English idioms
Yet again, I am referring to something listed and explained in the Wikipedia. This time its all about idioms the English language has. I can’t help but liking idioms in general. See the list here.
There is something that interests me in the idioms. Maybe its the way that they have formed from a saying. Usually an idiom has to do with how a thing has been done in the early days. For example, when we say “Eye for an eye“, in that situation we are referring to a law that enables us to equally harm the another.
In Finnish language there are a lot of idioms also. I have an idea of making a project about photographing idioms. It would also make an excellent assingment for a larger group of people to shoot idioms. I mean, the same task for everyone but different results because everyone has their own outlook on things.
A great and actually funny example of Finnish old times idiom is to say (in Finnish) “mennaä tuhannen pillun päreiksi” or commonly translated “to break in to a million peaces”. There just isn’t any English equivalent for this. Any way, by using this in Finnish language we mean that something has broken in to a million peaces, not literally but still gone broken. But the origin of this idiom is actually the very traditional place that we call the sauna.
In old times thin slices of wood, or shingles, usually made from pine were used by women as pillows in the sauna. As the same sauna was used by several people and the personal hygiene in the 1800′s were not that good, shingles were made for women to protect their private parts. A tradiotion tells, that usually the shingles were even custom shaped for women to fit its purpose.
