Good quiz, though now I'm going to have They Might Be Giants in my head for the rest of the day. ♫ Not to put too fine a point on it / say I'm the only bee in your bonnet / Build a little birdhouse in your soul.... ♪
Also, would someone please explain why "water off a camel's back" makes sense? "Like water off a duck's back," which is very common in America as a way of saying that a person was not affected by something bad that was aimed at them, makes sense because ducks secrete oil with which they cover their feathers, and then water runs right off their feathers, making it much easier for them to swim. Does it work the same way for a camel, or does the expression mean something slightly different?
A shop that sells china ceramics usually has all plates, jugs, cups etc. all around on little tables and stands, imagine having a large bull on the loose in the shop....... so anyone clumsy, bumping into things or tripping over objects is 'Like a bull in a china shop'.
I imagine elephants are much more respectful of china than an angry bull. They are surprisingly nimble for so large a being. Of course some china shops are more densely displayed than others.
The Mythbusters put two of these sayings to the test and debunked them both. Firstly, they tried to shoot fish in a barrel, and it turned out to be incredibly difficult. And secondly, they let bulls loose in a makeshift china shop only to have them run down the aisles without breaking a single thing.
Had fun with this one with 3.27 left. In my head I could hear my mother saying most of these to me. She said 'bull in a china shop' a few times, but more often said 'like a bull at a gate'. How about adding in an Aussie saying like 'flat out like a lizard drinking'.
Nice game!!!
(Yes, I'm British, in Britain)
I have some suggestions: 'a partridge in a pear tree', and 'the straw that broke the camel's back'
I have just one question - why bull in the china shop? I understand the meaning, but why bull? In Czech, we have "elephants in china" :)
Hard though, because in Sweden we use other animals for some of the sayings...
Gopher this
Gopher that
:)