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Khóa luận English idioms and proverbs expressing human feelings and emotions - Lương Thị Bích THủy

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  1. BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC DÂN LẬP HẢI PHÒNG ISO 9001 : 2008 KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP NGÀNH: NGOẠI NGỮ HẢI PHÒNG - 2010
  2. HAIPHONG PRIVATE UNIVERSITY FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT GRADUATION PAPER ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS EXPRESSING HUMAN FEELINGS AND EMOTIONS By: Luong Thi Bich Thuy Class: Na1001 Supervisor: Nguyen Thi Yen Thoa, M.A HAIPHONG-2010
  3. BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC DÂN LẬP HẢI PHÒNG Nhiệm vụ đề tài tốt nghiệp Sinh viên: Mãsố: Lớp: Ngành: Tên đề tài:
  4. Nhiệm vụ đề tài 1. Nội dung và các yêu cầu cần giải quyết trong nhiệm vụ đề tài tốt nghiệp ( về lý luận, thực tiễn, các số liệu cần tính toán và các bản vẽ). 2. Các số liệu cần thiết để thiết kế, tính toán. 3. Địa điểm thực tập tốt nghiệp.
  5. CÁN BỘ HƯỚNG DẪN ĐỀ TÀI Người hướng dẫn thứ nhất: Họ và tên: Học hàm, học vị: Cơ quan công tác: Nội dung hướng dẫn: Người hướng dẫn thứ hai: Họ và tên: Học hàm, học vị: Cơ quan công tác: Nội dung hướng dẫn: Đề tài tốt nghiệp được giao ngày 12 tháng 04 năm 2010 Yêu cầu phải hoàn thành xong trước ngày 10 tháng 07 năm 2010 Đã nhận nhiệm vụ ĐTTN Đã giao nhiệm vụ ĐTTN Sinh viên Người hướng dẫn Hải Phòng, ngày tháng năm 2010 HIỆU TRƯỞNG GS.TS.NGƯT Trần Hữu Nghị
  6. PHẦN NHẬN XÉT TÓM TẮT CỦA CÁN BỘ HƯỚNG DẪN 1. Tinh thần thái độ của sinh viên trong quá trình làm đề tài tốt nghiệp: 2. Đánh giá chất lượng của khóa luận (so với nội dung yêu cầu đã đề ra trong nhiệm vụ Đ.T. T.N trên các mặt lý luận, thực tiễn, tính toán số liệu ): 3. Cho điểm của cán bộ hướng dẫn (ghi bằng cả số và chữ): Hải Phòng, ngày tháng năm 2010 Cán bộ hướng dẫn (họ tên và chữ ký)
  7. NHẬN XÉT ĐÁNH GIÁ CỦA NGƯỜI CHẤM PHẢN BIỆN ĐỀ TÀI TỐT NGHIỆP 1. Đánh giá chất lượng đề tài tốt nghiệp về các mặt thu thập và phân tích tài liệu, số liệu ban đầu, giá trị lí luận và thực tiễn của đề tài. 2. Cho điểm của người chấm phản biện : (Điểm ghi bằng số và chữ) Ngày tháng năm 2010 Người chấm phản biện
  8. Acknowledgements On the completion of this graduation paper,I have received a lot of help, guidance encouragement and idea contribution from my teachers, friends and family. First of all, I would like to express my sincere thanks to my supervisor- Mrs.Nguyen Thi Yen Thoa M.A-who has always been most willing and ready to give me vabluable advice, inspiration and supervision to finish this study Next, my sincere thanks also go to the teachers in the English Department of Hai Phong Private University for their previous supportive lectures during four years that provided me with good background to fulfill my graduation paper. Finally, I would like to give my hearted thanks to my parents and my close friends who always stand by and support me both materially and mentally For my young experience and knowledge, I hope to receive from the more useful comments Hai Phong, June 2010 Student Luong Thi Bich Thuy
  9. Table of contents TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT PART I: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale 2. Aims of the study 3. Scope of the study 4. Methods of the study 5. Design of the study PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: THEOReTICAL BACKGROUND 1.Idioms in English 1.1. Definition of idioms 1.2. Features of idioms 2.Proverbs in English 2.1. Definition of idioms 2.2. Features of idioms 3.Distinction between English idioms and proverbs 4.Role of idioms and proverbs in life CHAPTER II: ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS EXPRESSING HUMAN FEELINGS AND EMOTIONS 2.1.Overview on English idioms and proverbs expressing human feelings and emotions 2.2. Studying on English idioms and proverbs expressing human feelings and emotions 2.2.1.Love a. „Love makes the world go round‟ b.‟Absence makes the heart grow fonder‟ c.‟Out of sight, out of mind‟
  10. d.‟Love is blind‟ e.‟Blood is thicker than water‟ f.„Brothers are like hands and feet‟ 2.2.2.Happiness a.‟Like a dog with two tails‟ b.‟Walk on air‟ c.‟In seventh heaven‟ d.‟On cloud nine‟ e.‟On top of the world‟ f.‟Over the moon‟ g.‟Thrilled to bits‟ h.‟Happy-go-lucky‟&„Tobe in stithches‟ i.‟Stars in our eyes‟ j.„Whatever floats your boat‟ k.„Music to your ears‟ l.‟Happy in the man who can endure with a qualnimity the highest and the lowest fortune‟ m.‟Happy is he that is happy in his children‟ n.‟ The best things in life are free‟ 2.2.3.Anger and envy a.‟Red hot‟ b.‟Blue in the face‟ c.‟Green with envy‟ d.„Green-eyed monster‟ 2.2.4.Sadness and depressiveness a.‟Get the blues‟-„Have the blues‟ b.„Sing the blues‟
  11. c.‟Down in the dumps‟-„Down in the mouth‟ d.„Your heart sinks‟ 2.2.5. Other states of human feelings and emotions a. Disappointment: „To take something to heart‟ b. Tiredness: „someone/something in‟ c. Anxiety:„ Have one's heart in one's mouth‟ d. Delightedness:‟Tickled pink‟ CHAPTER III: APPLICATION OF STUDY 1. Difficulties in the process of studying 2. Solutions for these difficulties 3. Exercises for practice. PART III: CONCLUSION 1.Conclusion 2.Suggestion for futher study
  12. Part I Introduction 1.Rationale: In modern life, the globalization of every field in life makes English become more popular as well as it is concerned more and more by people all over the world. Surely, English learners also have many difficulties in studying and using English, which include the studying and using English idioms and proverbs. Therefore, I want to conduct a study on English idioms and proverbs to solve this problem for myself as well as the otherEnglish students. For several years in my university ,I find many difficulties in discovering, understanding and using idioms and proverbs in communication, especially expressing my feelings and emotions as well as understanding the other people „s feelings and emotions in life, which helps human beings understand and sympathize with one another. Futhermore, I have difficulties in expressing my thinking and idea because of the sort of idioms and proverbs. Besides, I also recognize that using idioms and proverbs in communication helps my words become more natural, persuasive and thoughtful. With the above reasons, I want to understand English idioms and proverbs more clearly in general and English idioms and proverbs expressing human feelings and emotions in particular. Moreover, I realize that English idioms are not only used for communication but they also reflect English culture, people and country; Therefore, I hope that I will gain more knowledge on English culture ,people and country after the study on idioms and proverbs 2. Aims of the study: I fulfill this study with the hope of reaching some aims: 1
  13. - Distinguishing between idioms and proverbs -Analyzing more meaningful word about human feelings and emotions to enhance student‟s knowledge in related theme . -Providing exercises for practice to enable students to apply them in communication in daily life 3. Scope of the study: Idioms and proverbs relating to human feelings and emotions are raried ,in this paper, only some typical idioms and proverbs on human feelings and emotions are presented and analyzed. Particularly , I pay attention to collect and analyze idioms and proverbs on human feelings and emotions , such as love, happy, sad, hungry, thirsty, sleepy, terror and etc . Besides, I also try to collect many idioms and proverbs with hope that I can learn many popular idioms and proverbs for purpose of communication. 4.Method of the study: -Collecting material from internet, reference books and so on - Systemizing idioms and proverbs into specific items -Analyzing idioms and proverbs at the purpose of the clearer meaning -Illustrating for the above mentioned analyses by conversations, exercises,etc. 5.Design of the study: Part 1: Introduction Part 2: Development Chapter 1: Theoretical background of English idioms and proverbs including definitions of idioms and proverbs, differences between them, features of idioms and proverbs as well as the roles of idioms and proverbs expressing human feelings and emotions in life 2
  14. Chapter 2: Studies on idioms and proverbs expressing human feelings and emotions . Idioms and proverbs relating to feelings and emotions are collected, classified and analyzed. Chapter 3: Application of the study: 2 Difficulties in the period of studying 3 Solutions for the difficulties 4 Exercises for pratice Part III: Conclusion: 5 Conclusion 6 Suggestion for further study 3
  15. Part II. Development chapter 1 Theoretical background Idioms and proverbs are considered as special units of each language. They all reflect specifically on human being‟s thinking,experiences, spirit, culture and history. In general, for the ESL students and learners,it is necessary to study on idioms and proverbs because idioms and proverbs cause many matters around them. To study specifically on idioms and proverbs in the following chapter ,firstly, I want to give some general information of idioms and proverbs like as definition of idioms and proverbs, distinction between them and so on. 1.1. Idioms in English : 1.1.1. Definition of idioms: Idioms and proverbs are defined in many ways: According to Dictionary Wikipedia,”An idiom is an expression whose meaning is not compositional –that is, whose meaning does not follow from the meaning of the individual words of which it is composed” ( Thus,the above mentioned definition of idioms, idiom‟s meaning do not depend on its individual words. When reading any idiom, readers can not deduce idiom‟s meaning from individual words. For example, the idioms” a month of Sundays” means “ for a long time” in the sentence”I haven’t seen her in a month of Sundays”;According to the definition, idiom‟s meaning can not deduce from individual words like as a, month, of, Sundays. On the website of Linguistic Terms/ What is an idiom.htm, idioms was defined “An idiom is a multiwords construction that is a semantic unit whose meaning cannot be deduced from the meaning of its constituent and has a non-productive syntactic structure”. 4
  16. As for the definition of idiom, the definition concerns about two sides of idiom such as meaning and structure. Firstly, idiom is a semantic unit and cannot deduce from its constituent or its individual words.Secondly, idiom is a multiwords construction and has a non-productive syntactic structure. For example, the idiom “A ok” means “ feel absolutely fine”. In this sentence, in terms of structure, the idiom is a multiwords contruction including two words “a” and “ ok” and it has a non-productive syntactic tructure. In terms of meaing, the idiom is a semantic unit and its meaning “ feel absolutely fine” can not deduce from the words ”a“ and “ok”. Eg: If things are A OK, they are absolutely fine. ( Furthermore, English-zone.com defines “Idioms are words, phrases, or expressions that are unusual either grammatically, as in "Long time, no see!" or there is a meaning that cannot be derived from the conjoined meanings of its elements, as in "It's raining cats and dogs!". Every language has idioms, and they are challenging for foreign students to learn. Like as the above mentioned definitions of idiom, English-zone.com also defines that idioms are multiwords construction or words, phrases,unusual grammatically and its meaning can not deduce from individual words. Besides, idioms‟ meaning includes implicit meaning and explicit meaning. For example, the idiom”Break the ice” includes both explicit meaning and implicit meaning. Eg: (1) Before the bartender made the drink, he broke the ice with a spoon and dropped in into the glass. (2) Before the conference began, the speaker broke the ice with a joke. ( 5
  17. As for the first example, the idiom brings the literal meaning , it shows the action “the break the ice” so the idiom in the sentence (1) has the explicit meaning and can deduce its meaning from individual words. However, the idiom”break the ice” in the sentence (2) can not guess its meaning from the individual words so the idiom in the sentence (2) brings implicit meaning.Therefore, the idiom‟s meaning is to make a beginning or to get through the first difficulties in starting a conversation or discussion. In general, a reader can find that he can understand the meaning of the individual words in idioms or proverbs but he can‟t know the general meaning of the whole idioms. The expression of meaning doesn‟t depends on the meaning of the individual words. Therefore , a reader can‟t translate idioms and proverbs basing on the individual words‟ meaning. which is highlighted as the following examples. Eg: * To rain cats and dogs: to rain very heavily ( *On cloud nine: very happy ( *To be up in arms: very angry ( *Blow a fuse: suddenly lose one‟s temper and become angry ( *Cheesed off: someone is annoyed ,bored and frustrated with something ( *Foam at the mouth: someone is extremely angry about something ( 6
  18. * In cold blood: without feeling; with cruel intent. (Frequently said of a crime, especially murder.), if you do something, especially kill someone, in cold blood, you do it in a way which is cruel because you plan it and do it without emotion, intentionally and without emotion (1) The killer walked up and shot the woman in cold blood. How insulting! For a person to say something like that in cold blood is just horrible. (2) The jury must now decide if the two men are guilty of killing their parents in cold blood. (3) Four men were charged with the killing, in cold blood, of a French tourist last summer. An unarmed boy was shot in cold blood outside his home yesterday. ( From these above idioms,it realizes that “Idiom is a set expression of its individual words that means something other than the literal meanings of its individual words”(Oxford advanced learner‟s dictionary-1998,18);as well as, “Idiom is a speech form or an expression of a given language that is peculiar to itself grammatically or can not be understood from the individual meaning of it’s elements”(Idioms dictionary online). In conclusion, deal with idiom, it is necessary to notice two sides. Firstly,in terms of structure, idiom is a multiwords construction that includes individual words, phrases and idiom is unusual grammatically. Secondly, in terms of meaning or expression, idiom „s meaning cannot derive from individual words or its elements; moreover, idiom meaning has explicit and implicit meaning. 1.1.2.Features of idioms: When studying on idioms, some typical features of idioms were realized as following: 7
  19. Firstly, in terms of semantically, we can not translate the meaning of the idiom from the individual words.For example, the idiom “cup of Joe” means “ a cup of coffee”. To realize the idiom‟s meaning, it can not base on individual words as well as the idiom” an arm and a leg” can not guess its meaning from its elements like as “an”,”arm”,”and”,”a” and “ leg” because its meaning is different from the elements‟ meaning. Thus, the idiom‟s meaning is that very expensive, a large of money. Secondly, as for structurally, both the grammar and the vocabulary are fixed; therefore, we change them, that will lose the meaning of the whole idiom. For example, the idiom “All In The Same Boat” means that everyone is facing the same challenges. If we change its vocabulary to” All In The different Boat” or we change it grammatically to “All are In The Same Boat” , the idiom might not meaningful.Therefore, it is sure that idiom‟s grammar and vocabulary can be changed. Thirdly, an idiom is a multiword expression. Individual components of an idiom can often be inflected in the same way individual words in a phrase can be inflected. This inflection usually follows the same pattern of inflection as the idiom's literal counterpart.For example, the idiom “Have a bee in one bonnet” in the sentence “He has bees in his bonnet”. Moreover, it tends to have some measure of internal cohesion such that it can often be replaced by a literal counterpart that is made up of a single word.For example,the idiom” Kick the bucket” having some measure of internal cohesion such that it can often be replaced by a literal counterpart ”die” that is made of a single word. Besides, it resists interruption by other words whether they are semantically compatible or not.For example,the idiom”pull one‟s leg” resists interruption by other words whether they are semantically compatible or not like as “ pull hard on one's leg”or “ pull on one's left leg”. 8
  20. However, it resists reordering of its component parts.For example,the idiom “let the cat out of the bag “ resists ordering of its component parts” the cat got left out of the bag” On the other hand, an idiom has a non-productive syntactic structure. Only single particular lexemes can collocate in an idiomatic construction. Substituting other words from the same generic lexical relation set will destroy the idiomatic meaning of the expression. Eg: Earn one‟s living Break one‟s promise Eat one‟s words (Lacviet dictionary) Finally, an idiom is syntactically anomalous. It has an usually ungrammatical structure.For example,these idioms” But what”or “Close but no Cigar” is unsual grammatically. 1.2.Proverbs in English 1.2.1. Definition of proverbs In the period of studying idioms and proverbs,it realizes that there are many attitudes of proverbs, as following: "A proverb is a short sentence based on long experience." (Miguel de Cervantes-2001:18).Specifically, A proverb is "a phrase, saying, sentence, statement, or expression of the folk which contains above all wisdom, truth, morals, experience, lessons, and advice concerning life and which has been handed down from generation to generation" (Proverbs Are Never out of Season -1994:24).Thus,a proverbs which expresses wisdom, truth, morals, experience, lessons and advice is a short sentence,phrase, saying,statement and has been handed from generation to generation. 9
  21. Eg: (1) Might makes right: the stronger of two opponents will always control the situation (Harry Collis,2003:126) (2) The proof of the pudding is in the eating: the only way to judge something is to try it (Harry Collis,2003:130) (3) Don‟t count your chickens before they „re hatched: don‟t plan on the successful results of something until those results actually occur (Harry Collis,2003:39) According to the above definitions and example, proverbs in the sentences (1),(2) and (3) are phrase,short sentence and statement.Besides, they expresses experience and lesson so the proverbs in the example (1), (2) and (3) are proverbs However, an another definition of proverb said ” proverbs are memorable sayings that offer ethical direction in specific situations from generation to generation. They also mean a succinct saying that conveys a basic truth about life and is in common use,a commonly referenced terse and clever bit of practical advice” (Wisegeek) .They are the feature of all cultures, history.On the other hand , “ A proverb is some truth that is in a way important for a community and is passed on from generation to generation. By observation, experitmentation and knowledge sharing, a proverb is formed. It must be short and catchy and must be true. By repetition it becomes immoral”. ( The Biblical of proverbs-1994:20). Eg: (1) Blood is thicker than water: members of the same family share stronger ties with each other than they do with others (Harry Collis,2003:97) 10
  22. (2) Love is blind: one sees no faults in the person on loves (Harry Collis,2003:102) (3) Better late than never: it‟s better to do something late than not to do it at all (Harry Collis,2003:106) In general, proverbs (1),(2) and (3) may be “ folk wisdom”, experiential advice about how to act and live. As a result, They often reflect the cultural values and physical environment, people‟s thinking and experiment from generation to generation. Hence, every country has idioms and proverbs which are different from the other country and their situation is suitable with the country where they arise; however, in some cases , the country‟s idioms and proverbs are at the same reference with its other country. On the other hand, “A proverb are short sentences with perfect meaning expressing a comment about psychology or a criticism or a praise or advice or an experience about natural and social awareness”( Vietnam idiom and proverb dictionary – 1991:22).Besides, “ a proverb is a short well-know sentence or phrase that states a general truth about life or gives advices”.(Oxford advanced learner‟s dictionary-2000:7) Eg: (1)Rome wasn‟t built in a day: important things do not happen overnight (Harry Collis,2003:62) (2)There‟s no fool like an old fool: a foolish act seems even more foolish when performed by an older person, who should have a lot of wisdom (Harry Collis,2003:89) (3)When in Rome do as the Romans do: when traveling, follow the customs of the local people (Harry Collis,2003:32) 11
  23. As for these examples, it realizes that the example (1)”Rome wasn‟t built in a day” and the example (2) “there‟s no fool like an old fool” are short sentences; Besides,the example (3) is phrase and they all show a general truth,criticism, experience and give advice.Specifically,the example (1) is a short sentence and gives experience or truth in life, the example (2) is also a short sentence and criticizes an older person with a lot of wisdom but still performing a foolish act, the example(3) is a phrase and gives an advice. In conclusion, proverbs are short sentences, phrases,statements and memorable saying, which expresses a comment about psychology or a criticism, a praise or advice, a general truth about life and have been handed from generation to generation. 1.2.2. Features of proverbs In terms of semantic meaning, the meaning of proverbs can be deduced from the meaning of the constituent.For example, the proverb ”Practice makes perfect” means that doing something many times improves one’s skill at it.Besides, the proverb “the pen is mighter than the sword” can deduce its meaning that the written is more powerful than physical force.For other example,the proverb “Beggars can‟t be choosers” means when a person has nothing, he or she must accept whatever help is offered or the proverb”Clothes do not make the Man” means a person should not be judged by the clothes he or she wears. Thus, in many circumstances, we can translate the general meaning of the whole proverb basing on its elements Grammartically, proverbs are full statements with their correct grammar.For example, these proverbs “one man does not make a team”, “Children are poor men‟s riches” or the proverb “Confort is better than pride” all have form of verbs being suitable with their subjects. For example, the sentences” one man does not make a team”, “Confort is better than pride” or“Children are poor men’s riches” have the verbs “does”, “is” and “are” which are 12
  24. conjugated appropriately with their subjects ”one man”,”confort” and “children”. Morover, proverbs are a general truth, advices and etc, which are passed on from generation to generation so proverbs are passed down through time with little change in form.For example, the proverbs” Too many cooks spoil the broth” means too many people trying to take care of something can ruin it or the other proverb”An apple a day keeps the doctor away” means eating an apple everyday helps a person to stay healthy , which were handed from generation to generation but they are passed down through time with little change or without change in form. Proverbs are often used metaphorically and it is in understanding their metaphorical nature that we can unravel their meaning. While” a stitch in time saves nine”, “don‟t count your chickens before they‟ve hatched”, and “ don‟t throw the baby out with the bathwater” are common proverbs, few of us stitch clothes, count chickens, or throw out bathwater Proverbs often make use of grammatical and rhetorical devices that help them memorable, including alliteration, rhyme, parallel structure, repetition of key words or phrases, and strong imagery. For example,the proverb” all that glitters is not gold” , it realizes that it is use strong imagery between glitters and gold. Besides, in terms of grammar,the verb “is” is appropriatly conjugated with the subject”all that glitters” . Therefore, its grammartical and rhetorical devices help the proverb memorable. 1.3.Distinction between English idioms and proverbs Firstly,The meaning of proverbs can be deduced from the meaning of the constituent but the meaning of idioms cannot be deduced from individuals. Eg: (1) Put up with: to bear (LacViet dictionary) 13
  25. (2) Get stage fright: anyone feels nervous when he is front of crowd. ( (3) Clothes do not make the man: clothes do not make how person is (Harry Collis,2003:68) (4) Practice makes perfect: practicing in many times will prove many skills (Harry Collis,2003:60) As for these examples, the example (1) and (2) are idioms so its meaning can be derived from individual words or its elements but the example (3) and (4) can be deduced its meaning basing on the analysis of its constituent.Thus , when separating elements in the example (1) and (2) , we can not guess the general meaning of the whole idiom but we can do that in the example (3) and (4) . Therefore, the proverbs‟ meaning can be derived from the meaning of the individuals but the idiom‟s meaning cannot do that. Secondly, poverbs are full statements with their correct grammar but idioms are phrases whose grammar and vocabulary are fixed. Eg: (1) In a fog: confused, uncertain of the facts. (2) In the limelight: the centre of attention ( famous person) (3) Money does not grow on trees: money is not easily obtained. (LacViet dictionary) To deal with the above examples, it realizes that the examples (1) and (2) are idioms so they are phrases whose grammar and vocabulary are fixed; however, the example (3) is the proverb so it is a short sentence or full statement and its grammar is correct. Proverb is a saying that makes a truth or piece of wisdom , use of grammatical and rhetorical devices that help them memorable, including alliteration, 14
  26. rhyme, parallel structure, repetition of key words or phrases, and strong imagery.Besides, they can be translated the general meaning of the whole proverbs basing on individuals‟ meaning;however, idiom is a regularly used form of words, particular in some way - either to an individual or a group. it can form a style of communication. Eg: (1) A stitch in time saves nine :minor preventative action is less trouble than disaster recovery (2) Many a true word spoken in jest: take care as to what you say, it can reveal more than you may wish (Lacviet dictionary) According to the above mentioned examples,the example (2) is a proverb, it is a wisdom in life and used grammartical device;moreover, reader can guess its meaning basing on individual word so it is easy to remember.In terms of the example (1),it is an idiom. Therefore, it is difficult to remember because it includes separated words and it is difficult to guess its meaning basing on individual words. A Proverb is an old saying which usually gives advice - you can understand the meaning of the phrase and decide what advice it gives. For example,the proverb “an apple a day keeps the doctor away”,we can guess its meaning from looking at words so its means that eating an apple everyday helps a person to stay healthy or the other proverb“When in Rome do as the Romans do” means when traveling, follow the customs of the local people. Besides, an Idiom is a phrase that seems to make sense when you first read it, but which has a totally different meaning that you cannot guess just from looking at the words. For examples, the idiom "kick the bucket" has the meaning that is different from your guessing so its mean is to die or the other idiom "raining cats and dogs" means raining heavily 15
  27. Idioms are phrases that don't make sense when broken into their parts, but are understood as a whole. For example, the idiom "Baker's Dozen", we cannot translate its meaning when we separate its individual words, but we should understand its meaning as a whole so the idiom means thirdteen. Proverbs are cut little phrases that contain some "greater" meaning!. For example, the proverb "Actions speak louder than words " can be understood that everybody believe our actions rather than our words 1.4.Role of idioms and proverbs in life To deal with the definition of idiom and proverb, idiom and proverb give us a lot of experiential advice, folk wisdom. They show culture, country, people and so on. Therefore, to learn a foreign language well, we should study and learn by heart idioms and proverbs, which help us can have good conversations and we understand its culture, people, country, history and etc clearly When study a foreign language, learners all find that it is necessary to study on idioms and proverbs because idioms and proverbs help us language like as real native speakers. The proverb is existent in various people‟s languages and in circulation by formulaic phrases in spoken language as what comprehensively transmits experiences and lessons for a struggle of existence. Different people share with each other such features as proverbial forms and contents because they share practical experiences and wisdom for human beings in order to survive. The proverb is nevertheless rooted in the soil on which the people live and realized as formulaic phrases in its language system. Therefore, the character of the people is clearly branded in its proverbs. By comparing proverbs of different people with each other, we can find that each people‟s historical characteristics, economic life, cultural traditional, mentality, morality, sense of value, geographical environments and others are fully expressed in its proverbs 16
  28. Consequently, in order to understand a people‟s proverbs, we should observe them in relation with such conditions as its history, economics, culture, customs and mentality. It is by the very method that we can get hold of a people‟s proverbs in a correct, scientific and deep way. 17
  29. Chapter 2 English idioms and proverbs expressing human feelings and emotions 2.1.Overview on English idioms and proverbs expressing human feelings and emotions: Human beings are a higher animal than others in natural world; thus, human being‟s brain is constructed more complicatedly than others. An evidence is that an human being has feelings and emotions such as happiness, sadness, love and etc but others not. However, feelings and emotions are extremely complicated and abstract; therefore, it is necessary to distinguish two definitions between feelings and emotions. Firstly, feeling is an intuitive understanding of something. For example, we say „ he had a great feeling for music ‟ , it means that he listens to music and he understands whether music is interesting.Feeling is also the sensation produced by pressure receptors in the skin when we may say she likes the touch of silk on her skin. Besides, feeling is a physical sensation that you experience or a vague idea in which some confidence is placed. Moreover, feeling is a general atmosphere of a place or situation and the effect that it has on people or the experiencing of affective and emotional states Secondly, Emotion is a mental state that arises spontaneously rather than through conscious effort and is often accompanied by physiological changes, the emotion of joy, sorrow, reverence, hate and love. Thirdly, feelings and emotions play an important role in human beings‟ life. Emotions and feelings help us to become aware of our needs, in order to take good care of ourselves. It is important that we know what needs are. Our emotions and feelings help us to know what needs are through what we feel. If you feel angry, you know that you have to solve a problem with a situation or a person and that you must change your behaviour. When you respect your needs you feel happy. Therefore, in this situation, idioms and proverbs 18
  30. relating to feelings and emotions help us expressing our needs and describing our feelings and emotions clearly and exactly. Besides, emotions and feelings are keys to set boundaries. In order to protect ourselves we have to set boundaries with other people. If you feel uncomfortable with a person, your emotion is important because it will alert you about your feeling, is a form of internal communication that help you to understand yourself. You can then take the necessary steps to protect yourself and set the necessary boundaries.Ingeneral, idioms and proverbs relating to feelings and emotions help us call our names of feelings and emotions. Finally, as we know, our feelings and emotions control our actions with other people so it can influence with other people well or badly.When we have bad or good feelings and emotions we need to be shared by other person. Therefore, idioms and proverbs expressing feelings and emotions are means of communication to help human share their feelings and emotion so human being can make conditions to help each other overcome difficulties in life. In general, idioms and proverbs denoting feelings and emotions play an important roles in life, it helps human beings understand each other more clearly and share difficulties in life . Thus, idioms and proverbs relating to human being feelings and emotions are large and plentiful. Because of my limitation of knowledge and time, some typical feelings and emotions are mentioned in the graduation paper. 2.2.English idioms and proverbs expressing feelings and emotions: Feelings and emotions are a complicated process taking place in human so idioms and proverbs expressing feelings and emotions is so plentiful that I only give some typical study on idioms and proverbs expressing feelings and emotions as followings. 2.2.1.Love: 19
  31. Love is an emotion that affects to human life as well as their action. As we know, there are many idioms and proverbs express love between person and person, love in couples, family and community. They all make human life better because they contain advice, lessons from generation to generation. Therefore, when studying on idioms and proverbs expressing emotions and feeling, we cannot pass a typical human emotion that is love. a. ‘ Love makes the world go round’ Love not only makes a person have a good relationship with other, but it also helps the world become peaceful if everybody loves together like as the proverb ‟love makes the world go round‟. When people show respect and consideration for one another, the world is a better place. Thus, love plays an important role in our life and dominates thinking and acts with other person.The proverb shows the truth in life that is an advice. Eg: John:What‟s wrong , Kumi?why are you so upset? Jane: It‟s those new neighbors of ours. They play their stereo so loud at nigh that I can‟t sleep.I‟ve had it. I‟m going to go over there and give them a piece of my mind. 20
  32. John:Hold it. You won‟t accomplish anything by hollering at them. You‟re all worked up now. Why not wait until you cool down a bit? Don‟t you know that love makes the world go round? Jane:I agree that the world would be a better place to live if people respected and loved each other, but right now . John: Not another word! Let‟s try it my way. I‟ll bake some cookies, and later on we‟ll take them next door and introduce ourselves. We can casually mention the problem after we get to know our new neighbors. I‟m sure they‟ll cooperate. (Harry Collis,2001:111) In general, the proverbs give advice to people living in a world, a community and a society who have no blood relationship needing to love and help together . b.’ Absence makes the heart grow fonder’: Idioms and proverbs expressing love not only show advices or lessons, but they also mention truths or rules. They not only show love in community like 21
  33. as the above mentioned proverbs , but they also express love in couples. For example, the proverb “ Absence makes the heart grow fonder”. We can see that there is any word expressing love in the proverb but we can understand the proverb to show love. Thus, metaphor is used in the proverb when people use the word “ heart” to show “ love” so the proverb is extremely meaningful. Therefore, we may say absence makes the heart grow fonder when couples or people are apart they often feel more affectionate toward each other.In general, the proverb can apply for couples, members in family or people in community Eg: Linda:Say, Peter. I haven‟t seen you with Lillian these days. Where has she been hiding out? Peter: She‟s been traveling overseas for the past two months. To tell you the truth, I never thought I‟d miss her so much. Linda:They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder. Peter: It‟s true in my case, anyway. I guess I was taking Lillian or granted. I didin‟t realize how much she means to me until she was gone. Linda: I think most people react the same way. When two people are separated, they often feel more affectionate toward each other. Tell me. When is Lillian due back? Peter: In a couple of weeks. I can hardly wait. (Harry Collis,2001:110) In general, the proverbs give an affective rule between people and people, family or friends in love when people donot meet each other for a long time, their sentiment for each other are extremely deep. c.’Out of sight, out of mind’: 22
  34. Like as the above mentioned proverb, the proverb ‟out of sight, out of mind‟ also is about couple love; However, its meaning is contrast with the above mentioned proverbs. Thus, when a person says that out of sight, out of mind, it means that he usually misses his partner‟s image and memory. It means that people usually have no deep sentiment with each other when they live far from other. Therefore, if the above proverbs 'absence makes the heart grow fonder' shows the deep love, this proverb shows the superficial love. Futhermore, the proverb give an experience that we should not live far away if we have no good condition to live nearby each other, that makes our partner feel lack of sentiment ; as a result, out of side out of mind. Moreover, the short of sentiment makes people feel out of sight out of mind. Eg: -Ever since I moved, none of my old friends have gotten in touch with me. It's out of sight, out of mind with them, evidently. -My electric bill somehow got moved to the bottom of the stack on my desk, and I forgot all about paying it. out of sight, out of mind. ( In general, the proverb contains the truth in life that people feel out of sight out of mind when they have to live far away in many situation. Therefore, the proverb can apply only for couple love; it realizes that the proverb is above 23
  35. love or human sentiment although the proverb does not contain the word expressing love. d.’Love is blind’: Although love is a holy emotion in human life, human will experience bitter,sweet, romantic, sacrifice and ect in love. Besides, human love their partner so much that they becomes blind and foolish in many situations . Therefore, older people give many idioms and proverbs expressing love emotion to advise the person who fall in love. One of them is that love is blind. When anyone falls in love deeply, he or she can not realize the right as well as the wrong and they usually do something foolishly. Besides, people see no faults in the person they love. As a result, they can not know whether their partner is good or bad person and they met unluck in their marriage. Therefore, the proverb is a valuable lesson for couples. Eg: Margot: I just don‟t know how Carolyn has stuck it out with Matt for so many years Jane: They‟re been married for over thirty years, haven‟t they? Margot: True, in spite of the fact that he „s such a rude and selfish person. 24
  36. Jane:He has been far from the ideal husband, and yet she puts up with him and completely ignores his shortcomings Margot: No doubt about it, love is blind Jane: You‟re right. Appearently she loves him so much that she doesn’t see his faults Margot: Well, I can‟t say the same about my husband. I‟m not blind to his faults, and he‟s not blind to mine! But I think we have a good marriage anyway. (Harry Collis,2001:102) Thus, as for the above proverbs, the old people gives advice to the youth that couples should not love is blind but should criticize blind love because blind love makes people do something stupidly. e.’Blood is thicker than water’: Idioms and proverbs expressing love emotion not only show love in couples but it also mentions the family love. They bring the deep meaning and valuable advice. They advise that members in family have to help and love each other when others have some difficulties, up and down in lifetime.It realizes that people usually use mentaphor like as blood, hands and feet to show the members' sentiment in family or people having native relationship; especially, affection of brothers, natives always give prominence.For 25
  37. example, members of the same family share stronger ties with each other than they do with others , we may say blood is thicker than water. Eg: Leo: Hi, Gina. I‟m here to pick up your struck. Remember? You promised to let me horrow it for the day. Gina:That I did, but I‟m going to have to disappoint you. My brother took the truck this morning to pick up some furniture at a warehouse. He needed it right away, so I gave it to him. Leo: Boy, that really leaves me high and dry, but I guess blood thicker than water. Gina: Don‟t take it personality. This was a very pressing matter. Besides, he should be back in a couple of hours. Then the truck‟s yours. By the way, I gave my brother the truck because he needed it right away, not because family members share stronger ties with each other than they do with others. I would have done the same for you if you had been in his position. (Harry Collis,2003:97) f.‘Brothers are like hands and feet’ As we know, idioms and proverbs expressing love usually use mentaphor to show love such as blood, water, hands, feet and so on. Specifically,in some situations, brother or sister has some difficulties in their lifetime, and they need to be shared by others in family , particularly other in family share 26
  38. difficulties with his brother or sister, we may say brothers are like hands and feet. In general, love idioms and proverbs give truth, advice, lessons in life which were handed from generation to generation and it helps the youth have good experience in love. Besides, love idioms and proverbs help people have good behaviour with each other in family as well as community. Therefore, love is a holy emotion that helps human life become more plentiful and beautiful ,we realize that people use metaphor to express love so love idioms and proverbs are attractive and interesting to study. 2.2.2.Happiness: Happiness is a complicated and abstract emotion that is only found in higher animal like as human but we cannot find the state of happiness in lower animals like as dog, cat, birds and so on. Therefore, when talking about happiness , people have many ways to express their happiness, but not only using the word “ happiness”. For example, they can say they are delighted, enthusiastic, excited about something as well as there are many idioms and proverbs to express degrees of happiness; moreover, there are also many different idioms and proverbs to express the word ”happiness” in many different situations. a.’Like a dog with two tails’: 27
  39. We have many idioms and proverbs to replace the word ”happiness” and to express different degrees of happiness. For example,when we feel excited, delighted, fun, etc and it has different degrees of happiness, we not only say Iam happy because the word happy is a general word. To solve the problem in conversation, I will give some study then. Especially,we may say Iam like a dog with two tails. It means that Iam very happy or extremely happy and the idiom shows the strong emotion in human feeling.For example, when Paul won the first prize, he was like a dog with two tails. It means that Paul was extremely happy because he won the first prize.Therefore, when we translate the phrase‟s meaning, we cannot translate it literally because it brings idiomatic meaning so we cannot separate the proverb‟s individual words to understand the whole‟s meaning. Eg: Ben's team won the match. Their manager was like a dog with two tails. ( In general, the phrase‟like a dog with two tails‟ acts a prepositional phrase and means extremely happy , it also functions as complement in sentence. As we know, although it does not contain the word happy to show human being emotion , we may say its meaning to be happy and it is considered an idiom according to the definition of idiom. b.‟Walk on air‟: Great pleasure is denoted by idioms like as „ walk on air‟,‟in seventh heaven‟,‟on cloud nine‟,‟ on top of the world‟,‟over the moon‟ and „thrilled to bits‟. The idiom „walk on air‟ acts an instransitive verb,‟thrilled to bits‟ is an adjective phrase, and the others are prepositional phrases which can function as complement or adverbial in sentences. They are all pure idioms informally used.‟Walk on air‟ decribes the euphoric behaviour of someone who is very happy or related usually because something great but totally unexpected has 28
  40. happened to them as in the sentence „She‟s been walking on air ever since she met Julia‟. Eg: Sophie has been walking on air since her painting won the first prize ( c. ’In seventh heaven’: „In seventh heaven‟ denotes the property of feeling very happy about something or enjoying oneself immensely as in the sentence „Gloria was in senventh heaven as she wandered around the shops knowing she could buy whatever she liked‟. Eg: Since they got married they've been in seventh heaven. ( As the above example, the sentence means that they are very happy about their marriage. They are happy as they are in senventh heaven so the idiom uses mentapher to show happy that is similar to be in senventh heaven. d. ’On cloud nine’: „On cloud nine‟, synonymous with „euphoric‟, denotes the property of feeling extremely happy, usually for those who are in love or have just got a promotion, etc.,as in example‟He was on cloud nine after winning the competition‟ 29
  41. Eg: For a few days after I heard I'd got the job, I was on cloud nine. ( e.’On top of the world’: „On top of the world‟ denotes the property of feeling extremely happy and proud, especially because of success, good fortune or something good and material that has happened like as a promotion, winning a lottery.Everything is going well for the one who is on top of the world.Besides, When you are "on top of the world," you are feeling great. Sometimes you are "on top of the world" because a great thing happened to you; other times it is just because you are feeling great Eg : -What a beautiful day, today. I am on top of the world!: -If you climbed the highest mountain and looked out to see a beautiful view, you would feel great and be on top of the world. ( f. ’Over the moon’ : „Over the moon‟ means „ delighted about something‟.It is informally used in England, but not much in Canada. When someone is over the moon, he/she is euphoric to a greater degree than the degree „ on cloud nine‟ expresses, as in example‟The whole team were over the moon at winning the competition‟ Eg: 30
  42. Sheila: Jane, I‟ve got some good news to tell you. Jane: Really? I can‟t wait. Sheila: I‟ve just been promoted! I‟m now the head of the Sales Department at our headquarters. Jane: Congratulations! I‟m so happy for you. You must be over the moon! Sheila: Thanks. Yes. I guess I am over the moon. You know, I‟ve waited for this to happen for so long. I still can‟t believe that it‟s finally happened. ( g. ’Thrilled to bits’: „Thrilled to bits‟ mean „ very surprised and very happy about something‟. It refers to a kind of physical feeling of happiness. Something good and unexpected has happened to those who are thrilled to bits. It is used informally and more common than other idioms, exemplified in sentence‟ I was thrilled to bits with the gift from my family/when I received her marks from the research paper‟. In general, all these idioms have the same descriptive meaning with the adjectives denoting the property of feeling extremely happy such as delighted, elated, ecstatic and jubilant.They can be used informally and in literature. Eg: So what did your parents say when they heard you were pregnant?' 'Oh, they were thrilled to bits ( In summary, the above mentioned idioms are popular idioms so people usually use them to express their emotion happiness. They all express 31
  43. happiness but their degrees are different each other. Besides, every idiom have different expression from each other. h.’Happy-go-lucky’ & ‘Tobe in stithches’: As the above mentions, we can express our happiness by many ways and there are many degrees of happiness,which are used by idioms and make us easier as well as exactter to express our emotion. However, to show a happy person, older people also use idiom when expressing a person always in good humour, we may say happy-go-lucky person. If a person is happy-go-lucky , he is cheerful and carefree all the time.To translate the idiom, we have to use the idiomatic theory of translation because we cannot the idiom‟s meaning basing on individual words.As for the idiom, we can realize the opinon about a happy person that always have laughs a lot in his life, he has not worried about anything and he has always been cheerful, delight, relax, carefull all the time. Therefore, the idiom shows how the happy person is. Besides, a person is considered happy if he laughs a lot in his life-time, he is in stitches. Eg: Charlie had us in stitches with all his jokes. The movie sure was funny. I was in stitches! ( He's a happy-go-lucky sort of guy - always in good humour. ( 32
  44. As for the above examples, the idiom ‟to be in stitches‟ expresses laughing so much that it is difficult to control oneself. Although the idiom does not include the word showing happiness, we realize that the whole‟s meaning is happiness because a person who is carefree all things in life can laugh easily. Therefore, laugh is happiness‟s manifestation and a person who is happy and funny he may laugh so between the laugh and the happiness have close relationship. i.’Stars in our eyes’: As for the above mentions, happiness not only is expressed by color on face but people also experience their happiness by senses like as ears, eyes and etc.Besides, people realize other people‟s happiness by manifestions on face. Therefore, old people created idioms and proverbs expressing human feelings and emotions by face‟s color and senses. Happiness is shown by the idiom ‟stars in our eyes‟. As we know, people may say „stars in one‟s eyes‟ to show bright eyes because of happiness. Besides, the idiom „star in one‟s eyes‟ expresses happy because he always sees everything opstimistically. This is the expression that shows anyone‟s happiness from signs on his face, especially eyes so metaphor is used in the idioms Eg: She had stars in her eyes when she saw the car she had won ( Therefore, the idiom „the stars in one‟s eyes‟ shows happiness like as stars in one‟s eyes. Specifically, in the above example, the sentence means that she is very happy when she saw the car she had won and happiness is compared 33
  45. with stars in her eyes. On the other hands, comparative image is used in the sentence.Thus, as for the idiom, we can understand that English people use eyes to express happiness. j.‘Music to your ears’ On the other hand, a good information you receive makes you feel very happy, you say that something is music to your ears.Therefore, a good news or information is metaphor that is compared with music because hearing a good information help us become happy or delight like as music to our ears . Eg: A: Here's your paycheck for this month. B: Ah, that's music to my ears! ( As for the above example, I hear that I will be received my paycheck for this month making me feel happy that is similar to music to my ears. Therefore, people use comparative image; specifically, happiness is compared with the image „ music to my ears‟. Thus, by studying the idiom, we can realize that English people experience their happiness by ears that is also appeared in idiom. k.‘Whatever floats your boat’: 34
  46. As for the idiom “Whatever floats your boat”, this expression means that although you donot quite agree with the other person, it is their choice and you think they should do whatever makes them happy. Eg: "You're going to spend your honeymoon in Alaska? Well, whatever floats your boat!" ( In general, we have many expressions to show our happiness in specific situations. As for the above mentions idioms expressing happiness, it realizes that we should translate the above idioms basing on the literal theory of translation because we can guess the their meaning from individuals l.’Happy in the man who can endure with a qualnimity the highest and the lowest fortune’: On the other hand, happiness is origin from ourselves. People say that Happy in the man who can endure with a qualnimity the highest and the lowest fortune.It means that life has many difficulties and your life may be up and down but you have to keep calm, self-confident and optimistic to overcome challenges in life that makes you become a happy person. As for the proverb, if you control your emotion and thinking to overcome the difficulties in life, you may be a happy person. Therefore, happy comes from ourselves. Proverb shows the factors to reach happiness coming from ourselves and the proverb is exactly a secret to make happiness in life.For example,we may say „ although his company is pulling itself from the brink of failure, he thinks optimistically that he can rebuild it. It is happy in the man who can endure with a qualinimity the highest and the lowest fortune „. The sentence means that his company is bankrupt that makes him sad and discouraged but he is not demoralized, he still hopes that he would rebuild his company in future. Therefore, the proverb is not only experience that is handed from generation 35
  47. to generation but it also is advice, it is a valuable lesson help people have strength to rise up against failure in life. m.’Happy is he that is happy in his children’ As we know, child plays an important role with his parents; if child is docile and learns well, his parents will be very happy and proud of their child. On the other hand, child grow with success in his life that makes his child become happier. In general, we may say happy is he that is happy in his children in the situation. To understand this proverb clearly, we cannot translate the proverb from word to word , we have to translate the proverb by the idiomatic theory so it means that children are obedient and learn well, as a result their parents will be very happy. Therefore, the proverb gives advice that all parents have to give a good education to their child that helps he become a good and successful person.For example, we may say his son has just established a new company in industrial area so he is very happy and proud of his child. It is happy is he that is happy in his children. The sentence means his son has just established a new company in industrial area that makes him very happy and proud of his son.Thus, the proverb is a valuable lesson that advices children to be obedient and try to make success in life.If he does so, he has filial piety. n.’The best things in life are free’: As for the mentioned proverbs, it realizes that happiness come from ourselves, we have to try to create happiness from our efforts and The best 36
  48. things in life are free. It means that happiness cannot be bought by money but by our effort and happy is made by ourselves. Therefore, the idiom give us advice that we have to effort in life to reach the best things that make us happiness. Thus, „ the best things ‟ is mentaphor and shows the factors that make happy such as success, luck and richness,etc. Eg: “The best things in life are free, Now that I‟ve discovered what you mean to me The best things in life are free, Now that we‟ve got each other The best things in life are free ” ( In a word, happy is a positive emotion and we have many idioms and proverbs to show the degrees of happiness. Besides, by studying idioms and proverbs expressing happiness, we can have some experiences to learn what to do to make happiness. Therefore, idioms and proverbs expressing happiness is very useful in life. 2.2.3.Anger and envy: a.’Red hot’: Every people has its own way of saying things, its own special expressions. Many American expressions are based on colors; especially, 37
  49. when people want to express their feelings and emotion they will use colors for it, which is extremely popular in everyday communication. On the other way, color can inform human beings‟ states .For example, Americans often use red to express heat because red is a hot color. They may say they are red hot about something unfair. When they are red hot they are very angry about something. The small hot tasting peppers found in many Mexican foods are called red hots for their color and their fiery taste. Fast loud music is popular with many people. They may say the music is red hot, especially the kind called Dixieland jazz. In the situation expressing a state of angry from anyone, people also say see red. For example, my boss saw red when I told him that I would not be coming to work today. Thus, the color red is usually used to describe anyone who is very angry, it shows human beings‟ strong emotion or feeling. Eg: The new video game is red-hot and many people are waiting to buy one. ( As for the above example, it realizes that people usually use red color to show their strong emotion that is anger. Besides, red is a hot color so people use it to show their strong emotion. b.’Blue in the face’: 38
  50. Like the red color , the blue color also shows the state of angry or upset, excited and very emotional. For example, I argued with my friend until I was blue in the face. That means I am so angry that I am blue in the face. In general, people usually use color to express their emotions and feelings; especially, the colors like as blue, red, pink, green, white, are popular colors which are used to show human beings‟ emotions and feelings.That is commonly used in English.Therefore, to show anger, people not only use red color but they also use blue.May be people use color to express their feelings and emotion that is effective expression so every color shows a specific feeling or emotion.In general, „blue in the face‟ shows the truth in life that a person feel extremely anger, he may be blue in his face so we can understand the idiom literally. Eg: -The attorneys can talk until they're blue in the face, but I don't think they'll convince the jury that this guy is innocent. - You can argue yourself blue in the face but it isn't going to change my opinion. ( c.’Green with envy’: However, sometimes a person may be upset because he does not have something as nice as a friend has, like a fast new car. That person may say he is green with envy. Some people are green with envy because a friend has 39
  51. more dollars or greenbacks. Dollars are called greenbacks because that is the color of the back side of the paper money.Thus, green color also expresses the jealousy and „green with envy‟ is a popular idioms in communication to show human being‟s anger because of jealousy . Eg 1: I was green with envy when I heard that my cousin would be going to London for a week. ( The sentence means that Iam very jealous when I hear that my cousin would be going to London for a week.Therefore, we can know that English people usually use the color green to show their anger because of the jealousy about something. d. ‘The green-eyed monster’: We also say the green-eyed monster to show jealousy when we say the woman was consumed by the green-eyed monster and it was affecting her life. It means that the woman was consumed by jealousy that was affecting her life. Eg 2: -Do you think his criticisms of Jack are valid or is it just a case of the green-eyed monster? -Bella knew that her husband sometimes succumbed to the green-eyed monster. ( This expression was coined by Shakespeare in Othello , where Iago says: "O! beware, my lord, of jealousy; it is the green-eyed monster which do the mock the meat it feeds on." It is thought to allude to cats, often green-eyed, who tease their prey.In general, we can not explain the above proverbs‟ meaning 40
  52. literally because their meaning is totally idiomatic.Although proverb is about human being‟s anger, they express people‟s anger because of jealousy. 2.2.4. Sadness and depressiveness: a.‘Get the blues’ and ‘Have the blues’: Blue is an adjective to show color, we not only know blue color to express human being‟s anger as the above mention but we also use blue color to show sadness.Someone who is blue is very sad.Thus, blue expresses negative emotion so blue color in the idiom “get the blues” showing someone becomes sad or depressed. For example, we may say “the dull cloudy weather has caused me to get the blues” means that the dull cloudy weather makes us become sad.It realizes that the idioms „ get the blues‟ and „have the blues‟ have the same meanings ; however, less different appears between them,particularly the idiom „get the blues‟ means becoming sad. As for the idiom‟have the blues‟ , its meaning is sad. Eg: The dull cloudy weather has caused me to get the blues. The man next door seems to have the blues. ( Therefore, like as idioms expressing anger and envy, idioms expressing sadness and depressed also use color so color plays an important role in expression of human feelings and emotions.Moreover, people show their feelings and emotion not only by eyes, face but also by color on face. 41
  53. b.‘Sing the blues’: As we know, blue is a cool color. The traditional blues music in the United States is the opposite of red hot music. Blues is slow, sad and soulful. Blues music brings its listener the state of sadness.Duke Ellington and his orchestra recorded a famous song – Mood Indigo – about the deep blue color, indigo. In the words of the song: “You ain‟t been blue till you‟ve had that Mood Indigo.”. Therefore, the idioms show the kinds of musics making the state of sadness to its listener. On the other hand, the idiom ‟Sing the blues‟ does not have its meaning relating to music; Simply, it means only sadness so we cannot understand its meaning according to litteral meaning like as the idiom‟Blues music‟ Eg 2: You'll have to excuse Bill. He's getting the blues thinking about Jane. I get the blues every time I hear that song Buddy had been singing the blues ever since the Depression. (Đinh Kim Quốc Bảo-2001:99) In general, we can see that people can express their emotion sadness by using color like as blue; thus, it realizes that color idioms and proverbs and emotions have a close relationship. c.’ Down in the dumps’ and ‘ Down in the mouth’: When people want to share their feelings and emotions with other person, they donot only use color but they also use other way that are preposional phrases, like as „Down in the dumps‟ and ‟Down in the mouth‟. Firstly, „down in the dumps‟ is a prepositional phrase functioning as complement in sentence, whose meaning is depressed or feeling gloomy. When a person have a failure in his life, he feels himself as disable as others and not self-confident, he is down in the dumps.For example, we say „ Alex 42
  54. has been down in the dumps since he failed his exam‟. It means that he feels not self-confident and he is as disable as others. Eg: Things hadn't been going so well for her at work and she was feeling a bit down in the dumps. ( Secondly, „down in the mouth‟ is a prepositional phrase functioning as complement in sentence. If we may say someone is down in the mouth, they look unhappy, discouraged and depressed. For example, we may say you look a bit in the mouth, it means that you look sad ,depressed and discourage about something. You donnot want to continue anything because it makes you discouraged. Eg: Jake looks a bit down in the mouth. Shall we try to find out what's wrong? ( In general, the idioms „ down in the dumps‟ and „down in the mouth‟ are used to show our depression that is negative emotion when we are in life‟s bad situation. d. ‘Your heart sinks’ 43
  55. When we show our feelings and emotions, we usually use some words and metaphor image relating to eyes, ears, face and heart. Thus, the idiom‟ your heart sinks‟ uses heart to show the emotion , its meaning is unhappy and despondent about something that make us have no motivation to continue. Eg: My heart sank when I saw the amount of work waiting for me ( In brief, to expressing the emotion „sadness‟ and „depressed‟, people used mentaphor like as heart, face, ears and eyes. Besides, to show our feelings and emotions effectively, we also use color on our face. Therefore, by studying English idioms and proverbs expressing feelings and emotions , we can see partly native speaker‟s thinking and their culture. 2.2.5.Other states of feelings and emotions : a.Disappointment:‘To take something to heart’ As the above mention, English people usually use mentaphor to show their feelings and emotions; Especially, they usually use some metaphor like as heart, face, ears, eyes or color to express their feelings and emotion. Thus, the idiom „to take something to heart‟ means that someone is very disappointment because of failure or criticism that is compare with the action that take someone’s heart.Therefore, heart is not only use to show happiness and love, but people also use it to show their disappointment. Eg: Angela‟s taken something to heart by her teacher‟s words about her work. It was probably just a casual remark that didn‟t mean much, but she takes everything to heart. (Phạm Vũ Lửa Hạ-1996:103) 44
  56. In brief, this idiom acts verb pharse in sentence to show disappointment. As for the idiom, we can realize partly that the mentaphor heart plays an important role in showing English people‟s emotion. b.Tired:‘Do someone/something in’ ‟Tired‟ is an adjective having an identical form with, but it's features are different from others, the past participle of the verb‟tire‟or „tyre‟, having the syntactic functions as head of adjectival phrases, pre-modifier of noun phrases and complement. Morphologically, it has two morphemes: the rood „tire‟(v) and suffixed „ed‟. It has no inflected forms for comparative and superlative. However, when we want to express that we make someone tired we may say do someone in. Eg: (1)That tennis game really did me in (2)Yes, hard activity will do you in ( Richard.A.Spears-2000:47) In the example (1), it means that tennis game really make me tired.On the other hand, the example (2) means that hard activity will make you tired. c.Anxiety:‘Have one's heart in one's mouth’ As for the above study, English people usually use heart, face or eyes that is mentaphor to show their feelings and emotion; Thus, to show human‟s 45
  57. anxiety , English people also use the mentaphor „heart‟ to express anxiety. As you know, the word „anxiety‟ is a non-count noun with two derivatives „anxious‟(adjective) and „anxiously‟(adverb). Therefore, when we feel anxious we may not only say iam anxious but we also use idioms express our anxiety like as „ have one‟s heart in one‟s mouth‟. For example, Someone who has their heart in their mouth feels extremely anxious or nervous faced with a dangerous or unpleasant situation. Eg: Emma had her heart in her mouth when she saw her 2 year-old son standing in front of the open window." ( The example means that Emma feel extremely anxious or nervous facing with son‟s standing in front of the open window.In general, we can use many idioms to express our anxiety; d.Delighted:’Tickled pink’: Pink is a lighter kind of red. People sometimes say they are in the pink when they are in good health, good feeling. The expression was first used in America at the beginning of the twentieth century. It probably comes from the fact that many babies are born with a nice pink color that shows that they are in good health, good feeling.Moreover, color pink is used for expression of positive feelings or emotion. We say that we are tickled pink when we are very pleased or delighted by someone or something. For example, my mother 46
  58. was tickled pink that you visited her when you were in town. It means that my mother was very delighted or pleased by your visit. Eg: Grover Laudermilk was tickled pink over Kinsella's move in buying him from St. Louis ( In general, when we talk about the pink color, we want to show anyone in good health, good emotion, particularly the idiom „ in the pink‟ and „tickled pink‟ helping status specifically. In short, idioms and proverbs expressing human feelings and emotions are a large scope to study that is useful in life. Thus, they not only help us express our feelings and emotions but they also give valuable lesson. Besides, idioms and proverbs expressing human feelings and emotion help us understand English people‟s thinking and culture; through these idioms and proverbs, we have the thoughtful awareness of people and society. However, due to the limitation of knowledge and time, idioms and proverbs expressing human feelings and emotions cannot be studied all of them but the author only gives some typical idioms and proverbs relating to human feelings and emotions. 47
  59. CHAPTER 3 Application of the study 3.1.Difficulties in the process of studying Idioms and proverbs expressing human feelings and emotions are excited and contain many helpful lessons. Besides, we will express easily our thinking in conversations by idioms and proverbs. However, to remember and apply them in suitable context is difficult. An idiom and proverbs may have no equivalence in the target language. Difference languages have different ways to express the same meaning. This language may have an expression of a given meaning by single words; whereas, that language may have an expression of it by an idiom and proverb. Hence, it is difficult to find the equivalence of idioms and proverbs in the target language as a matter . In the period of collecting and systemizing, it is difficult to find enough idioms and proverbs expressing human feelings and emotions because human feelings and emotions is complicated and include many degrees. An idiom and proverb may be used in the text in both the literal and idiomatic senses at the same time. Hence, if an idiom or proverb in the target language doesn‟t correspond to the source language of idiom or proverb in form and meaning, the role of idiom and proverb can‟t be successfully translated. An idiom or proverb may have a similar counterpart in the target language, but its context of use may be different. Therefore, when using or translating , people will confuse easily. 3.2.Solutions for these difficulties In the period of studying and using, it is necessary to notice about idioms and proverbs‟ meaning and context 48
  60. Patience and hard-working is necessary in the period of collecting and systemizing that help we can find many interesting material from references like as internet, book, story, conversations and so on. The best way to study idioms and proverbs is learning by heart and applying them in the suitable context. Besides, we can find an interesting way to learn them through reading books, newspapers and magazines in order to understand more about English culture, people and society. We can also make up sentences or stories with idioms and proverbs that we have learnt or write down them in handlebooks with their meaning and usage. These ways help us to remember idioms or proverbs especially on difficult ones. It is more necessary to practice them with our friends, teachers in daily communication. 3.3.Exercises for practice. Ex 1: Fill in the following words in the sentences below: Cloud tails air world Moon punch spirits bits 1.Our son‟s just got engaged to a really nice girl. We‟re over the . 2.I‟ve just passed my driving test. I can‟t believe it. I‟m so pleased.I feel as if I‟m walking on 3. I‟m just ringing to thank you for my present.It‟s exactly what I wanted.I‟m thrilled to with it. 4. Look at Clare. She seems so relaxed and happy these days. She looks as if she hasn‟t got a care in the 5. Pete‟s wife‟s just had twins. He‟s going round like a dog with two 6.Sorry about all the noise last night. I hope we didn‟t wake you. We were celebrating our exam results and we were in very high 7. Mark‟s just landed his dream job, so he‟s on .nine at the moment 8. We‟ve just heard that we‟ve got a big contract which is going to last for five years. We‟re all as pleased as 49
  61. Ex2:All the idioms in this exercise are ways of expressing anger or a bad mood. First fill the correct verbs in the following: Fly make spit give blow a) your top b) off the handle c) someone a piece of your mind d) blood e) your blood boil Now use the correct form of these expressions: 1. I always try to keep calm, but when the steward split the drinks over me, I just blew .and demanded to be upgraded to first class. 2. When I came back and found the dent in my car. I was spitting ! 3. It makes .just to see the pictures of those refugees. 4. I don‟t often lose my temper, but when I saw that woman hitting her little boy in the street, I flew and gave her Ex 3: Add these nouns to complete the expressions: Straw collar arms warpath rag tether a) like a red . to a bull b) the last . c) Hot under the d) Up in . e) At the end of my . f) On the Now complete these sentences: 1.Keep away from Felicity today. She‟s on .about something. 2.If you want to get on with Roger, don‟t talk about hospitals. It‟s like He just blows his top 3.Calm down. There‟s no need to get so !Shouting won‟t get you anywhere. 50
  62. 4.It‟s terrible. They want to build a new road just 20 meters away from our houses. Everybody‟s up about it, as you can imagine. 5.All right. This is it! I‟ve warned you. This is .You said you‟d be home by midnight. It‟s now twenty past. 6.I‟ve asked you time and time again to keep the flat tidy, not to smoke, and not to leave things lying about. You just don‟t listen! I‟m at Ex 4:Look back at the idioms in the above exercises and put in the missing prepositions: 1.I‟m .the end my tether. 2.Why are you so hot the collar? 3.I‟m cloud nine 4.We were .very high spirits 5.That‟s like a red rag .a bull 6.She just flew the handle 7.I‟m walking .air. 8.I‟m thrilled bits with it 9.i was .the moon 10. She‟s .the warpath. Ex 5: What would you say in these situation? The words in brackets will help you: 1.A group of people are unhappy about a decision(Everyone‟s arms) 2.It‟s happened one time too many ( That‟s, straw) 3.You want to say that a particular thing makes you angry(It, boil) 4.You are going to tell someone you are angry at their behaviour( I, piece, mind) 5.You are extremely pround of something you‟ve done (I, punch) Ex 6: Find the words in the above exercises which complete these definitions: 1.The part of a shirt which goes round your neck is the 2.An old piece of cloth, used for cleaning things, is a . 3.To make a cup of tea, first the water 51
  63. 4.When you are very pleased and excited about something, you are . 5.A is a rope or chain which ties an animate to stop it running away 6.You pick up a kettle or a pot by the 52
  64. Part III. Conclusion 1.Conclusion In short, it is clear that idioms and proverbs play an important part not only in the literature such as those poems in poems, stories, novels, newspapers but also in the daily communications. Through idioms and proverbs, people can express their thought and opinion exactly and vividly; Moreover, their style, experience and culture also appear in idioms and proverbs. It is necessary to understand them well to guess their meaning and get information correctly. Due to limitation in my knowledge and time, I only mention some aspects of theory of idioms and proverbs presented in the background part with the hope that readers can have basic knowledge of them and identify them better. In the chapter II, I only focus on some sources of idioms and proverbs about emotional theme.Through topic, we not only know more idioms and proverbs about emotional but we also find the usage, culture and life in each. Learning idioms and proverbs is not easy task because students often confuse in defining, memorizing and using them. There are some methods introduced in chapter III to come over these such as learning by heart, reading books, magazines, stories My study is very small part of English idioms and proverbs but I hope that it can contribute partly to learners in the process of studying English. Although I try my best, my study will remain certain limits so I would highly appreciate any contributive comments from the teachers, friends and readers to make paper better and better. 2. Suggestion for further study Because of the limitation of my knowledge and time, the paper could not go through all aspects of English idioms and proverbs. In the future, I hope that I will continue studying at this interesting subject but in the more practical content, that “ People and culture of English through idioms and proverbs”. 53
  65. Once again, I would like to express my deepest to my supervisor- Mrs.Nguyen Thi Yen Thoa M.A as well as all of my teachers in Foreign language department for their noble advices, guidance and comments. My many thanks also go to my friends and my family who have supported and encouraged me in completing this graduation paper. 54
  66. References From books: 1.Đinh Kim Quốc Bảo(2001). 500 Vietnamese phrases and sayings with English translators. volumn 2. NXB VHTT 2. Đinh Kim Quốc Bảo. (2001). 500 Vietnamese phrases and sayings with English translators. volumn 3.NXB VHTT 3.Đinh Kim Quốc Bảo. (2001). 500 Vietnamese phrases and sayings with English translators. volumn 4.NXB VHTT 4. Harry Collis. (2003).101 American English Proverbs. NXB TP. HCM 5. PhanVũ Lửa Hạ. (1996). Mastering English idioms. NXB Trẻ 6. Richard A. spears.(2000). NTC’s American idioms dictionary.NTC publishing group 7. Nguyễn Đình Hùng.(2007). Tuyển tập thành ngữ ca dao tục ngữ Việt-Anh thông dụng 8. Xuân Bá,Trần Thanh Sơn. (2002). Tục ngữ thành ngữ nước Anh.NXB Thế giới 9. Võ Liêm An, Võ Liêm Anh. (2003). 100 Vietnamese English translation. NXB Thanh niên 10. Đoàn Minh, Chu Xuân, Nguyễn Sửu(biên soạn). (2000). Humorous stories, jokes and other stories. NXB Thanh Hóa 11. Nguyễn Lân.(1997). Từ điển thành ngữ, tục ngữ Việt Nam. NXB KHXH From internet resoures: 12. 13. 14. m 55
  67. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. m 23. sadness.htm 24. 25. 26. sadness.htm 56
  68. Appendix keys to exercises Ex 1: 1.moon 2.air 3.bits 4.world 5.tails 6.spirits 7.cloud 8.punch Ex 2: a.blow b.fly c.give d.spit e.make 1.a 2.d 3.e 4.b,c Ex 3: a.rag b.straw c.collar d.arms e.tether f.warpath 1.f 57
  69. 2.a 3.c 4.d 5.b 6.e Ex 4: 1.at,of 2.under 3.on 4.in 5.to 6.off 7.on 8.to 9.over 10.on Ex 5: 1.Everyone‟s up in arms about it 2.That‟s the last straw 3.It makes my blood boil 4.I‟m going to give him a piece of my mind 5.I‟m as pleased as punch Ex 6: 1.Collar 2.rag 3.boil 4.Thrilled 5.Tether 6.Handle 58