Elizabeth“Oh! You’ve got chicken skin” says another mother to me on the school playground. I stare at her blankly. Turns out she is talking about my goosebumps and thinks I should have worn my jacket. Later, I’m using Google Translate to help me understand a WhatsApp conversation and find the phrase “it was like an angel was peeing on my toungue” as part of a review for a new place in town where the girls want to eat. Then there was the time I used the phrase “you can’t have your cake and eat it too” and was greeted by blank stares and then a conversation about how you CAN have cake and eat it.
The past year has given me some experience in ‘The Sayings Department.’ When I saw The Illustrated Book of Sayings: Curious Sayings from Around the World by New York Times bestseller, Ella Sanders, I knew I needed to check it out.
The Illustrated Book of Sayings highlights 52 sayings from different countries, providing context, history, the equivalent saying in other countries and noting, rather humorously in most cases, if the saying is true or false.
Some of the sayings are familiar, like the English “Mind your P’s and Q’s” which serves as a “gentle warning” to be careful. Others less so, like the Spanish “to feel like an octopus in a garage” meaning to feel out of place. I’d be remiss not to mention the Dutch saying “too small for a tablecloth and too big for a napkin” to explain being neither here nor there.
I particularly like seeing how so many cultures share similar sayings, but get there in so many different ways.
The illustrations are humorous and charming. They make the book a perfect conversation piece. The book has provided us with a few little anecdotes about things people say and what they actually mean and how they came about.
This is the perfect book to grace the shelves of any expat, traveler or linguist who has ever encountered the problems with life in a different language. Mind you, it’s less of a reference text and more of a humorous companion.
My favorite in the book though is the Tibetan “to give a green answer to a blue question.” It is a saying I now plan to use not only in political discussions but also in most interactions with my children.
I also have two copies of the book to give away!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
I received this book for free from Blogging for Books in exchange for this review. This post contains affiliate links. All opinions are my own.
L would love this, since he always wants to know where the saying came from and exactly what it means!
“So it goes,” …. when things don’t quite work out
From Slaughterhouse 5! I like it too.
I remember learning a lot of fun phrases in Spanish class. The one I remember most was ‘no me dejes plantada’ or ‘don’t leave me planted.’ It equates to ‘don’t stand me up or forget about our meeting.’
My favorite saying is: a smile is worth a million, but it doesn’t cost a cent.”
I was getting my hair cut in Germany and wanted to explain about my cowlick and how it affected my haircut. Not a direct translation on that one! In German it’s a wirbel….a swirl. That was a fun conversation!
My favorite saying is close don’t care
would love to read
this is a really nice gift to win
My favorite saying is one I learned in the US south: She’s more nervous than a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs!
awesome prizes
Que sera, sera. whatever will be will be! 🙂
Right now, it’s “write blessings in stone and troubles in sand”.
I love this one. Thanks for sharing!
If you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen.
My favorite saying is Gee Golly Gumbees!
If someone doesn’t have a smile, give them one of yours.
Thanks for the contest.
My favorite says has always been “What’s meant to be will find it’s way”
Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.
It seemed like a good idea at the time.
Haha. I happen to say this a lot after an activity with the kids!
My favorite saying is “Bless your little heart!”
I don’t have a favourite saying but after reading this I might!
I don’t have a favourite saying at the moment, I would love to read some and choose my favourite!
One of my favourite sayings is “this too shall pass”.
Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera) is my favorite.
My favorite saying is Close doesn’t count
Sometimes I believe in as many as six impossible things before breakfast
As my ole Swedish Grandma would say “what will be will be.”
Very wise women. Great book giveaway too.
I like the one by Ben Franklin . A penny saved is a penny earned.
My favorite is a penny for your thoughts like I would pay to hear someone’s thoughts.
Money doesn’t grow on trees.
take it easy
I don’t really have a favorite saying! I do say “it is what it is” a lot.
My favorite saying right now is, “you’re amazing”
My favorite saying.. well I hope this is a saying. “Put your heart in the hands of God and he will put it in the hands of a man who deserves it!” I just love it!
I always say it is what it is
Favorite saying: You can’t stop a snake with both feet in the bucket.
One of my favorite sayings is “You can’t know a good day without a bad one!”
My favorite saying is a saying my mother aways said was “Sh_t or get off the pot. (she would said it if we were in the bathroom too long (reading usually).
The stronger the person the more demanding his love is. -Nietzsche
My favorite is, “When at first you don’t succeed, try, try again!”
“Will this matter a month(a year, five years…) from now?” I say it to my daughter’s a lot.
My favorite saying is “the squeaky wheel gets the oil!”
Cassie M
I’m from the south so one of my favorite phrases is “Bless your heart.”
Be the change you wish to see in the world.
“Not my circus, not my monkeys” ‘
My grandma says it a lot – so now I do.
This is one of my favorite.
One of my mom’s, trotted out in exasperation when one of us wouldn’t stop wishing and begging for something not in the budget:
“Wish in one hand and s%#t in the other and see which one fills up first!”
You win some, you lose some!
Haha. Touché!
“Music is what feelings sound like”
probably one of my favorite sayings is “when life gives you lemons…”!
My favorite saying is “Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels!”
Whatever will be will be is a good saying
“What about what?”
Mine is: Belly full, potato have skin.
It’s a Jamaican saying that my mom used to say to me when I was a kid. It means when you eat too much, you start to notice issues/problems with food that you didnt notice before.
That’s so interesting! Thanks for sharing.
After living in the South for a period, one of my favorites is “Bless her heart.”
I love the saying, ” Man has responsibility, not power”.
My favorite saying is: Let it go.
You snooze, you lose.
Practice makes perfect
When times are tough, I like to remember the saying: The only way out is through.