Do animals represent different things in different cultures?

[Corinnebelle]

Wise as an owl is also one,


[DJrossonwye]

Around the British Isles, somebody with an apparent short memory could be said to have "a memory like a goldfish", and somebody "living in a goldfish bowl" is living a life constantly under scrutiny or trapped in the public eye.

Elsewhere the goldfish has a more upbeat rep. In Chinese and Japanese tradition the goldfish serves as a symbol of wealth, fortune, and good luck.

[Cifi]

I've just picked up another one that's used in Spanish:

Aburrirse como una ostra (lit. to be bored like an oyster, because they seem to be yawning)

Credits to [mention]SweNedGuy[/mention] who mentioned it in another thread.

[SweNedGuy]

I'm thinking French again: "poser un lapin à quelqu'un(e)" =
"Not showing up on a date" or "abandoning somebody without notice".

[PeaceForce]

@Corinnebelle et al: In Native American cultures, owls may be "both revered and feared": https://centerofthewest.org/2018/08/06/ ... an-culture

[Corinnebelle]

@Corinnebelle et al: In Native American cultures, owls may be "both revered and feared": https://centerofthewest.org/2018/08/06/ ... an-culture

I imagine animals have a lot of meaning in cultures who consider luck, animism and spirit worship.

[Dovili22]

The owl represents KNOWLEDGE & WISDOM

[Davey944676]

A phrase just occurred to me which (unusually?) isn't regularly paraphrased to use as a metaphor to describe somebody or something else...

I have often heard the phrase "An elephant never forgets", but I don't think I've ever heard anybody say "(S)he's got a memory like an elephant" or anything like that.

Is it used that way in other places/cultures? I've been around a bit, but I've never heard it used that way.

[Dana_Dany Danuta]

A phrase just occurred to me which (unusually?) isn't regularly paraphrased to use as a metaphor to describe somebody or something else...

I have often heard the phrase "An elephant never forgets", but I don't think I've ever heard anybody say "(S)he's got a memory like an elephant" or anything like that.

Is it used that way in other places/cultures? I've been around a bit, but I've never heard it used that way.

Hi, I believe that elephants are very smart and they have the largest brain among land animals. The brain's temporal lobes, which act as a memory store, are much larger in elephants than in humans.

Research has shown that they can remember and recognize up to 200 individuals of their species encountered in their lives.
Thanks to their reliable memory, they know where there is water or food and they know the hiking routes very well. They can sleep standing up and 2 hours of sleep is enough for them to function normally, where a person needs a comfortable bed to get a good night's sleep and more hours to regenerate and I think we are far from elephants! hehe

In our country, they say as heavy as an elephant or a fat elephant, but I have never heard anyone say: this man is smart like an elephant, we rather compare wise people to an owl and say "smart like an owl"

"Owl, wise head" - Polish proverb
"Sowa mądra głowa" - polskie przysłowie

Davey, na tej stronie, możesz poćwiczyć język polski:

https://www.wwf.pl/aktualnosci/7-rzeczy ... -od-ciebie

mały dodatek

U nas w Polsce używamy takich porównań: uparty jak osioł, chytry jak lis, powolny jak żółw, wierny jak pies, dumny jak paw, zdrowy jak ryba, mądry jak sowa, łagodny jak baranek, paplać jak papuga, zręczny jak kot, pracowity jak pszczółka/ mrówka, tchórzliwy jak zając.

[Corinnebelle]

A phrase just occurred to me which (unusually?) isn't regularly paraphrased to use as a metaphor to describe somebody or something else...

I have often heard the phrase "An elephant never forgets", but I don't think I've ever heard anybody say "(S)he's got a memory like an elephant" or anything like that.

Is it used that way in other places/cultures? I've been around a bit, but I've never heard it used that way.

In English comparing people to animals is usually done in a derogatory way. I can't think of any positive connotations just negative, although we do attach good qualities to certain animals.

[Corinnebelle]

[mention]Dana_Dany Danuta[/mention] I read this fascinating story about elephants. [This story is from some time in the past.]
A male bull elephant rushed out of the jungle in great distress with two arrows in his hide. A native and his white master saw this elephant and drove it into a ravine to cobble it in order to remove the arrows. While the white man held a gun in case things went bad, the native being more agile darted towards the bull and quickly pulled out the arrows and removed the rope holding the elephant. The elephant whirled into the jungle.
Sometime later a group of guerillas attacked this man. All was not going well with the battle, when suddenly out of the jungle thundered a herd of angry elephants! Now guerillas were one thing, but facing a herd of elephants was something else entirely worse! Around the house the stampeding, stamping and trumpeting loudly. But they weren't after the occupants, they attacked the guerillas. They drove them all into the jungle.
Then the bull elephant came, and the native went towards him and elephant caressed him with his trunk. Afterwhile the native said to his master, "He wants to meet you." And the white man went out, and the elephant touched him. He had remembered.
How did the elephant know the guerillas would attack? Perhaps he saw what they did to other people and saw them going that way and so brought the herd to defend the men who had helped him. Usually female elephants guide the herd, but he must of told them about it somehow.

[Dana_Dany Danuta]

@Dana_Dany Danuta I read this fascinating story about elephants. [This story is from some time in the past.]
A male bull elephant rushed out of the jungle in great distress with two arrows in his hide. A native and his white master saw this elephant and drove it into a ravine to cobble it in order to remove the arrows. While the white man held a gun in case things went bad, the native being more agile darted towards the bull and quickly pulled out the arrows and removed the rope holding the elephant. The elephant whirled into the jungle.
Sometime later a group of guerillas attacked this man. All was not going well with the battle, when suddenly out of the jungle thundered a herd of angry elephants! Now guerillas were one thing, but facing a herd of elephants was something else entirely worse! Around the house the stampeding, stamping and trumpeting loudly. But they weren't after the occupants, they attacked the guerillas. They drove them all into the jungle.
Then the bull elephant came, and the native went towards him and elephant caressed him with his trunk. Afterwhile the native said to his master, "He wants to meet you." And the white man went out, and the elephant touched him. He had remembered.
How did the elephant know the guerillas would attack? Perhaps he saw what they did to other people and saw them going that way and so brought the herd to defend the men who had helped him. Usually female elephants guide the herd, but he must of told them about it somehow.

Hi, thank you for this very interesting and fascinating story about elephants. Here you can see their wisdom and memory, because they can repay a man for a good deed.

It is wonderful and amazing!

Cheers, Corinnebelle!

[John238922]

In English comparing people to animals is usually done in a derogatory way. I can't think of any positive connotations just negative, although we do attach good qualities to certain animals.

Aw, c'mon,

Brave as a lion,
Strong as an ox,
Clever as a monkey
...

[Davey944676]

... uparty jak osioł, chytry jak lis, powolny jak żółw, wierny jak pies, dumny jak paw, zdrowy jak ryba, mądry jak sowa, łagodny jak baranek, paplać jak papuga, zręczny jak kot, pracowity jak pszczółka/ mrówka, tchórzliwy jak zając.

Yes, in English we share most of these Polish expressions: stubborn as a donkey (but we usually say "stubborn as a mule"- a mule is a hybrid of a donkey and a horse), sly as a fox, slow as a tortoise, faithful as a dog, proud as a peacock, wise as an owl, gentle as a lamb, to chatter like a parrot, agile as a cat, hardworking as a bee / ant (but we usually say somebody is "busy as a bee"), cowardly like a hare (I had not heard the hare one, but somebody else said it is indeed used in English somewhere)..

I had not heard "zdrowy jak ryba" (healthy as a fish) in English, but you, Danuta, have already taught me this expression previously and I like it very much!

[LongHenry]

i never thought about this but thank you all for sharing

[MoniqueMaRie]

When you look up your Chinese zodiac sign, you sometimes find an animal that you would rather not be associated with, such as the rat or the pig. But all animals in the zodiac are associated with both positive and negative characteristics.

[MoniqueMaRie]

While browsing through the list of Chinese zodiac signs, the German proverb "sich zum Affen machen" (To make a monkey/a fool of oneself) came to my mind.

[MoniqueMaRie]

The most common form for the owl in German is female. I just learned by reading the poem in the picture that the English owl seems to be male.

In French different varieties exist: la chouette (feminin), le hibou (male). The one in the picture was "un hibou" (male)

"Le hibou" has feathers that look like ears on the top of his head unlike "la chouette".

[Corinnebelle]

[mention]MoniqueMaRie[/mention] How foolish are monkeys in Germany? I've never thought of monkeys as fools. They seem quite smart to me, although a little bit foolish compared to a human. Dumb donkey is an English idiom.

[lrai]

Actually in China monkeys are thought of as cleaver, and donkeys in reality are very smart, but can be stubborn, sort of like the saying stubborn as a mule. The expression dumb as a fox means just the opposite...they are not dumb but rather tricky. Idioms are fun and I love using them in the classroom.

[Cifi]

We just discussed "being a chicken" as representing cowardice in Greek from English. A lot of languages seem to share this picture, but I don't think it would work in German.

We might say:

"Du bist ein Angsthase!" (I don't know how to translate this best, as this compound noun doesn't exist beyond this expression as far as I'm aware - a scared rabbit/hare maybe?) or - I perceive that as slightly old-fashioned - "Hasenfuß" (hare's foot), and there also is

"Sei kein Frosch!" (Don't be a frog), but I can only imagine this one in negated statements.

[John238922]

"Du bist ein Angsthase!" (I don't know how to translate this best, as this compound noun doesn't exist beyond this expression as far as I'm aware - a scared rabbit/hare maybe?) or - I perceive that as slightly old-fashioned - "Hasenfuß" (hare's foot), and there also is.

In English 'scaredycat'?

We might also say 'sprang up like a startled hare'.

[Corinnebelle]


Squirrel in the headlights!

Squirrels can do the splits!

[mention]IceVajal[/mention] Thought you might like this one!

Source

[IceVajal]

Thanks, [mention]Corinnebelle[/mention]! Yes, cats are always welcome!