Proverbs, Idioms and Sayings

Definition of Proverb
Saying something will often, or even normally, produce certain consequential effects upon the feelings, thoughts, or actions of the audience, or of the speaker, or of other purpose of producing them We shall call the performance of an act of this kind the performance of a perlocutionary act.

Proverbs and culture

In order that English proverbs may be utilized in an appropriate fashion by Chinese speakers of English it is important that the non-native speaker understand the cultural foundation behind the phonological, lexical, and syntactic structure of such utterances.

Directive and Non-directive Proverbs ( ) Directive act is described by Bach and Harnish as the act that express the speakers attitude toward some prospective action by the hearer and his intention that his utterance, or the attitude it express, be taken as a reason for the hearers action.

Directive and Non-directive Proverbs

Non-directive : the act that express the speakers belief and his intention or desire that the hearer have or form a like belief. Non-directives can be further classified into three categories based on content or syntactic form: Moral Aphorisms, Homilies, and Aphoristic Sentences.( )

The main features of Chinese proverbs

1.the immense number: for almost all conceivable situations 2. the distinctive Chinese quality 3. the number reflecting social inequalities and the feelings of those deprived and oppressed. 4. the influence of Buddhism on Chinese customs and thinking 5. focus on social harmony, or brotherhood.

 1. Look before you leap ---While the English proverb is oriented toward physical action, leap and look, constituting three-dimensional imagery, the Chinese saying is mathematically linear: thrice and non-physical: think, a more static imagery.

 2. Spare the rod and spoil the child The oldest version of this proverb is in the Old Testament of the Bible(Proverbs 23:34): He that spareth his rod hateth his son; but he that loveth him chastenth him betimes. Samuel Butler wrote the following couplet: Love is a boy by poets styled;/Then spare the rod, and spoil the child.

 3. Dont count your chickens before they are hatched. 4. Dont put all your eggs in one basket 5. Let sleeping dogs lie. 6. Dont put off until tomorrow what you can do today.


1. Birds of a feather flock together. 1 Beauty is only skin deep. 2 Cleanliness is next to godliness(Red is next to scarlet ) 3 All that glitters is not gold. 4 Charity begins at home. 5 People who live in glass houses shouldnt throw stones

 6 People who live in glass houses shouldnt throw stones 7 Better late than never. 8 Many hands make light work. 9 The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. 10 Haste makes waste. 11 A stitch in time saves nine. 12 Its foolish to cry over spilt milk. 13 A new broom sweeps clean. 14 Absence makes the heart fonder. 15 A barking dog seldom bites.

 16 An apple a day keeps the doctor away. 17 Where theres smoke, theres fire. 18 A rolling stone gathers no moss. 19 Penny wise, pound foolish.


1. gilding the lily The English proverb implies sth. already fine, good or beautiful by adding sth in an attempt to make it better. 2 hang up a sheeps head and sell dog-meat. Try to palm off sth. inferior to what it purports to be.

Idioms
Of all the different kinds of English idioms, perhaps the hardest to learn are those comprising the forty or so most common verbs in various combinations with about a dozen prepositions or adverbs like up, down, in, out, on, off. The different meanings of such combinations amount to several hundred, and the confusion that they cause for the learner is immense.

 Before he gets the hang of how to use them hell make a lot of mistakes. Some mistakes will cause people to hold their sides with laughter, but that shouldnt put him in a stew. He should learn to put up with such things. You might say thats part of the game.


1. All aboard! / run afoul of / back and fill / burn ones boats in the same boat

in commission / out of commission / hail from ./ take in sail / smooth sailing turn a tide / in deep waters in rough water pour oil on troubled waters /


floating capital floating money floating cargo floating population floating fund floating supply floating goods floating trade floating island floating voter floating loan

2.
tenderfoot horse sense bite the dust

3.
skid road on the skid

4.
pan out stake a claim claim jumper make a stake grubstake