爱华网Language is a social phenomenon, and each language stands for one culture. To some extent, language and culture develop simultaneously as an idea is firmly held that language occupies a very special position in culture when compared with other elements, though language is a part or the parallel of culture in a larger sense. With the development of modern society and the tendency towards globalization, English, as an international language, is gradually becoming a necessity for people of our day. However, when learning English, some native speakers as well as nonnative speakers often express their surprise at the wide use and distribution of English idioms. They are sometimes at a loss to understand what they are reading and hearing because of the use of these idioms. As a result, they may not be able to fully understand the English culture.
English is a language particularly rich in idioms---those modes of expression peculiar to a language (or dialect) that frequently defy logical and grammatical rules. Without idioms English would lose much of its variety and humor both in speech and writing while using it properly, people will not only enhance the ability to express all sorts of ideas but also the ability to appreciate culture, which then improves the linguistic ability. English idioms relate so closely to English culture that they are like a drop in the ocean of English culture and reflect the significance of English culture throughout history.
This article is to show the indispensable importance of learning English idioms in a cultural way in order to make the readers get some idea of the relationship between English idioms and English culture.
II. English idioms and customs
Customs are a kind of social phenomenon. They are not the product of individuals but that of the collective in the society, which are affected by politics, economy, religion, literary art and so on and then affect those things in reverse. English idioms are thus greatly influenced by English customs, which concern almost every respect of social life. As a special part of culture, language, especially idioms, inevitably reflects the customs of the nationality. There is no exception to English idioms.
1. English idioms influenced by diet habits
1.1 English idioms related to some daily food
The dietary habits of a nation have a very close relation with its geographical environment and lifestyle, thus they indirectly relate with the language, especially with the idioms. Bread, butter, jam and cheese are some daily food eaten in English families and there are many idioms originated from them. Here are some examples as follows:
⑴baker’s dozen
At the first sight of the idiom, we may think it means “baker’s twelve” because “dozen” refers to “12” as a cardinal number. However, the real meaning of the idiom is quite different from what we thought of.
It was first used in Britain in the 1400s. At that time, the government imposed very strict rules on the weight of all kinds of bread. However, at that time, it was not so easy to ensure the exact weight of the bread. To avoid punishment on the lack of weight, bakers often gave customers one more bun for free. In this way, “baker’s dozen” later gets the meaning of “thirteen” instead of “twelve”. Little by little, more people began to use this idiom for they had to buy buns almost every day. The reason for its popularity also lies in that British people think the number of “13” is an omen and may bring about bad luck so “baker’s dozen” is used as an euphemism for “13” in British culture.
E.g.1 My mother bought a baker’s dozen of apples in the supermarket.
⑵know (on) which side one’s bread is buttered
In this idiom, all the words seem simple and easy yet when combining them together, we are really at a loss as to its meaning. We know butter is a kind of dressing used to make the bread more delicious. If a person knows “on which side one’s bread is buttered”, he will have tastier bread. It’s just like that in real life, if one knows how to win people over, he will get more benefit. The two have some similarities in nature. So the idiom is relevant to the meaning “know how to cultivate popularity”.
E.g.2 He wouldn’t get angry with his boss’ daughter---he knows on which side his bread is buttered.
1.2 English idioms related to pubs
In Britain, pubs (abbreviation for Public House) with a long history can be seen almost everywhere in the country. They are divided into public bars and lounge bars where whiskey and beer are sold. In Britain, a pub is an important cultural location and a place where adults chat and make friends with each other. In the pub, people get relaxed after a day’s work, thus the pub culture comes into being and many idioms are generated from such a culture.
⑴ small beer
As is known, there are different sorts of beer and small beer is not very strong in taste, which may not leave a very deep impression upon people’s mind. So the metaphorical meaning of it is “trivial things or people of little importance”.
E.g.3 The other things seemed very small beer to me in comparison with study.
⑵ beer and skittles
We know the meaning of “beer” and that of “skittle” but we may not know the meaning of this idiom. Actually, it is easy to guess the right idea. Suppose that we are playing skittles while drinking beer on the playground. Then what do you think of it? Surely you will feel relaxed and comfortable. So “beer and skittles” stand for “the carefree life one enjoys most”.
2. English idioms influenced by pet words
As the most complex animal, mankind co-exists with other animals on our planet throughout history. For all the years, animals have a very close relation with mankind. Due to the development of modern science and technology, mankind seems to no longer depend on animals as much as before but still they regard them as their good friends. One thing illustrated for this is that people keep animals as pets and hence forms “pet culture”. Interesting enough, pet culture bears strong characteristics in terms of nationality and region. This point is best represented in the various understandings of the animal “dog” as it will be mentioned in the following paragraphs.
To most people, dogs are very familiar with as they are one of the first animals tamed by human beings and they contribute a lot to the development of human society. They serve as the house guard when people go out and they are good companions when hunters go hunting… For British people especially, dogs are often associated with good words. They consider dogs to be loyal and dependable and think highly of them among all the animals though at times they also mean something bad with words related to dogs. In contrast to this, we Chinese people usually use “dogs” in cursing words to show our scorn to someone. Most of the time what leaves in our impression is that dogs are dirty and filthy. Such a difference may lead to misunderstandings and therefore, there is a need to learn more about the knowledge of cultural background in different nations.
⑴ help a lame dog over a stile
From this idiom, we can see how much British people love dogs. They will even help a lame dog when it is in trouble. However, “a lame dog” here does not really refers to a dog, instead it has a connotative meaning, that is, a person in trouble or with difficulty in doing something. In time of trouble, any help is necessary and appreciative. It is similar in meaning with the Chinese “雪中送炭”.
E.g.4 He is the sort of man who is always helping lame dogs over stiles.
⑵ You want to know what’s wrong with you? This is what’s wrong with you. You are going to the dogs, you are lying down with dogs, you are waking sleeping dogs---don’t you know enough to leave before the last dog is dead? (Gordon Lish, The Merry Chase)
Here the author uses 4 canine idioms in succession, which impresses us deeply in the mind. Actually he is blaming someone but in an indirect way. Each of them emphasizes the author’s view and gives a vivid description of what he wants to say. Vivid as it is, it is difficult to understand this paragraph without the relevant cultural background. Now let us see meanings of these idioms.
The first one “going to the dogs” in fact means “to degenerate”; “lying down with dogs” is originated from the proverb “He that lies down with dogs must rise up with fleas(与狗同眠者必惹一身跳蚤；与坏人为伍者必惹一身麻烦)”；“waking sleeping dogs” derives from “Let sleeping dogs lie (勿惹睡狗)” which means “not to trouble trouble or not to bother the others”. The last one “to leave before the last dog is dead” is transformed from “stay until the last dog is hung (逗留到最后一刻)” and means “to leave as early as possible”. In this paragraph, the image of dog is vague and if we intend to translate the idioms literally with the Chinese character “狗”, it will be rather awkward and lack in characteristics. So we should make the translation clear and vivid in a way, which takes culture into consideration. Such as follows:
“你知道你错在哪儿吗？你就错在这儿。你在积薪厝火，你在火上浇油，你在引火烧身，你在玩火自焚，——难道你非要等火烧到眉毛才知道走开吗?”
So we must know the connotative meaning behind the words if we want to preserve the figurative image and the unique style of translation while explicating it almost equivalently.
Through the examples mentioned above, we can see that the characteristic of idioms, as W.J.Ball once said, is “the use of familiar words in an unfamiliar sense”. Owing to this reason, we can never take things for granted, particularly the meanings of the English idioms.
III. English idioms and Christianity
Being one of the social phenomena, religion is a chief part of human being’s culture. Christianity, a most well-known religion, played an important role in history and thus influenced English language in a broad sense, especially the classic works of Christianity---the Bible, contributed a lot to the development of English. It had a significant impact on the formation of English idioms. People quoted the Bible almost everywhere during their daily life. An American lexicologist once said that it is hard to imagine one can learn English well without reading the Bible. We are not discussing whether what he said was true or not. However we are on the YES side about the Bible‘s contribution to the language.
As is known, the Bible is made up of two parts---the Old Testament and the New Testament. Being the classic works of Judaism, the Old Testament is the holy book of Jews, the primary content of which is comprised of commandments of the Jewish people. Later, the Christians called the Jewish book The Old Testament, showing that it was established by people and god in the past in order to distinguish it from their own classics. The New Testament came into shape in about 1 or 2 AD after the birth of Jesus Christ when Christianity gained its popularity among people. It consisted of the legends and the speeches in relation to Jesus Christ. The Zion soon made the two testaments into one and gave it a new name the Bible. John Wycliffe, a theological professor of the Oxford University, translated the Bible into English, which expedited the diffusion of the Bible in the UK. From then on, the Bible had a far-reaching influence. As a part of the language carrying the most cultural information, English idioms are deeply affected by it.
⑴doubting Thomas
As mentioned in the Bible, God was nail fasted on the cross, but he revived and turned up before his disciples three days later. Thomas, one of God’s disciples, happened not to be there when God showed up. Famous for his suspicion, Thomas did not believe what the others said without seeing God with his own eyes. From then on, people use “doubting Thomas” to refer to those who are skeptical about the truth of something.
E.g.5 Several of the country’s most respected doctors have stated that smoking harms one’s health, but there are still many doubting Thomases who are not yet persuaded.
⑵cast pearls before swine
This idiom is taken from The Sermon on the Mount (St Matthew, 7:6): “Give not that which is holy, unto the dogs, neither cast your pearls before the swine, lest haply they trample them under their feet, and turn and rend you.” Here, God admonished people not to give precious things to those who do not cherish the values. If not, it is similar to play music before the cows that have no idea at all of what music is.
E.g.6 Give them advice if you like. It will only be casting pearls before swine. They are incapable of understanding good taste and manners.
From examples above, a conclusion may be drawn that phrases or sentences in the Bible always have deep, or we can say, connotative meanings and what we read does not always correspond with what it stands for. So we must turn to the book or the dictionary to find out the right answer and should never take anything for granted.
IV. English idioms and literary Art
Literature is an art using language as the tool to explicit real life in vivid description thus the root of literature is in life. As for the words used in literature, they are usually from the people and are the essence of language. With the amendment made by the writers, people read the literary works and enrich their spiritual life. What’s more, due to the popularity of literature, some phrases from literary works later become idioms, thus promoting the development of culture.
William Shakespeare is considered the greatest dramatist and poet the world has ever known. No other writer‘s plays have been produced so many times or read so widely in so many countries as his. He not only created those great works, but also invented many of the most-used expressions in the language of English. Once someone gave a comment on the influence of Shakespeare’s works on the idioms as follows:
If you cannot understand my argument, and declare It‘s Greek to me, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you claim to be more sinned against than sinning, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you recall your salad days, you are quoting Shakespeare; …if you have been tongue-tied, …if the truth were known (for surely you have a tongue in your head) you are quoting Shakespeare; even if you bid me good riddance and send me packing, if you wish I were dead as a door-nail, if you think I am an eyesore, a laughing stock, the devil incarnate, a stony-hearted villain, bloody-minded or a blinking idiot, then - by Jove! O Lord! Tut, tut! For goodness‘ sake! What the dickens! But me no buts - it is all one to me, for you are quoting Shakespeare.1
Many idioms of the worldwide English have first been seen in the works of Shakespeare‘s and have found their way to everyday use of English. Therefore, the English language owes a great debt to Shakespeare.
V. Conclusion:
To put it in a nutshell, English idioms are the product of culture. They are restricted by English culture and bear exclusive characteristics of it, carrying abundant cultural purport. It has to be remembered that it is hard to say which idioms are actively used in English and which are dying out or have already died. Idioms are constantly dying and new-ones are born. Some idioms may have gone through radical changes in meaning. The shift in meaning is yet unexplained. All dialects of English have different sets of idioms and situations where a given idiom can be used. Languages develop and change. So is the case with English language and idioms. The future of idiomatic expressions in the English language seems certain. The development will continue through new mediums like the Internet and interactive mediums. We are not sure what this will do to idioms and what kind of new idioms are created but this will be an interesting development to follow, and by no means does it lessen the humor, variety and color of English language. Nevertheless, one thing is sure that, theoretically and practically, learning English idioms has to take culture into full account, as English idioms are the drop in the ocean of English culture.
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