she's a good people person who can

really motivate a team.

─ Družaben človek.

23

Picture-perfect, (AE)

→ Having an appearance that is exactly right, completely perfect.

On her wedding day, she was picture-perfect.

─ Lep kot slika.

(As) right as rain [informal], [folksy]

→ Correct; genuine.

John is very dependable. He's right as rain.

─ Biti v najlepšem redu.

The salt of the earth

→ A person or a group of people having the best personal qualities, the

best character, etc.; a person or people who are very dependable,

honest.

Everyone else has always thought she was the salt of the earth.

─ Biti sol zemlje.

(As) sharp as a tack [informal]

→ Very intelligent.

He may be old in years, but he's still as sharp as a tack and knows

what he's talking about.

─ Biti bistre glave.

(As) sly/cunning as a fox

→ To be smart and clever.

You have to be cunning as a fox to outwit me.

─ Zvit kot lisica.

A social butterfly

→ A person who has a lot of friends and acquaintances and likes to flit

from one social event to another is called a social butterfly.

Jessica is constantly out and about; she's a real social butterfly.

24

─ Oseba, ki se rada druži.

A straight arrow [informal], (US)

→ A person who is very conventional, honest and moral.

He knew I was, at heart, what we used to call a straight arrow.

─ Odkritosrčen in moralen.

Strictly on the level [informal]

→ Honest, dependably, open and fair.

You can trust Sally. She's strictly on the level.

─ Fant od fare.

The milk of human kindness [literary]

→ A kind behaviour, considered to be natural to humans.

Roger is too full of the milk of human kindness and people take

advantage of him.

─ Človeška dobrota.

Thick-skinned

→ A person insensitive to criticism or hints; not easily upset or affected.

You do need to be thick-skinned to survive as a politician here.

─ Imeti debelo koţo. Imeti slonovo koţo.

Warm-hearted

→ To have warm, caring feelings for people.

People always feel welcome in her house. Jenny is one of the most

warm-hearted people I know.

─ Biti toplega srca.

A willing horse

→ A person prepared to work hard.

25

He is such a determined, willing horse that he would push himself

beyond his limits if you asked him.

─ Ubogljiv konj.

(As) wise as an owl

→ Very wise.

This is a difficult problem. You'd need to be as wise as an owl to be

able to solve it.

─ Biti pameten kot sova.

(As) wise as Solomon

→ Very wise.

If you are in trouble, get Chris to advise you. He's as wise as

Solomon.

─ Moder kot Salomon.

Worth one's salt

→ To be effective and efficient; of strong character.

Any accountant worth their salt should be aware of

the latest changes in taxation.

─ Biti vreden svojega imena.

5.2 Negative character and appearance idioms

(All) skin and bone / nothing but skin and bones [informal]

→ To be extremely thin in a way that is not attractive or healthy.

Bill has lost so much weight. He's nothing but skin and bones.

─ Sama kost in koţa.

(An) armchair critic [informal]

→ A person who criticizes without taking action.

26

Those who complain about our government but don't vote are

armchair critics.

─ Kavarniški kritik.

A bad lot [informal], [old-fashioned], (BE)

→ A person who is dishonest, unpleasant or disreputable.

After the divorce he moved in with another woman who's a bad lot

and our son, who is 12, won't go round to her house.

─ Človek na slabem glasu.

A bag of bones [informal]

→ Someone who is extremely thin.

All the plumpness she'd acquired in middle age had gone. She was

a bag of bones.

─ Biti kost in koţa.

A bag of nerves [informal]

→ Someone who is extremely anxious or tense.

When her relationship started getting serious, she became a bag of

nerves.

─ Imeti zrahljane ţivce.

(As) bald as a coot/bald as a baby's backside [informal], (BE)

→ To be completely bald.

If Tom's hair keeps receding like that, he'll be bald as a coot by the

time he's thirty.

─ Biti popolnoma plešast, biti brez las.

A barefaced liar [informal]

→ Someone who lies easily, with a total lack of shame.

That barefaced liar stole my car and said he'd found it!

─ Nesramen lažnivec.

27

Be all fur coat and no knickers [humorous]

→ To look attractive but not really be very interesting or of good quality.

When he took over as chairman we discovered he was all fur coat

and no knickers.

─ Privlačen a ne preveč zanimiv.

Be all mouth [informal]

→ To have a tendency to talk a great deal while taking little or no practical

action to support what one says.

She says she'll complain to the manager but I think she's all mouth.

─ Same besede so ga.

Behind the times [informal]

→ Old-fashioned, antiquated, or not up to date in your ideas, methods,

etc.

When it comes to women's rights, my grandfather is way behind the

times.

─ Biti za časom; moţ starega kova.

Be more catholic than the Pope [informal]

→ To be excessively pious.

She is so pious; she is more catholic than the Pope.

─ Biti bolj papeški od papeţa.

A big mouth [informal], [slang]

→ A person who talks a lot, especially about him- or herself, and who

cannot keep secrets.

There is a picture of her on the site which could almost have been

designed to portray a self-promoting bigmouth.

─ Širokoustneţ.

28

(As) bold as brass [informal] (UK)

→ Someone who does something without being ashamed or

embarrassed, although their behaviour is shocking or annoying to other

people.

Their leader, bold as brass, came improperly dressed, wearing a

lounge suit while all the others were wearing black ties.

─ Predrznež.

A broken reed

→ A weak, unreliable, or ineffectual person.

You can't rely on Jim's support. He's a broken reed.

─ Oseba, na katero se človek ne more zanesti.

Chicken-hearted

→ A person who is easily frightened; cowardly.

She became angry and accused her friends of being chicken-

hearted.

─ Bojazljivec.

A cold fish

→ A person who is distant and unfeeling.

She hardly speaks to anyone. She's a cold fish.

─ Računarska riba.

Cold-hearted

→ Not showing any love or sympathy for other people; unkind.

He was a cold-hearted man and showed no affection or kindness to

anyone.

─ Človek brez srca.

29

A cry-baby [informal]

→ A person, especially a child, who cries too often or without good

reason.

Don't be such a cry-baby.

─ Mila jera.

A dead loss [informal], (BE)

→ A person that is completely useless.

Ever since, I have been a dead loss at competitive sports and

games.

─ Zguba.

A doubting Thomas [old-fashioned]

→ A person who is unlikely to believe something until they see proof of it;

a sceptic.

In an age of certainties, he is the original doubting Thomas.

─ Neverni Tomaţ.

Down-at-heel (BE) / down-at-the-heel (AE)

→ Badly dressed or in a bad condition because of a lack of money.

When I first met her she was down-at-heel but still respectable.

─ Biti ponošenega, osiromašenega videza.

Dyed-in-the-wool

→ Having strong beliefs or opinions that are never going to change.

They are real dyed-in-the-wool traditionalists.

─ Zakrknjenec.

A face like a wet week-end, (BE) [informal]

→ To look very unhappy.

He's had a face like a wet weekend all day.

─ Izgledati zelo žalostno.

30

A face like thunder

→ To have a very angry expression.

I don't know what had happened but he had a face like thunder.

─ Imeti besen izraz na obrazu.

A face only a mother could love [humorous]

→ A very ugly face.

The poor baby has a face only a mother could love.

─ Imeti zelo grd obraz.

A face that could stop a clock

→ A shockingly unattractive face.

Look at that guy. That's a face that could stop a clock.

─ Imeti neprivlačen obraz.

Full of oneself

→ Full of pride or conceit; egoistic.

One needs to feel quite full of oneself to deal happily with a roomful

of toffs.

─ Biti poln (samega) sebe.

A good-for-nothing [informal]

→ A person who is lazy and not helpful or useful.

She told him he was a lazy good-for-nothing and should get a job.

─ Pridanič; ničvredneţ.

A goody-goody [informal]

→ Always acts good, sweet and nice; follows the rules perfectly (and

shows off their perfect behaviour).

DiCaprio had second thoughts about the role because of his goody-

goody Titanic image with a pre-pubescent fan base.

─ Pridkanec.

31

Green with envy

→ Very jealous.

My new car made my neighbour green with envy.

─ Zelen(a) od zavisti.

Hard-as-nails

→ Showing no sympathy, kindness or fear.

That was his hard-as-nails trade representative, Carla Hills.

─ Trden kot skala.

Hard-boiled [informal]

→ Not showing much emotion.

He plays the hard-boiled detective that women find irresistibly

attractive.

─ Človek z mrtvim srcem.

Have a heart of stone

→ A person who does not show others sympathy or pity.

Only a heart of stone could not be moved by the nightmare of the

opening scene of Don't Look Now.

─ Imeti kamen namesto srca.

Have a quick temper

→ To become angry easily.

Tyler has a quick temper and doesn't mind letting everyone see it.

─ Biti hitre, nagle jeze.

Have one's head in the clouds

→ To have ideas, plans, etc. which are not realistic.

He has his head in the clouds instead of paying attention to what is

happening.

─ Ţiveti v oblakih.

32

Having no backbone

→ Having no force of character; to be weak.

He doesn't have the backbone to face the truth.

─ Biti brez hrbtenice.

Heartless

→ To be unkind or cruel.

It was heartless of you to throw away her favourite toy as a

punishment.

─ Biti brez srca.

A know-it-all [informal], (AE)

→ One who claims to know everything and rejects advice or information

from others.

Let's save money and have six or so Democrats with a few know-it-

all journalists.

─ Pametnjakovič.

A know-nothing [informal]

→ A totally ignorant person.

Major is just another carpet-bagging know-nothing politician who

looks down his nose at real people.

─ Nevednež.

A Lady Bountiful, (BE)

→ A woman, especially an upper-class woman, who likes to appear

generous with her money or time.

She likes to help out at the school and play Lady Bountiful.

─ Gospa radodarnica.

Like a bear with a sore head [informal], [humorous]

→ Bad-tempered.

33

I should keep out of his way. He's like a bear with a sore head this

morning.

─ Biti pravi godrnjač.

Lily-livered [literary]

→ Lacking courage.

I've never seen such a lily-livered bunch of wimps in my life!

─ Strahopeten.

Lotus eaters [literary]

→ Lazy, dreamy people who are only concerned with their own pleasures

and comfort.

The people who live in this small rich country are lotus eaters-they

think only of amusing themselves and have no interest in the

problems of the rest of the world.

─ Uživači; sanjači.

(As) mad as a hatter (or as a March hare) [informal]

→ Crazily eccentric.

She hadn't answered though, and he could tell from her eyes that

she was as mad as a hatter.

─ Biti (zelo) čez les.

(As) mad as a hornet [informal]

→ Very angry.

You make me so angry. I'm as mad as a hornet.

─ Hud kot sršen.

A mama's boy (AE) / mummy’s boy (BE)

→ A boy or man excessively attached to his mother; allowing her to have

too much influence on him.

34

Derek's a bit of a mummy's boy. He finished with his last girlfriend

because his mother disapproved.

─ Mamin sinček.

A man of straw (BE) / a straw man (AE)

→ A person that is weak and easy to defeat.

Compared to their illustrious predecessors, the country's leaders

seem to be men of straw.

─ Slabič.

A nasty piece of work [informal], (BE)

→ A person who is unpleasant, unkind or dishonest

Don't trust him; he's a nasty piece of work.

─ Biti vreden svojega denarja.

A nosy parker [informal], [becoming old-fashioned], (BE)

→ A person who habitually attempts to find out about other people's

private affairs; a prying person.

She really is a nosy parker; she wants to know everything about my

new boyfriend.

─ Firbec.

Out of shape

→ Not in good physical condition.

I didn't realize how out of shape I was!

─ Biti iz forme.

A plain Jane

→ A woman or girl who is not attractive.

If she'd been a plain Jane, she wouldn't have had all the attention.

─ Biti siva miška.

35

(As) proud as a peacock [informal]

→ Overly proud.

Mike's been strutting around proud as a peacock since he won that

award.

─ Nosi se kot pav.

A queer fish [old-fashioned], (BE)

→ A strange person.

I knew his father and he was a queer fish too.

─ Čuden patron.

Self-centred, (AE)

→ Totally preoccupied with one's own concerns.

Anna continues to be one of the most self-centred people he has

ever come across.

─ Egocentričen, samoljuben, sebičen, samo nase misleč.

A slime-ball [informal], [slang]

→ An unpleasant or disgusting person.

The last job Holly had was working as a secretary for an unforgiving

little slime-ball in a lawyer's office.

─ Lizun.

(As) slippery as an eel

→ Someone who is as slippery as an eel cannot be trusted.

You'd be mad to go into business with him. He's as slippery as an

eel.

─ Spolzek kot jegulja.

A smart alec [informal], (BE) / A smart aleck (AE)

→ A person who thinks they are very clever and likes to show people this

in an annoying way.

36

You’ll end up no more than a smart aleck and you’re well down that

road already.

─ Pametnjakovič.

Soft-hearted

→ Kind, sympathetic and emotional.

He's too soft-hearted for his own good.

─ Imeti mehko srce.

A stick-in-the-mud [informal]

→ A person who refuses to try anything new or exciting; a dull and old-

fashioned person.

Some stick-in-the-mud objected to the kind of music we wanted to

play in church.

─ Starokopitneţ.

Stiff-necked (BE)

→ Proud and refusing to change; stubborn.

My father only bought it to annoy his stiff-necked neighbours.

─ Trdovraten; trmast.

(As) stubborn as a mule

→ Very stubborn.

They tried to talk him into some other, quieter instrument, but he

was stubborn as a mule, and now he has a trumpet.

─ Trmast kot mula.

Talk the hind leg off a donkey, [informal]

→ To talk too much, especially about boring or unimportant things.

His father could talk the hind leg off a donkey.

─ Govoriti kot deţ; govoriti noč in dan.

37

Thin-skinned

→ Sensitive to criticism or hints; easily upset by criticism or insults.

He was intellectually inadequate, had no strategic vision and was

too thin-skinned.

─ Imeti tanko kožo.

A tin god

→ Someone who behaves as if they are more important or powerful than

they really are.

She thinks she’s a tin god just because she’s dating her boss.

─ Mali bog.

Two-faced [informal]

→ Not honest or sincere; saying different things to different people in

order to get their approval instead of speaking and behaving honestly.

You aren’t honest at all; I finally know what a two-faced friend you

are.

─ Dvoličneţ.

(As) ugly as sin [informal]

→ To be very ugly.

Harold is ugly as sin, but his personality is very charming.

─ Grd kot smrtni greh; grd kot hudič; grd kot sam parkelj; grd kot

strašilo.

An ugly duckling

→ A person or thing that at first does not seem attractive or likely to

succeed but that later becomes successful or much admired.

I always look upon our Janet as the ugly duckling of the family!

─ Grda račka.

38

A wet blanket [informal]

→ A person, who tries to spoil other people's fun, refuses to join the fun or

show enthusiasm.

What a wet blanket! He never wants to do anything fun.

─ Kvarilec zabave; sitnež.

A wolf in sheep's clothing

→ A person who hides the fact that they are evil, with a pleasant and

friendly appearance.

My next boss, on the surface very warm and charming, proved to

be something of a wolf in sheep's clothing.

─ Volk v ovčji koţi.

Yellow bellied [informal], [old-fashioned]

→ A person that is not at all brave.

You're a load of yellow-bellied fools, too frightened to stand up for

what you believe in!

─ Nepogumna oseba.

A yes-man

→ A person who always agrees with people in authority in order to gain

their approval.

He is a real yes-man, he agrees with his boss 100 per cent all the

time.

─ Kimavec.

39

5.3 Miscellaneous

A babe in the woods (AE)

→ Persons who are inexperienced or childishly trustful.

When it comes to dealing with men, she's a babe in the woods.

─ Janko in Metka.

Be (like) chalk and cheese, (BE)

→ If two people are like chalk and cheese, they are completely different

from each other.

I don't have anything in common with my brother. We're like chalk

and cheese.

─ Biti kot noč in dan.

(As) brown as a berry, (BE)

→ Someone, whose skin has become much darker because of the effects

of the sun.

She's as brown as a berry after a month in Greece.

─ Dobiti rjavo polt.

A carbon copy

→ Two people who seem to be identical, or very similar.

She's always been quiet. She’s a carbon copy of her mother – her

mother always hated making a fuss.

─ Prava kopija očeta/matere.

A chip off the old block [informal]

→ A person who is very similar to one of his/her parents in appearance,

character, or behaviour.

40

I’ve known Damon since he was a boy and he’s a chip of the old

block. He has the same dry sense of humour, and the same

dedication and total commitment.

─ Izrezan oče/mama.

(As) cool as a cucumber [informal]

→ Very calm and controlled, especially in a difficult situation.

The Queen was as cool as a cucumber but we all jumped out of our

skins.

─ Hladen kot špricer.

Hide one's light under a bushel, (BE)

→ To conceal one's abilities or good qualities.

Jane has some good ideas, but she doesn't speak very often. She

hides her light under a bushel.

─ Postavljati svojo luč pod mernik.

A Joe Bloggs (BE) / a Joe Blow (AE), [informal], [humorous]

→ The ordinary or average person.

The problem for a writer is getting Joe Bloggs to buy his books.

─ Janez Povprečneţ.

Keep (oneself) to oneself

→ To avoid meeting people socially or becoming involved in their affairs.

Nobody knows much about him; he keeps himself very much to

himself.

─ Drţati se sam zase.

A ladies’ man

→ A man who enjoys being with and giving attention to women.

He considered himself a real ladies' man.

─ Ljubljenec žensk.

41

Like a lamb

→ Gentle, quiet and obedient.

She'd followed him like a lamb. She hadn't asked him why he was

taking her to a medical research laboratory in a university rather

than to a normal hospital or clinic.

─ Ko jagnje.

(Like) two peas in a pod

→ To be very similar in appearance.

The two brothers are very alike - they're like two peas in a pod!

─ Biti podoben kot jajce jajcu; biti podoben kakor krajcar krajcarju.

A man of few words

→ Someone, not necessarily a man, who speaks concisely or not at all.

He is a man of few words, but he usually makes a lot of sense.

─ Moţ redkih besed; redkobesedneţ.

A night owl [informal]

→ A person who enjoys staying up late at night.

The resort is a paradise both for sun worshippers and night owls

with its fantastic weather and abundance of night life.

─ Nočna ptica.

An open book

→ If someone is an open book, it is easy to know what they are thinking

and feeling.

Sarah's an open book, so you'll know right away if she doesn't like

the present you've bought her.

─ Odprta knjiga.

42

A rough diamond, (BE)

→ A person who does not seem very polite or well educated at first,

although they have a good character

Mitchell may have been a rough diamond, but he was absolutely

loyal to his employer.

─ Nebrušen diamant.

Set in one's ways

→ To have habits or opinions that you have had for a long time and that

you do not want to change.

If you weren't so set in your ways, you'd be able to understand

young people better.

─ Imeti ustaljene navade.

A shrinking violet [informal], [humorous]

→ A very shy and retiring person.

You don't do this kind of show if you're a shrinking violet who

doesn't want media coverage.

─ Boječa vijolica.

Two of a kind

→ People of the same type or that are similar in character, attitude, etc.

Jack and Tom are two of a kind. They're both ambitious.

─ Biti zelo podoben.

6 DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

150 character and appearance idioms were analysed and translated into

Slovene. Due to the fact that a single idiom can relate to different

character traits (i.e. the idiom on the level, means that a person is honest,

dependably, open and fair), the idioms were classified into three basic

groups (POSITIVE CHARACTER AND APPEARANCE IDIOMS,

43

NEGATIVE CHARACTER AND APPEARANCE IDIOMS AND

MISCELLANEOUS), whether they mean a good or a positive quality, a

bad or a negative quality, or something in between.

The largest group of idioms is the group of NEGATIVE CHARACTER AND

APPEARANCE IDIOMS, altogether 71 idioms (or 47%). The second

largest group is with 60 idioms (or 40%) the group of POSITIVE

CHARACTER AND APPEARANCE IDIOMS. The smallest group is with 19

idioms (or 13%) the MISCELLANEOUS group.

Graph 1: Proportion of the character and appearance idioms according to the group

The idioms are further divided into four groups according to the way they

can be translated. This is shown in the four tables below. The first group

consists of idioms that have the same lexical structure and meaning in the

English and Slovene language. The second group consists of idioms

which have a different structure, but share the same meaning. The third

group consists of English idioms with no equivalent Slovene idioms. The

last group represents idioms which have no established Slovene

translations. The translations in this group are only my suggestions on

how they could be translated.

Positive character and appearance

idioms 40%

Negative character and appearance

idioms 47%

Miscellaneous 13%

44

Some idioms may belong to more than one group as they may have more

than one possible translation. Such idioms are put into only one group,

e.g. if an English idiom has an identical translation in Slovene and also a

translation that differs in structure, but has the same meaning, it is listed in

the first mentioned group and accompanied by all possible translations.

6.1 Character and appearance idioms that have the same

lexical structure and meaning in English and Slovene

This group consists of idioms with the same lexical structure and meaning

in English and Slovene. This group is the third largest in comparison to

other three groups. It contains 36 idioms (or 24%). Within this group the

category of negative character and appearance idioms is the largest one.

It contains 17 idioms (or 47%). The second largest is the group of positive

character and appearance idioms (14 idioms or 39%). The smallest group

of idioms represents the miscellaneous group (5 idioms or 14%).

Tables 1, 2 and 3 represent which character and appearance idioms have

the same lexical structure (i.e. they are based on the same metaphor and

use the same lexical items) and meaning in English and Slovene.

Be a law unto oneself Biti sam sebi zakon

(As) busy as a bee/ A busy bee Priden kot čebela

A golden boy Zlati deček

Have a heart Imeti (dobro) srce

Have a heart of gold Imeti zlato srce

Have nerves of steel Imeti jeklene ţivce; biti jeklenih ţivcev

Have one's heart in the right place Imeti srce na pravem mestu

Keep one's word Drţati besedo

45

A man of his word Moţ beseda

The salt of the earth Biti sol zemlje

(As) sly/cunning as a fox Zvit kot lisica

Thick-skinned Imeti debelo koţo; imeti slonovo koţo

(As) wise as an owl Biti pameten kot sova

(As) wise as Solomon Moder kot Salomon

Table 1: Positive character and appearance idioms that have the same lexical structure and meaning in English and Slovene

(All) skin and bone / nothing but skin and bones

Sama kost in koţa

Behind the times Biti za časom; moţ starega kova

Full of oneself Biti poln (samega) sebe

Green with envy Zelen(a) od zavisti

Have a quick temper Biti hitre, nagle jeze

Having no backbone Biti brez hrbtenice

Heartless Biti brez srca

(As) mad as a hornet Hud kot sršen

A mama's boy/ mummy’s boy Mamin sinček

(As) slippery as an eel Spolzek kot jegulja

Soft-hearted Imeti mehko srce

Stiff-necked Trdovraten; trmast

(As) stubborn as a mule Trmast kot mula

Two-faced Dvoličneţ

(As) ugly as sin Grd kot smrtni greh; grd kot hudič; grd kot sam parkelj; grd kot strašilo

46

An ugly duckling Grda račka

A wolf in sheep's clothing Volk v ovčji koţi

Table 2: Negative character and appearance idioms that have the same lexical structure and meaning in English and Slovene

Hide one's light under a bushel Postavljati svojo luč pod mernik

Keep (oneself) to oneself Drţati se sam zase

A man of few words Moţ redkih besed; redkobesedneţ

An open book Odprta knjiga

A rough diamond Nebrušen diamant

Table 3: Idioms that have the same lexical structure and meaning in English and Slovene in the miscellaneous group

Graph 2: Proportion of idioms that have the same lexical structure and meaning in English and Slovene

Positive character and appearance

idioms 39%

Negative character and appearance

idioms 47%

Miscellaneous 14%

47

6.2 Character and appearance idioms that have a different

lexical structure, but share the same meaning

This is the group of the character and appearance idioms that have a

different lexical structure, but the same meaning in both languages. This

group is the largest one. It contains 47 idioms (or 32%). Within this group

the negative character and appearance idioms dominate (23 idioms or

49%). The positive character and appearance idioms are the second

largest category (19 idioms or 40%). The smallest is once again the

miscellaneous group (5 idioms or 11%).

Tables 4, 5 and 6 represent which character and appearance idioms have

the same meaning, but a different lexical structure (i.e. they use a different

metaphor) in English and Slovene.

(As) chirpy/lively/merry as a cricket Biti ţidane volje

Dressed up to the nines Biti kakor iz škatlice

(An) eager beaver Delaven, marljiv kot mravlja

(As) fit as a fiddle Zdrav kot dren; zdrav kot riba

A giving person Imeti radodarne roke. Radodarneţ

A go-getter Moţ dejanj

(As) good as gold Dober kot kruh

A good egg Dobra duša

A good Samaritan Usmiljeni Samarijan

Have a good head on one’s shoulder

Imeti glavo na pravem koncu

Have an open mind Biti odprte glave

Have/keep your feet on the ground Stati na trdnih tleh

48

Have the courage of one’s convictions

Biti mož načel

Keep a cool head Ohraniti trezno glavo

(As) nice as pie Sladek kot med

Picture-perfect Lep kot slika

(As) sharp as a tack Biti bistre glave

Strictly on the level Fant od fare

Worth one's salt Biti vreden svojega imena

Table 4: Positive character and appearance idioms that have a different lexical structure, but share the same meaning

A bad lot Človek na slabem glasu

A bag of bones Biti kost in koţa

A bag of nerves Imeti zrahljane ţivce

Be all mouth Same besede so ga

Be more catholic than the Pope Biti bolj papeški od papeţa

A big mouth Širokoustneţ

A cold fish Računarska riba

Cold-hearted Človek brez srca

A cry-baby Mila jera

A doubting Thomas Neverni Tomaţ

Dyed-in-the-wool Zakrknjenec

A good-for-nothing Pridanič; ničvredneţ

Hard-as-nails Trden kot skala

Hard-boiled Človek z mrtvim srcem

Have a heart of stone Imeti kamen namesto srca

49

Have one's head in the clouds Ţiveti v oblakih

(As) mad as a hatter (or as a March hare)

Biti (zelo) čez les

A nasty piece of work Biti vreden svojega denarja

A plain Jane Biti siva miška

(As) proud as a peacock Nosi se kot pav

A queer fish Čuden patron

A stick-in-the-mud Starokopitneţ

Talk the hind leg off a donkey Govoriti kot deţ; govoriti noč in dan

Table 5: Negative character and appearance idioms that have a different lexical structure, but share the same meaning

Be (like) chalk and cheese Biti kot noč in dan

A chip off the old block Izrezan oče/mama

(As) cool as a cucumber Hladen kot špricer

A Joe Bloggs/ a Joe Blow Janez Povprečneţ

(Like) two peas in a pod Biti podoben kot jajce jajcu; biti podoben kakor krajcar krajcarju

Table 6: Character and appearance idioms that have a different lexical structure, but share the same meaning in the miscellaneous group

50

Graph 3: Proportion of idioms that have a different lexical structure, but share the same meaning

6.3 Character and appearance idioms with no equivalent

Slovene idioms

This is the group of the English character and appearance idioms that

have no equivalent Slovene idioms. This group of idioms is the smallest

one among other three groups. It contains 29 idioms (or 19%) Within this

group the negative character and appearance idioms dominate (14 idioms

or 48%). The positive character and appearance idioms are with 10 idioms

(or 35%) on the second place. The miscellaneous group has 5 idioms (or

17%).

Tables 7, 8 and 9 represent which character and appearance idioms have

no equivalent Slovene idioms.

Down-to-earth Trezen; preudaren; stvaren; prizemljen

(As) happy as the day is long Radosten; neizmerno vesel presrečen

Positive character and appearance

idioms 40%

Negative character and appearance

idioms 49%

Miscellaneous 11%

51

Happy-go-lucky Brezskrben; lahkomiseln

In rude health Zdrav in krepak

(As) keen as a mustard Biti zelo navdušen

A live wire Biti zelo dinamičen

A man of the world Svetovljan

A people person Družaben človek

(As) right as rain Biti v najlepšem redu

The milk of human kindness Človeška dobrota

Table 7: Positive character and appearance idioms with no equivalent Slovene idioms

(As) bald as a coot/bald as a baby's backside

Biti popolnoma plešast; biti brez las

A broken reed Oseba, na katero se človek ne more zanesti

A know-it-all Pametnjakovič

A know-nothing Nevednež

Like a bear with a sore head Biti godrnjač

Lily-livered Strahopeten

Lotus eaters Uživači; sanjači

A nosy parker Firbec

Out of shape Biti iz forme

Self-centred Osredotočen sam vase

A slime-ball Lizun

A smart alec / A smart aleck Pametnjakovič

A wet blanket Kvarilec zabave; sitnež

A yes-man Kimavec

Table 8: Negative character and appearance idioms with no equivalent Slovene idioms

52

A babe in the woods Janko in Metka

A ladies’ man Ljubljenec žensk

Like a lamb Ko jagnje

A night owl Nočna ptica

Set in one's ways Imeti ustaljene navade

Table 9: Character and appearance idioms with no equivalent Slovene idioms in the miscellaneous group

Graph 4: Proportion of English idioms with no equivalent Slovene idioms

6.4 Character and appearance idioms with no established

Slovene translation

This is the group of the character and appearance idioms for which I have

found no established Slovene translation in the consulted dictionaries. The

translations used are only my suggestions on how these idioms could be

translated. This group is the second largest one and contains 38 idioms

(or 25%). Within this group the positive and the negative character and

Positive character and appearance

idioms 35%

Negative character and appearance

idioms 48%

Miscellaneous 17%

53

appearance idioms are equally presented (17 idioms or 45% each). The

smallest is once again the miscellaneous group (4 idioms or 10%).

Tables 10, 11 and 12 represent which character and appearance idioms

do not have a translation in Slovene at all.

An angel of mercy Angel usmiljenja

A ball of fire Oseba, polna energije

Cool, calm and collected Biti popolnoma miren

A day person Dnevni človek

Dressed to kill Biti zapeljivo oblečen

(As) fresh as a daisy Zdrav in poln energije

Full of beans Biti pravi živec

A happy camper Vesel človek

(As) honest as the day is long Biti zelo pošten

An honest Joe Zvesti Janez

Look/feel like a million dollars Čudovito izgledati

A man of parts Zelo sposoben človek

Not a hair out of place Imeti vsak las na svojem mestu

A social butterfly Oseba, ki se rada druži

A straight arrow Odkritosrčen in moralen

Warm-hearted Biti toplega srca

A willing horse Ubogljiv konj

Table 10: Positive character and appearance idioms with no established Slovene translation

54

(An) armchair critic Kavarniški kritik

A barefaced liar Nesramen lažnivec

Be all fur coat and no knickers Privlačen a ne preveč zanimiv

(As) bold as brass Predrznež

Chicken-hearted Bojazljivec

A dead loss Zguba

Down-at-heel/down-at-the-heel Biti ponošenega, osiromašenega videza

A face like a wet week-end Izgledati zelo žalostno

A face like thunder Imeti besen izraz na obrazu

A face only a mother could love Imeti zelo grd obraz

A face that could stop a clock Imeti neprivlačen obraz

A goody-goody Pridkanec

A Lady Bountiful Gospa radodarnica

A man of straw /a straw man Slabič

Thin-skinned Imeti tanko kožo

A tin god Mali bog

Yellow bellied Nepogumna oseba.

Table 11: Negative character and appearance idioms with no established Slovene translation

(As) brown as a berry Dobiti rjavo polt

A carbon copy Prava kopija očeta/matere

A shrinking violet Boječa vijolica

Two of a kind Biti zelo podoben

Table 12: Idioms with no established Slovene translation in the miscellaneous group

55

Graph 5: Proportion of English idioms with no established Slovene translation

Idioms with the same lexical structure and meaning

Idioms with a different lexical structure and the same meaning

Idioms with no equivalent Slovene idioms

Idioms with no established Slovene translation

Positive character and appearance idioms

14 19 10 17

Negative character and appearance idioms

17 23 14 17

Miscellaneous 5 5 5 4

Together 36 47 29 38

Table 13: Classification of groups of idioms into four groups according to the way they are translated

Positive character and appearance

idioms 45%

Negative character and appearance

idioms 45%

Miscellaneous 10%

56

Graph 6: Comparison of groups of idioms according to the way they are translated

6.5 Discussion of the results of the analysis

As shown in Graph 6 and Table 13, the group with idioms that have the

same lexical structure and meaning in English and Slovene is the third

largest one and has 36 idioms (24%). The group with the idioms that have

a different lexical structure, but share the same meaning is the largest

one. It contains 47 idioms (32%). The group with the idioms that have no

equivalent Slovene idioms is the smallest one with 29 idioms (or 19%).

The last group of idioms that have no established Slovene translation at all

is the second largest one with 38 idioms (or 25%). These results show that

there is a gap between the English and Slovene language and their use of

idioms. Out of 150 idioms, only 36 idioms have the same lexical structure

and meaning in both languages. To answer the question why some idioms

have an equivalent and others not, several factors need to be considered.

In my opinion the most important factor is the culture as idioms are often

culturally bound. Idioms may originate from an important literary work,

from a custom, from everyday work, and such idioms probably will not

Idioms that have the same

structure and meaning in English and

Slovene. 24%

Idioms that have a different

structure, but share the same

meaning. 32%

Idioms with no equivalent

Slovene idioms. 19%

Idioms with no Slovene

translation at all. 25%

57

have idiomatic equivalents in other languages and cultures, e. g. the idiom

the milk of human kindness (from Shakespeare's Macbeth) and the idiom

as mad as a hatter (originates from England where hat makers risked

mercury poisoning, which caused aggressiveness and anti-social

behaviour).

The religion may also be of importance in translating idioms. In my

research I came across several idioms which originate from Christianity.

The English biblical idioms mostly have an equivalent in Slovene, as

Slovenes are also traditionally a Christian nation; e.g. a good Samaritan –

usmiljeni Samarijan; a doubting Thomas - neverni Tomaţ; the salt of the

earth - biti sol zemlje; as wise as Solomon - moder kot Salomon. This

shows that religion has an influence in translating idioms as well.

Out of 150 idioms, 47 idioms share the same meaning, but have a

different lexical structure. Within this group of idioms with the same

meaning there are sometimes differences in their structure only in one

word, e.g. (as) good as gold – dober kot kruh, where the Slovene idiom

differs only in the word kruh from the English one. The reason why a

different word is used could be that it is more natural or important to a

specific culture.

History and the geographical distance also play an important role in

translating idioms. Cultures that at some point in the history were in close

contact or cultures with a smaller distance will more likely have similarities

in the use of idioms, as the languages more likely came in touch with each

other. The English and Slovene language are an example where the

difference is bigger and therefore this could be also the reason why these

two languages have relatively few equivalent idioms. In consulted

dictionaries, out of 150 idioms, 67 idioms are translated in a descriptive

way or have no established translation at all.

58

To sum up, there are several reasons for the different use of idioms

between English and Slovene. In my opinion the most important ones are

culture, religion, history and the geographical distance.

7 IDIOMS IN USE

People like using idioms, but in comparison with the use of other word

combinations in our everyday life, they do not occur very often. The

frequency of use also depends on the genre. What this means is hard to

imagine if no numbers are given.

For a better picture, I decided to look at the Corpus of Contemporary

American English (or COCA) which is one of the largest corpuses of

English and contains more than 450 million words of text. It is possible to

search by genre (comparisons between spoken, fiction, magazines,

newspapers, and academic texts), or over time (from 1990 to the present

time). It is regularly updated and is therefore suitable for looking at current,

on-going changes in the language. To see if the idioms are similar in use

in the Slovene language I used the Slovene corpus FidaPLUS and

compared the use of the translations in the Slovene language. The corpus

FidaPLUS contains 621 million words of text which, divided into four

categories: fiction, magazine, newspaper and internet articles, from 1990

to 2006, and is therefore comparable to other corpuses around the world.

Both corpuses present the everyday use of the language. It has to be

noted here that a complete comparison of both corpuses was not possible

because of the partially different classification of genres they use. I

nevertheless looked at the use of selected idioms in different genres, as I

was interested where idioms are used most.

For the corpus search, I randomly selected 5 idioms from each group of

idioms in the category of idioms which have the same structure and

meaning in English and Slovene presented in Chapter 6.

59

From the category of positive character and appearance idioms I selected

the following idioms:

- a good Samaritan – usmiljeni Samarijan,

- as wise as Solomon – moder kot Salomon,

- have nerves of steel – imeti jeklene ţivce,

- a man of his word – moţ beseda,

- the salt of the earth – biti sol zemlje.

From the category of negative character and appearance idioms I selected

the following idioms:

- stubborn as a mule – trmast kot mula,

- behind the times – biti za časom,

- green with envy – zelen od zavisti,

- nothing but skin and bones – sama kost in koţa,

- (as) ugly as sin – grd kot smrtni greh.

In the miscellaneous category I selected the following idioms:

- hide one's light under a bushel - postavljati svojo luč pod mernik,

- keep yourself to yourself - drţati se sam zase,

- a rough diamond - nebrušen diamant,

- a man of few words – moţ redkih besed,

- an open book – odprta knjiga.

60

7.1 Positive character and appearance idioms in the

corpus COCA

IDIOM SPOKEN FICTION MAGAZINE NEWSPAPER ACADEMIC

A good Samaritan

45 12 8 19 4

(As) wise as Solomon

0 2 0 0 0

Have nerves of steel

6 2 2 0 0

A man of his word

25 15 13 15 1

The salt of the earth

6 16 11 7 6

Table 14: Frequency of the positive character and appearance idioms in the corpus COCA

Graph 7: Comparison of the frequency of the positive character and appearance idioms in the corpus COCA

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

A goodSamaritan

(As) wise asSolomon

Have nerves ofsteel

A man of hisword

The salt of theearth

SPOKEN FICTION MAGAZINE NEWSPAPER ACADEMIC

61

Examples from the corpus COCA:

1. A Good Samaritan dies while trying to protect a woman he didn't know.

Would you do the same thing? Would you risk your life for a stranger?

2. She was busy twisting a strand of hair around one finger and humming.

He didn't have to be as wise as Solomon to know that every time she got

that glazed-over look and twisted her hair and hummed, something was

up.

3. In this business we have to have nerves of steel. You know, you don't

overreact. When things are looking like they are going bad you just have

to stay calm.

4. I think Tom Daschle's a fine man. I really think he's a man of his word.

He's very hard working. He's a good listener. He's doesn't have a large

ego, which makes him an unusual creature on Capitol Hill.

5. Janet was the salt of the earth; not only was she a successful doctor-

an anaesthesiologist-she was a fine mother and a conscientious daughter-

in-law.

7.2 Positive character and appearance idioms in the

corpus FidaPLUS

IDIOM F I C T I O N INTERNET ART. NEWSPAPER MAGAZINE

Usmiljeni Samarijan 7 0 1 1

Moder kot Salomon 0 0 1 1

Imeti jeklene živce 0 0 9 5

Mož beseda 14 0 178 37

Biti sol zemlje 3 12 0 1

Table 15: Frequency of the positive character and appearance idioms in the corpus FidaPLUS

62

Graph 7: Comparison of the frequency of the positive character and appearance idioms in the corpus FidaPLUS

Examples from the corpus FidaPLUS:

1. Prav nasprotno je kakor usmiljeni Samarijan poskrbel za ubogega

človeka, ker se mu je zasmilil.

2. Moder kot Salomon bržkone pravimo zaradi Salomonove sodbe, ki je

postala pojem za bistroumno in pravično razsodbo.

3. Iz vseh teh težav smo na koncu razbrali, da je za postavitev omrežja

včasih treba imeti skoraj jeklene živce, pa še ti včasih ne pomagajo. Ali

pa se odločimo, da nam denarja ne bo škoda, in si omislimo napravo z

imenom in zanesljivostjo, vendar tudi visoko ceno.

4. Obljubili ste, da boste pomagali pri popravilu kuhinje. Ker ste mož

beseda, morate obljubo izpolniti. Niste pomislili, da niste ravno spretni?

5. Če nameravajo družno s sosesko reč prignati do alarmantne stopnje,

potem naj vedo, da ogrožajo edini mestni potencial, ki še zna misliti s

svojo glavo, čutiti s svojimi srcem in ki presega vse poznane leve in desne

opcije. Vedo naj, da v tem primeru ogrožajo, če se izrazim po njihovo: sol

zemlje.

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

UsmiljeniSamarijan

Moder kotSalomon

Imeti jekleneživce

Mož beseda Biti sol zemlje

FICTION INTERNET ART. NEWSPAPER MAGAZINE

63

7.3 Similarities and differences in the use of the positive

character and appearance idioms in English and

Slovene

Among the researched idioms, the idiom a good Samaritan is the most

used idiom of positive character and appearance idioms in English. It

occurred 88 times in the corpus COCA; 45 times only in the category –

SPOKEN. The least frequent use was in the category – ACADEMIC in

which it occurred only 2 times. In the second place is the idiom a man of

his word, it occurred 69 times. With 25 idioms it is once again the most

frequent in the category – SPOKEN, and the least frequent in the category

– ACADEMIC with 1 idiom. The idiom (as) wise as Solomon is the least

frequently used idiom among the selected idioms in English. It occurred

only 2 times. The category – ACADEMIC shows the least frequent use of

the selected idioms also in the other three cases. The results show that

idioms are mostly used in the categories SPOKEN, FICTION, MAGAZINE

and NEWSPAPER, in the category – ACADEMIC it is comparatively rarely

used.

Among the researched idioms in Slovene, the idiom moţ beseda is the

most frequent one. It occurred 229 times in the corpus FidaPLUS; 178

times only in the category – NEWSPAPER. In the category – INTERNET

ARTICLES the idiom does not occur at all. In the second place is the idiom

biti sol zemlje, it occurred 16 times. Here, it is most frequently used in the

category – INTERNET ARTICLES with 12 idioms. The idiom moder kot

Salomon is (the same as in English) the least frequently used. It occurred

only 2 times.

The use of the positive character and appearance idioms in English and

Slovene differs to some degree. In the English corpus COCA they occur

215 times, while in the Slovene corpus FidaPLUS they occur 270 times.

The most popular idiom in English is the idiom a good Samaritan (88

64

occurrences), which in Slovene occurs only 9 times. The most frequently

used idiom in Slovene is the idiom moţ beseda (229 occurrences). The

English and Slovene use of idioms is similar only with the idiom (as) wise

as Solomon - moder kot Salomon. They are the least frequently used in

both English and Slovene and occurred only 2 times. In Slovene people

use idioms mostly in the category – NEWSPAPER (189 idioms), while in

English they are used most in the category – SPOKEN (82 idioms). While

in English people do not use idioms so often in the category – ACADEMIC

(11 idioms), in Slovene they are not so often used in the categories

INTERNET ARTICLES (12 idioms) and FICTION (24 idioms).

7.4 Negative character and appearance idioms in the

corpus COCA

IDIOM SPOKEN FICTION MAGAZINE NEWSPAPER ACADEMIC

Stubborn as a mule

0 9 1 2 2

Behind the times

16 29 35 29 15

Green with envy

7 14 19 15 4

Nothing but skin and bones

0 4 0 1 0

(As) ugly as sin

0 15 5 1 2

Table 16: Frequency of the negative character and appearance idioms in the corpus COCA

65

Graph 8: Comparison of the frequency of the negative character and appearance idioms in the corpus COCA

Examples from the corpus COCA:

1. You were right about Venus. You said she is stubborn as a mule and it

is impossible to change her mind once she's decided on something.

2. We see an old person and think, now there's a person who's

fallen behind the times, who's out of date, who's an anachronism. In

other cultures they see an old person and they say, there's an elder,

there's someone with wisdom, someone with experience.

3. Everyone in my senior class at Harvard was green with envy because

we were all convinced that I was going to be lunching with Karl and

Donatella before jetting off to Paris on the Concorde for the spring shows

4. He was such a big old man, but he's practically lost in that big

bed, nothing but skin and bones.

5. You won't have noticed, but I'm as ugly as sin. I've got a lot of

character flaws, too.

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Stubborn as amule

Behind the times Green with envy Nothing but skinand bones

(As) ugly as sin

SPOKEN FICTION MAGAZINE NEWSPAPER ACADEMIC

66

7.5 Negative character and appearance idioms in the

corpus FidaPLUS

IDIOM FICTION INTERNET ART. NEWSPAPER MAGAZINE

Trmast kot mula 2 0 2 0

Biti za časom 3 1 14 7

Zelen od zavisti 3 0 12 6

Sama kost in koža

13 0 18 16

Grd kot smrtni greh

0 0 1 1

Table 17: Frequency of the negative character and appearance idioms in the corpus FidaPLUS

Graph 9: Comparison of the frequency of the negative character and appearance idioms in the corpus FidaPLUS

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

Trmast kot mula Biti za časom Zelen od zavisti Sama kost inkoža

Grd kot smrtnigreh

FICTION INTERNET ART. NEWSPAPER MAGAZINE

67

Examples from the corpus FidaPLUS:

1. Bil je trmast kot mula, kakor znajo biti ob takih priložnostih nekateri

odrasli.

2. Edino merilo bi moralo biti nogometno igrišče in rezultati. Nekateri

trenerji in funkcionarji so zaostali za časom in spadajo le še v muzej

starin.

3. V zeleno bratovščino ne spada, kdor je zelen od zavisti zaradi sreče

svojega solovca.

4. Neskončno je žaloval, ker je stopil v samostan. Bil je bled, prepaden,

suh, sama kost in koža. Vsi so mislili, da hira za jetiko in bo kmalu umrl.

5. Nevesta iz Savdske Arabije je med poročnim obredom padla v

nezavest, ko je prvič v svojem življenju od blizu videla svojega bodočega

moža. Vzrok za njeno nezavest je bil videz ženina, ki naj bi bil grd kot

smrtni greh.

7.6 Similarities and differences in the use of the negative

character and appearance idioms in English and

Slovene

In the group of the researched negative character and appearance idioms

the idiom behind the times is with 124 occurrences the most frequently

used one in English. With 35 idioms the category – MAGAZINE is the

largest one, and the category – ACADEMIC with 15 idioms the smallest

one. In the second place is with 59 occurrences the idiom green with envy.

It occurred 19 times in the category – MAGAZINE, the category –

ACADEMIC is with 4 idioms once again the smallest one. The least

frequently used idiom in English is with 5 appearances the idiom nothing

but skin and bones. It occurred only in the categories – FICTION and

NEWSPAPER.

68

Idioms of this group are used mostly in the categories - FICTION (71

idioms) and MAGAZINE (60 idioms). The use of idioms is not very popular

in the category – ACADEMIC (23 idioms).

In Slovene the most frequently used idiom is with 47 occurrences the

idiom sama kost in koţa. It is used the most frequently in the category -

NEWSPAPER. In the category – INTERNET ARTICLES this idiom does

not occur. In the second place is with 25 occurrences the idiom biti za

časom. The category – NEWSPAPER is with 14 idioms once again the

largest one, and the category – INTERNET ARTICLES with only 1 idiom

once again the smallest one. The least popular idiom in Slovene is with

only 2 appearances the idiom grd kot smrtni greh.

Idioms of this group are used mostly in the category – NEWSPAPER (47

idioms). On the other hand, the use of idioms is not very popular in the

category - INTERNET ARTICLES (only 1 idiom).

The use of the negative character and appearance idioms in English and

Slovene is very different. In English they are more popular – they occur

225 times in the corpus COCA. In the Slovene corpus FidaPLUS they

occur only 99 times. Out of those 225 occurrences, 71 are found under the

category – FICTION. The smallest categories are with 23 occurrences

each, the categories – SPOKEN and ACADEMIC. In Slovene the largest

category (with 47 occurrences) is the category – NEWSPAPER and the

smallest one is the category – INTERNET ARTICLES (only 1 occurrence).

While in English the idiom behind the time is the most popular one (124

occurrences), the most popular idiom in Slovene is the idiom sama kost in

koţa (47 occurrences), which is not popular at all in English (only 5

occurrences).

69

7.7 Character and appearance idioms in the miscellaneous

group in the corpus COCA

IDIOM SPOKEN FICTION MAGAZINE NEWSPAPER ACADEMIC

Hide your light under a bushel

0 1 0 0 0

Keep yourself to yourself

0 4 0 0 0

A rough diamond

0 5 2 0 1

A man of few words

14 24 11 16 0

An open book

35 31 26 17 5

Table 18: Frequency of the character and appearance idioms in the miscellaneous group in the corpus COCA

Graph 10: Comparison of the frequency of the character and appearance idioms in the miscellaneous group in the corpus COCA

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Hide one's lightunder a bushel

Keep yourself toyourself

A rough diamond A man of fewwords

An open book

SPOKEN FICTION MAGAZINE NEWSPAPER ACADEMIC

70

Examples from the corpus COCA:

1. I can't hide my light under a bushel, Jimmy.

2. I don't ordinarily talk out of school about folks on the island - a lot of'

em's rich and I wouldn't last long if I did - but I like you, Emmy.

You keep yourself to yourself, but you ain't a bit snooty.

3. He was a rough diamond and an independent sort who did whatever

he wanted, and Coco knew she had found her soul mate the day they met.

4. Like his son, Eli was a man of few words and only gave a nod of

thanks to Esther.

5. Travis didn't have any secrets. As far as he was concerned, he was an

open book. He worked hard, played hard, and made no apologies for

anything he did, because there was nothing to apologize for.

7.8 Character and appearance idioms in the miscellaneous

group in the corpus FidaPLUS

IDIOM FICTION INTERNET ART. NEWSPAPER MAGAZINE

Postavljati svojo luč pod mernik

0 0 0 0

Držati se sam zase

0 0 0 0

Nebrušen diamant

0 1 12 4

Mož redkih besed

0 0 1 2

Odprta knjiga 14 2 55 36

Table 19: Frequency of the character and appearance idioms in the miscellaneous group in the corpus FidaPLUS

71

Graph 11: Comparison of the frequency of the character and appearance idioms in the miscellaneous group in the corpus FidaPLUS

Examples from the corpus FidaPLUS:

1. /

2. /

3. Ruska teniška igralka Ana Kurnikova je v svetovnem ženskem tenisu

kot nebrušen diamant.

4. Alan Greenspan je sicer mož redkih besed in suhe retorike; s svojimi

rednimi poročili kongresu pogosto pahne mnoge kongresnike v spanec,

medtem ko na Wall Streetu ne prisluhnejo pozorno le vsaki njegovi besedi,

ampak budno spremljajo tudi sleherni njegov korak.

5. Mislim, da sem bila na začetku kot preveč odprta knjiga, saj sem

številnim novinarjem zaupala podrobnosti iz zasebnega življenja. Nekateri

so to izkoristili v svoje dobro in me pogosto tudi izigrali. S tem so bili

prizadeti tudi moji domači, tako da o zasebnem življenju ne govorim več.

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Postavljati svojoluč pod mernik

Držati se samzase

Nebrušendiamant

Mož redkihbesed

Odprta knjiga

FICTION INTERNET ART. NEWSPAPER MAGAZINE

72

7.9 Similarities and differences in the use of the idioms in

the miscellaneous group

In the miscellaneous group the idiom an open book is the most frequently

used in English. It occurred 114 times in the corpus COCA. This idiom is

used most frequently in the category – SPOKEN (35 times). The category

– ACADEMIC is with 5 occurrences the smallest one. In the second place

is with 65 occurrences the idiom a man of few words. It is used most

frequently in the category – FICTION (24 times). The category –

ACADEMIC is once again the smallest one. The least frequently used

idiom in English is the idiom to hide your light under a bushel. It only

occurred once in the category – FICTION.

In Slovene the most frequently used idiom is the idiom odprta knjiga. It

occurred 107 times in the corpus FidaPLUS. It is used most frequently in

the category – NEWSPAPER; in the category – INTERNET ARTICLES it

is used only 2 times. In the second place is with 17 occurrences the idiom

nebrušen diamant. The category – NEWSPAPER is once again the largest

one (12 occurrences). In the category- FICTION the idiom did not occur at

all.

The idioms postavljati svojo luč pod mernik and drţati se sam zase did not

occur at all in the corpus.

The English and Slovene use of the idioms in the miscellaneous group is

again quite different. While they are used 192 times in the English corpus

COCA, they occur only 127 times in the Slovene one. The category –

FICTION is with 65 idioms the largest one in English. The smallest one is

the category – ACADEMIC (only 6 idioms). In Slovene the largest category

is with 68 idioms the category – NEWSPAPER, and the smallest one is the

category – INTERNET ARTICLES (only 3 idioms). The most popular

idiom, however, is the same in English and Slovene: an open book (114

occurrences) – odprta knjiga (107 occurrences). The least popular idioms

are also the same in English and Slovene: hide your light under a bushel

73

(1 occurrence) – postavljati svojo luč pod mernik (0 occurrences), and

keep yourself to yourself (4 occurrences) – drţati se sam zase (0

occurrences).

8 CONCLUSION

Idioms are fixed groups of words with a figurative meaning. As they are

culturally bound, they often do not have exact equivalents in another

language and culture. That is why native speakers normally do not have

any problems in using them in their everyday life, but to the people who

learn a foreign language, idioms and their figurative meaning can cause

many problems. The best way is to learn them by heart. Despite the fact

that idioms make the language more interesting, they are not used very

often in our everyday life in comparison with other word combinations.

There are many books on phraseology and dictionaries of idioms and

other idiomatic expressions in the English language. This shows how

important idioms are in the English culture and how well studied they are.

On the other hand, there are only few books on this topic in the Slovene

language. The first Slovene dictionary of idioms was published not long

ago, in the year 2011. In my research, for instance, I could also use an

English dictionary of idioms that was published in the year 1992.

Translating idioms often represents problems, especially when the

cultures are very different from each other and have no idiomatic

equivalents in the other language. In this case, a translator has to use a

paraphrase. There are several reasons why some idioms have an

equivalent and others do not. An important factor is the culture. The

historical background, geographical distance and religions also have an

impact.

I my graduation thesis three different methods were used. First I collected

and selected the idioms. Then the data analysis and comparison followed.

74

My research was implemented on 150 English character and appearance

idioms. They were classified according to their meaning into three groups

(positive character and appearance idioms, negative character and

appearance idioms and the miscellaneous group). They were further

divided into four groups according to the way they were translated in the

consulted dictionaries. The results show that there is a gap between the

English and Slovene language and their use of idioms. Out of 150 idioms,

only 36 idioms have the same lexical structure and meaning in both

languages. 67 idioms are translated into Slovene in a descriptive way or

do not have an established translation at all. 47 idioms have the same

meaning but a different lexical structure in Slovene.

As presented in Chapter 7, the use of idioms differs considerably in

English and Slovene. It has to be noted here that a direct comparison

according to genre was not possible due to differences in genre

classification in both corpuses. The analysis of the use of selected idioms

shows that the idioms of the group of the positive character and

appearance idioms are more frequently used in Slovene, while the idioms

of the group of the negative character and appearance idioms and the

idioms of the miscellaneous group are more frequently used in English.

Only the use of the idiom as wise as Solomon – moder kot Salomon is the

same in both languages: it occurs only 2 times in the Slovene and English

corpus. Similar is also the use of the idioms hide your light under a bushel

– postavljati svojo luč pod mernik and keep yourself to yourself – drţati se

sam zase, which are less frequently used both in English and Slovene.

This graduation thesis provides an insight in the use of English character

and appearance idioms and their Slovene translations. It is also of

practical nature, as translators may find it useful while translating idioms

from English into Slovene and vice versa.

75

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