Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[Vin21]

It was deja vu all over again.
What does that mean?
Thanks!

[asterix]

Deja vue is literally already seen (in french). So if you say, it was deja vue all over again, it is saying the same thing twice . This is called tautology,
I think the original remark is attributed to Yogi Berra, a coach for the New York Yankees, who was famous for creative English.

[advoca]

The term d�j� vu describes the experience of feeling that one has witnessed or experienced a new situation previously.

I walked into the house and immediately had a feeling I had been there before at sometime. It was fascinating example of d�j� vu.

The sentence you quoted is a *funny* attributed to Yogi Berra, as Asterix said. He is saying the same thing twice.

[bud]

Yogi is also noted for saying, "It ain't over 'til it's over," and my favorite, "Nobody goes there (a restaurant or bar) anymore because it's always so crowded."

[Vin21]

Thanks for explaning so clearly,Asterix and Advoca.
so now I know that it was attributed to Yogi Berra.
And I found some more on the net:

-Baseball is 90 percent mental; the other half is physical.
-Never answer an anonymous letter.
-I usually take a two hour nap from one to four.
-I didn't really say everything I said.
-If the people don't want to come out to the ballpark, nobody's going to stop them.
-The hardest thing to do in baseball is to hit a round baseball with a round bat, squarely.
-The future ain't what it used to be.
-If the world were perfect, it wouldn't be.

-When you come to a fork in the road....Take it.
(What does "take it" mean?)

And this is really interesting,Bud.
Nobody goes there (a restaurant or bar) anymore because it's always so crowded.
Why it's always so crowded? Because many people keep going there.
If nobody goes there anymore,the restaurant will become empty, but the fact that it's always so crowed,it's because the more crowed with customers the restaurant becomes,the more people will want to try it out.
So in my opinion that there's not a chance that nobody goes there.What do you think?

[Smoothie]

[Vin21]

Thanks for your help,Smoothie.
I get it now.

[bud]

Thanks for all the quotes, Vin. He is a character!

When he said "nobody," he meant "none of us..." "We don't go there anymore..."

So yes, you are right on, Vin!

[pugachevV]

This may be silly question - but, can you do this sort of thing in Chinese, or other Asian languages?

[Vin21]

This is a good question,pugachevV.
Yes..I think we can do this sort of thing in Chinese.
Like this one,
"We civilized person should ardently love animals,especially those just cooked."
because "ardently love" and "just cooked" involve the word "hot" in Chinese.So I think that's quite funny.
Of course,it doesn't compare with Yogi's.It's my great work.

In Chinese culture,we do have many funny puns and two-part allegorical sayings,but I don't think that are equivalent to "Yogiisms"

Personally,I like "Yogiisms" very much.

Hey,I just found one:
At a dinner in an Italian restaurant, Yogi was asked how many slices should be cut in his pizza, and he replied "You better make it four, I don't think I could eat eight".

[bud]

I never knew that one was from Yogi. Thanks for sharing it.