Do animals represent different things in different cultures?

[Corinnebelle]

I know animals have different sounds in different languages, but do animals also represent different things in different cultures? Like are they considered aggressive in one and docile in another? Or is the most common form feminine in some and masculine in others?

Just cuirous!

[Cifi]

I can't think of animals that would be thought to represent opposed characteristics in different languages, but probably it varies which one is preferred as "representative" in idiomatic expressions.

I'll share some from my native language:

Cleverness - fox: er ist schlau wie ein Fuchs

Good eyesight - eagle or lynx: mit Adleraugen, du hast Augen wie ein Luchs

Bad eyesight - mole: ohne Brille bin ich blind wie ein Maulwurf

Reserved, introverted - oyster: sie ist verschlossen wie eine Auster

And I'm curious to learn more about expressions in other languages.

[Corinnebelle]

Sly fox
Eagle-eyed.
Slow turtle
Fast rabbit
Blind as a bat
Never heard the oyster one before. But we do go inside our shells. Similar to being introverted.
If you have butterflies in your stomach you are excited or pregnant.

[Cifi]

The butterflies exist in German, too, but there's no ambiguity with respect to being pregnant vs being excited, I'd always understand the latter.

Two more came to my mind:

Shy/timid - roe deer(?): scheu wie ein Reh
Silent (refusing to talk) - fish: stumm wie ein Fisch

[John238922]

In English we say 'close as an oyster' meaning 'close-mouthed', 'secretive', 'uncommunicative'.

[Cifi]

The thing about gender is also interesting, Corinne. I found that in Spanish, most farm animals seem to be female (which does make some sense especially with those held for dairy products, as you are likely to have mostly females). For domestic animals, on the other hand, the general noun seems to be mostly masculine, but does have a feminine form, either derived or a separate one: el perro - la perra, el gato - la gato, el caballo - la yegua.

[Corinnebelle]

The butterflies exist in German, too, but there's no ambiguity with respect to being pregnant vs being excited, I'd always understand the latter.

Two more came to my mind:

Shy/timid - roe deer(?): scheu wie ein Reh
Silent (refusing to talk) - fish: stumm wie ein Fisch

Well the pregnant one about butterflies is what it feels like when the baby starts quickening.

Timid as a deer, we have that one. Never heard of the fish though.

[Corinnebelle]

In English we say 'close as an oyster' meaning 'close-mouthed', 'secretive', 'uncommunicative'.

Do we something about clams, like he clammed up or he clammed shut? I don't know if there is a metaphor with a clam.

[lrai]

Corinnebelle:

We do say to "clam up" which means to stay quiet.

In China you see lion statues at most historic sites and one is usually female and the other male. You can tell them apart because the male will have a paw on a ball and the female has a paw on a cub. Also in China for Spring Festival (Chinese New Years) they have a mythical beast called Nian who looks like a dragon but it's a dragon. Dragons can be good, but Nian is never good. At a Chinese wedding the Phoenix represents the woman whereas the Dragon is the man.

We have many sayings using animals in English

Stubborn as a mule, sly as a fox, strutting like a peacock, sneaky as a snake, stinky as a skunk, feisty like a badger, to be as happy as a pig in mud, docile as a lamb, or being led to the slaughter like a lamb. Dumb as a turkey (the domestic ones).

[Corinnebelle]

[mention]lrai[/mention] dumb dog, dumb duck, cocky as in strutting like a cock (the rooster) strong as ox are some more.

Why do they have the lions in China? I know everyone likes lions, but were lions once in China? I know they were in Europe and the Middle East once upon a time. Lions still live in India. Have you seen Barbary lions? Biggest best looking lions with awesome manes.

[Deleted User 114]

Stubborn as a mule, sly as a fox, strutting like a peacock, sneaky as a snake, stinky as a skunk, feisty like a badger, to be as happy as a pig in mud, docile as a lamb, or being led to the slaughter like a lamb. Dumb as a turkey (the domestic ones).

Speaking of animals, here is a link to 165 idioms using animals!

https://7esl.com/animal-idioms/

[EranBarLev]

In Hebrew a dog is faithful, a butterfly is unfaithful, a pig is greedy, a sheep is naïve, an ant is hard working, a rabbit is a coward.
We have a snail instead of the oyster for introverted or hiding inside its shell.
We have the fish, fox, eagle, mule, snake, peacock & turtle too.

[lrai]

Can't say that I have seen a Barbary lion but maybe...if I saw a photo....China had/has lions and I do think at one time there were actual lions here but not sure. I just know its a symbol you will find (statues) at many of the Chinese famous sites like the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace.

China also has the largest research on cross breeding lions and tigers, they have tigons and ligers, (true) and they have done the most research on these cross breeds which only happen sometimes in the wild. Where I live there's a tiger park, it's interesting, let's leave it at that.

[Deleted User 114]

China also has the largest research on cross breeding lions and tigers, they have tigons and ligers, (true) and they have done the most research on these cross breeds which only happen sometimes in the wild. Where I live there's a tiger park, it's interesting, let's leave it at that.

Speaking of Ligers, if anyone hasn’t seen a photo of a Liger, you need to! The most famous Liger (who is still alive) is named Hercules. Standing up, on four paws, from his paws, to his ears, he is almost six feet tall! On his hind legs, his head reaches to the top of a bus!

FBC386B6-8274-4F77-89C5-C2675F91C8EE.jpeg (74.98 KiB) Viewed 1206 times

[Corinnebelle]

Can't say that I have seen a Barbary lion but maybe...if I saw a photo....China had/has lions and I do think at one time there were actual lions here but not sure. I just know its a symbol you will find (statues) at many of the Chinese famous sites like the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace.

China also has the largest research on cross breeding lions and tigers, they have tigons and ligers, (true) and they have done the most research on these cross breeds which only happen sometimes in the wild. Where I live there's a tiger park, it's interesting, let's leave it at that.


Barbary lion are extinct in the wild, but they still exist in captivity. Males can be up to 9ft 2in. and females 8ft 2in. Source

Ligers are huge!

[Corinnebelle]

Stubborn as a mule, sly as a fox, strutting like a peacock, sneaky as a snake, stinky as a skunk, feisty like a badger, to be as happy as a pig in mud, docile as a lamb, or being led to the slaughter like a lamb. Dumb as a turkey (the domestic ones).

Speaking of animals, here is a link to 165 idioms using animals!

https://7esl.com/animal-idioms/

Great link Jacko. This reminds me of the idiom posts I used to make on Duolingo.

Some interesting idioms from your link:

Herding cats!
Cat on a hot tin roof
Smell a rat
A scaredy cat
Fat cat

Dog idioms:
Dog in the manger,
Raining cats and dogs,
Every man and his dog,
Puppy dog eyes.
Puppies and rainbows

The cat ones are, ehm more interesting! But the dogs sweeter, sometimes!

And some I thought of:
Sick as a dog
Have a whale, having chickens, have a cow

[Corinnebelle]

In English we say 'close as an oyster' meaning 'close-mouthed', 'secretive', 'uncommunicative'.

Another oyster one is: The world is your oyster

The meaning of the term the world is your oyster is that you can have or achieve anything you put your mind to.

[Deleted User 114]

(Sorry dogs, it's not your day!)

How dare you?

[Corinnebelle]

(Sorry dogs, it's not your day!)

How dare you?

Haha! I changed it Jacko!

[Corinnebelle]

In Hebrew a dog is faithful, a butterfly is unfaithful, a pig is greedy, a sheep is naïve, an ant is hard working, a rabbit is a coward.

Go to the ant you sluggard, consider the ant and be wise, Solomon

I suppose butterflies flit around, in English extroverts are social butterflies.

Naive sheep, makes me think of Messiah "Feeding his flock like a shepherd" "You lead your people like a flock" and "The Lord is my shepherd".

The rabbit one is interesting! I read once about a mother rabbit that beat up a snake time and again because the snake was trying to eat its baby.

[Cifi]

The cat ones are, ehm more interesting! But the dogs sweeter, sometimes!

And some I thought of:
Sick as a dog

But sick as a dog or work like a dog doesn't sound so sweet. There's also underdog (all these don't exist in German, while we share a lot of the others that have been mentioned).

[Cifi]

(all these don't exist in German, while we share a lot of the others that have been mentioned).

And there's bekannt wie ein bunter Hund (lit.: known/famous like a multicoloured dog) in German.

[Corinnebelle]

(all these don't exist in German, while we share a lot of the others that have been mentioned).

But there's bekannt wie ein bunter Hund (lit.: known/famous like a multicoloured dog) in German.

A dalmatian? Sorry, couldn't resist! What comes to mind after that is one of those beagles.

[lrai]

oh that photo of the lion is amazing! This is a tiger I did...it's a huge needlepoint 18 x 24, and I just finally finished it after a number of years. Also the Liger was amazing as well...

[Cifi]

I've got another one which may be funny: we use "Schlange" (snake) or "Warteschlange (waiting snake?) for queue/line e.g. at a counter.

[Davey944676]

I've never heard the "cowardly rabbit" one, so that's probably a good example of the cultural variations you were thinking about!

Anyway, around the UK, to "rabbit on" means to talk incessantly. I always thought that it was one of those phrases that just sounded right, and somehow came about because it also matched a mental picture of a rabbit with its head bobbing up and down. Or something like that.

However, according to wiktionary, it derives from Cockney rhyming slang "rabbit and pork" - "talk".

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rabbit#Verb

[Corinnebelle]

[mention]lrai[/mention]

Great needlework!

[Cifi]

I've never heard the "cowardly rabbit" one, so that's probably a good example of the cultural variations you were thinking about!

Anyway, around the UK, to "rabbit on" means to talk incessantly. I always thought that it was one of those phrases that just sounded right, and somehow came about because it also matched a mental picture of a rabbit with its head bobbing up and down. Or something like that.

However, according to wiktionary, it derives from Cockney rhyming slang "rabbit and pork" - "talk".

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rabbit#Verb

Here in Germany, rabbits aren't famous for being overly communicative, but for their fertility: sich wie die Karnickel (Kaninchen) vermehren (to breed like rabbits).

Thinking about it, we also say wie ein Kaninchen vor der Schlange (like a rabbit facing the snake), which is like being paralised, unable to react. In a discussion on leo.org people suggested frozen like a deer in the headlights as an equivalent in English.

[Davey944676]

...Here in Germany, rabbits aren't famous for being overly communicative, but for their fertility: sich wie die Karnickel (Kaninchen) vermehren (to breed like rabbits)...

...we also say wie ein Kaninchen vor der Schlange (like a rabbit facing the snake), which is like being paralised, unable to react. In a discussion on leo.org people suggested frozen like a deer in the headlights as an equivalent in English.

In the UK we also say "to breed like rabbits".

We also seem to have a mix of the German "rabbit facing the snake" and the (more American?) "deer in the headlights"......because here in the UK we say "Like a rabbit caught in the headlights".

[3rdButterfly]

Wise as an owl is also one,