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Privateer
Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Location: Easy Street.
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 Posted: Fri Dec 31, 2010 1:51 am Post subject: |
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"Many hands make light work."
Nonsense! Never heard of mechanization? They had many many many hands when they built the pyramids but you can bet that was backbreaking labour! |
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Privateer
Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Location: Easy Street.
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| Posted: Fri Dec 31, 2010 1:57 am Post subject: |
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| Koveras wrote: |
| Kwangjuchicken wrote: |
You can't have your cake and eat it too.
Sounds a bit dyslexic
Well, yes you can. You can have it and eat it. How could you even ever eat it if you never had it? However,
" You can't eat your cake and have it too".
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The play is on the double sense of 'have', which can mean both to be in possession of and to eat. Witness "what did you have for lunch?" |
Actually there's no ambiguity in the use of 'have' in this proverb. The confusion comes from the double sense of 'and', which can indicate both sequence (first you have your cake, then you eat it) and simultaneous occurrence (the conditions 'having your cake' and 'eating your cake' cannot coexist). But, yeah, it's clearly a load of rubbish because there's no point in having a cake if you aren't going to eat it! The society that invented it clearly used to have people who said annoying things like "I wish I still had that cake I just ate". |
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Robbo
Joined: 05 Sep 2010
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| Posted: Fri Dec 31, 2010 4:12 am Post subject: |
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I thought it meant, "you can't still have cake after you've eaten it"
Anyway,
"The exception proves the rule" Sounds like a clever excuse. |
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cragesmure
Joined: 23 Oct 2010
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| Posted: Fri Dec 31, 2010 11:08 am Post subject: |
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| Privateer wrote: |
"Many hands make light work."
Nonsense! Never heard of mechanization? They had many many many hands when they built the pyramids but you can bet that was backbreaking labour! |
Hmmm. The pyramids would have been much harder to build should 1 person have attemtped it alone. Also, how many hands are involved in making a machine? From the people that get the energy, to the people that mine the resources, to the people that refine them, shape them and mould them. Then there's the designers, engineers and laborers along the way. Not to mention countless others, or the fact that there are no pyramid-building machines. Other than that, good point. |
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tomato
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: I get so little foreign language experience, I must be in Koreatown, Los Angeles.
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| Posted: Fri Dec 31, 2010 4:12 pm Post subject: |
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The statement that "too many cooks spoil the broth" tempers the statement that "many hands make light work."
When I try to teach with a Korean teacher in the room, I lean toward the view that "too many cooks spoil the broth." |
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tomato
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: I get so little foreign language experience, I must be in Koreatown, Los Angeles.
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| Posted: Sat Jan 01, 2011 3:13 pm Post subject: |
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보기 좋은 떡이 먹기도 좋다.
"A rice cake that looks good tastes good."
Or to put it conversely, "If it smells like a rat, it IS a rat."
Either these two sayings are not true,
or the saying that "You can't judge a book by its cover" is not true.
Think of the jobs you've taken and compare them with the descriptions which you heard before accepting those jobs.
Now which saying will you agree with? |
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Sector7G
Joined: 24 May 2008
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| Posted: Sat Jan 01, 2011 6:07 pm Post subject: |
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| tomato wrote: |
Or to put it conversely, "If it smells like a rat, it IS a rat."
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I think you are misquoting this one, at least I've never heard it that way. I have only heard, "I smell a rat.", to convey that something seems suspicious. And sure, suspicions can be dispelled, but the saying still works.
Maybe you meant, "if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, looks like a duck, it must be a duck�, but even that is not just going by looks alone. |
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Privateer
Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Location: Easy Street.
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| Posted: Sat Jan 01, 2011 10:47 pm Post subject: |
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| tomato wrote: |
보기 좋은 떡이 먹기도 좋다.
"A rice cake that looks good tastes good."
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I don't actually know what I'm talking about here, but I'm going to guess anyway that you might be interpreting that wrong.
You can interpret it as a rule, i.e. 'IF (looks good), THEN (tastes good)'; but it might be better understood as a description, i.e. 'It looks good and it tastes good too', which would be something you say when something fulfills the expectations occasioned by its appearance - a job that both sounded good and actually is good perhaps?
Here's another proverb: "Don't put all your eggs in one basket". Nonsense! Sometimes in life you have to go for it, invest all your resources in one thing. You'll never get anywhere if you're too timid to put every egg into that basket! |
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Junior
Joined: 18 Nov 2005
Location: the eye
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| Posted: Sat Jan 01, 2011 10:53 pm Post subject: |
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| tomato wrote: |
보기 좋은 떡이 먹기도 좋다.
"A rice cake that looks good tastes good."
Or to put it conversely, "If it smells like a rat, it IS a rat." |
I think you've misinterpreted the Korean value of that saying Tomato. The meaning is more "If it looks good then it must be good". In other words, judge everything by its appearance. |
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NYC_Gal 2.0
Joined: 10 Dec 2010
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| Posted: Sun Jan 02, 2011 12:03 am Post subject: |
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| tomato wrote: |
보기 좋은 떡이 먹기도 좋다.
"A rice cake that looks good tastes good."
Or to put it conversely, "If it smells like a rat, it IS a rat."
Either these two sayings are not true,
or the saying that "You can't judge a book by its cover" is not true.
Think of the jobs you've taken and compare them with the descriptions which you heard before accepting those jobs.
Now which saying will you agree with? |
My rats just had a shampoo. They smell lovely. |
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Globutron
Joined: 13 Feb 2010
Location: England/Anyang
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| Posted: Sun Jan 02, 2011 7:03 am Post subject: |
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| tomato wrote: |
The statement that "too many cooks spoil the broth" tempers the statement that "many hands make light work."
When I try to teach with a Korean teacher in the room, I lean toward the view that "too many cooks spoil the broth." |
Too many Cocks spoil the brothel, more like. |
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erasmus
Joined: 11 Sep 2010
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| Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2011 4:19 pm Post subject: |
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| Robbo wrote: |
| "The exception proves the rule" Sounds like a clever excuse. |
Prove, in this case, does not mean to give proof or to provide evidence but rather to put to the test, as in a proving ground. |
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Koveras
Joined: 09 Oct 2008
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| Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2011 12:07 pm Post subject: |
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| Robbo wrote: |
| "Money can't buy happiness"; really? I can't speak for anyone else but having a roof over my head, good food, beers, and lots of other things that cost money make me happy! |
Money can definitely buy you physical gratification. I�d still vouch for this proverb, though. |
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anbrainblasta
Joined: 14 Feb 2009
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| Posted: Sat Jan 08, 2011 9:47 pm Post subject: |
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There are no atheists in a foxhole.
primo levi (being an unbeliever) refused to pray god during the selection process at autchwitz |
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Quack Addict
Joined: 31 Mar 2008
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2011 4:46 am Post subject: |
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2) You Can't Teach An Old Dog New Tricks.
Phooey! The brain has something called neuro plasticity. Older people can learn new things if they want to.
This is absolutely correct. Habits can be changed if one desires to change them. Age is irrelevent. Usually motivation and/or determination (or laziness) are the factors in someone using that proverb. |
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