Photo hunt and idioms
October 28, 2011
Karma’s photo hunt for this month is about photographing idioms. If you feel like participating – you may do so until October 31st – then get ready to take pictures and share 3 photos, or more if you wish so. Karma also posted a link of a great list of idioms to help us. Interesting and fun ! Please go to her site for more information :
http://karmardav.wordpress.com/2011/10/06/october-photo-hunt/
Here is my contribution :
I am not so sure if this was meant to be a life-size dummy or a dress stand. It stook quietly in a room of a small castle near Geneva.
“Ancient times, ancient customs”
Nino was not so guilty but very impatient with me gardening on the other side of the fence. “Woooooo”…
“The guilty dog barks the loudest”
Three mushrooms – good or bad I do not know – standing in line in the forest. The fourth one was either watching them or rebelling…
“Bad things come in three”
No broth in this old cauldron but it fitted perfectly the idiom I chose.
“The best broth is made in the oldest pots”
Those graphics may look pretty but…
it’s “All Greek to me” !
A fabric with small chickens and ducks I knew I would use some day. Not exactly for an idiom though !
“Don’t count your chickens before they hatch”
Thanks Karma for this great photo hunt. It was interesting and sometimes funny to see the French and English translations of the same proverb.
il faut casser le noyau pour avoir l’amande
no pain, no gain; one has to break some eggs to make an omelet (lit.: one must crack the shell to get the almond)
il faut tourner sept fois sa langue dans sa bouche avant de parler
you should count to ten before you say anything (lit.: you should turn your tongue seven times in your month before speaking)
il ne faut pas vendre la peau de l’ours avant de l’avoir tué
don’t count your chickens before they’ve hatched (lit.: do not sell the skin of a bear before you kill it)
quand les poules auront des dents
never; never in a month of Sundays; when pigs fly (lit.: when hens have teeth)
Good luck with your choice of idioms and pictures !
Have a pleasant weekend.
Isathreadsoflife's Blog 
Those a great, Isa!
Thanks Michaela, looking at your own pictures made me feel Iike participating. Have a lovely Sunday.
Loved the idioms and your photos 🙂
Hope you feel better, Cin. Thanks for your visit.
Interesting idioms, Isa. I enjoyed all of them 🙂 nice pictures too. Hope you have a nice time during the halloween and also, the first snow your side 🙂
Hello sonali, I am glad you enjoyed idioms and pictures. Halloween is right at the corner but I hope the first snow will wait a little…
Well done, Isa. I enjoyed your photos and idioms. 🙂
Thanks Robin. I just visited your own post about this photo hunt. It’s wonderful and creative. Bravo ! I am sure the pie tasted delicious.
What a great idea for a photo challenge. And fascinating to see the french and english versions of the same idea – obviously some concepts are universal.
Thanks JP, I really enjoyed this idea of illustrating idioms. I agree with you, it is fascinating to compare the versions of a similar concept in French and in English. No doubt it could be quite different in other languages too, don’t you think so ?
The literal translations are a hoot, Isa!
Enjoyed your choice of photos to go with the idioms. I just know Nino is never guilty of anything, right? 😉
Hi Scott, I am really happy you enjoyed those photos and literal translations. Yes, very funny or “rigolo” as we say. As for Nino not being guilty of anything…. you would be surprised how guilty he is actually ! But his eyes you know, they have such an amazing talent for imploring you that his guilt becomes more or less relative 😉
Bonjour Isa.
Nice photos, especially the first one!!!
Special thank You for those translations! I knew the first and the third. I have not met the last one in those French books that I have read and it is very interesting in French. I love it.
Belle journée.
Bonjour Matti, merci de ta visite et des commentaires sympas. I always find it interesting to compare languages and their expressions, cultural influences. Have a beautiful weekend !
J’aime tes photos! Unfortunately, that is about all I feel I can write en francais, right now. It has been a long week. I love your choices for your photos. Some of your idioms I’ve never heard before; that is great because I always love learning. The translations of idioms from French to English is very interesting too! Thank you for participating.
Thanks to you Karen for your great idea of photo hunt. There were many more translations of idioms in French/English, some totally different from one language to the other. It was a real pleasure to participate. Have a lovely Sunday. BTW did you read you won the pochette ? 😉 Just tell me the shade you would like to have it in, OK ?
Oh lucky me! How sweet! I love shades of pinks and purples, but to use another idiom – beggars can’t be choosers 😉 I’d be happy with any colors.
What a fun contest! I love the photo of the mushrooms. The fourth really does seem to be watching them.
Hello and thank you, Tammy. I also loved this natural scene between a group of mushrooms in the forest. Always something inspiring to see in Nature. Enjoy your weekend, dear Tammy.
[…] reader but first time photo-hunter Isa was next in with many unique idioms. I’d never heard many of Isa’s choices and loved her interesting translations she […]
Thanks Karen, c’était un plaisir de participer à ta chasse aux photos…
These are lovely photos! My favorite is the first..it’s just a beautiful photo!
A lovely idea, Isa, photographing idioms! The old dress stand is beautiful. I love the photo of Nino, and the old cauldron.
It’s always interesting to see how idioms are expressed in other languages. Although we use ‘never in a month of Sundays’ and ‘pigs might fly’ I have once heard the expression ‘hen’s teeth’ used in English – the mother of a talented boy ballet dancer I know said the ballet school grabbed him with both hands because ‘boys who can dance are like hen’s teeth’. She was from the NW of England – I don’t know if it’s an expression used there.
I grew up with the idiom, “as rare as hen’s teeth” – the point being, of course, that hens have no teeth! It is still very common in the midwestern states of the U.S., and can mean, depending on context, either somethat is very valuable, or something that simply doesn’t exist!
Thanks for your words, Janice. Isn’t it interesting to see how these idioms travel ? “Quand les poules auront des dents” is an idiom I often hear around here and I smiled at the way your friend used it too. Ici, c’est utilisé pour quelque chose de rarissime. Since we talk about pigs and fliying… have you ever read Barbara Kingsolver’s “Pigs in Heaven” ? I quite liked it as I did most of her books.
I hadn’t heard of Barbara Kingsolver at all, Isa, but after reading her reviews on Amazon I think it’s time I got to know her. Thank you!
Isa,
My favorite photo here is paired with a lovely idiom I’ve not heard – the best broth is made in the oldest pots.
That surely is true in the case of the cast-iron skillets and dutch ovens I have. They’ve been passed from generation to generation, and are perfectly seasoned. A foolish young cousin once wanted to scrub them within an inch of their lives, put them in the dishwasher and really clean them up. Can you imagine me waving my hands about and (another idiom) “coming unglued”? In such a situation – of course!
What an “almost” tragedy, Linda… I can understand you “came unglued” (new expression for me) in such a situation. It is the same with those beautiful Japanese cast-iron tea-pots that are not supposed to be cleaned so thoroughly.
“Coming unglued” has also a French translation : “péter les plombs”, very colloquial. The litteral translation would be “to blow the fuses”.
“Péter les plombs” sort of compares the person to an electrical device that would have a short circuit.
I am glad you could save your skillets. The word makes me think of “brisket”, a most delicious meal I ate in TX and that I could never find an equivalent for in the French cuisine. Mmmm, was that good !
Love the old pot..A perfect match for the idiom. Love the mushrooms too 🙂 Interesting post, interesting clicks, and equally interesting literal translations between French and English 🙂
Hello dear iniyaal, I am really happy you enjoyed this post that was suggested by Karen at
http://karmardav.wordpress.com/2011/10/06/october-photo-hunt/. I am glad I participated in this photo hunt. It is incredible the amount of new words and expressions I learned in doing this. Not to talk about the fun when looking at everyone’s contributions. Why don’t you join us some day ? Thanks a lot for your visit.
I checked out Karma’s blog now. The posts for Idiom hunt were interesting and hilarious 🙂 I think the timelines are long past complete. I will keep checking out her blog.
Hello iniyaal, Karma usually posts a photo hunt challenge every month. If you are interested in such a contest, there is another one at “Views Infinitum” Thomas Scott Photography. It is about your best shots in 2011 :
https://stphoto.wordpress.com/2011/11/02/assignment-16-best-photos-of-2011/
Have a great week !
“Do not sell the skin of a bear before you kill it”?? That is so funny! (I mean, if you’re not the bear. Then it wouldn’t be so humorous.) Interesting thinking about idioms in different languages. It’s fun that you played.
Thanks Kathy, I never realized before I looked for idioms how different the translations could be from one culture to the other. I really enjoyed this challenge and am happy you did too.