Idiom Explorations Edition 6
By Augustin
Idioms and expressions play a crucial role in everyday conversation. They provide insight into various cultures and add depth to language, making it more engaging. Utilizing idioms facilitates strong connections with others and ensures that conversations are memorable. Incorporating idioms enriches language, making it vibrant and varied while also enhancing our understanding of different cultures, thereby facilitating communication with people from diverse backgrounds.
Engaging in dialogue with one another is akin to a dance of words, fostering closeness and deepening mutual understanding. Language serves as a bridge that connects individuals, enabling us to express ourselves and share our thoughts and emotions. It acts as a conduit, uniting people on the shared journey of life.
မျှော့သွေးစမ်း
/hmyau.swe:cam:/
* အခြေအနေကို မဝံ့မရဲ တရွေ့ရွေ့ စူးစမ်းသည်။
* ကျွန်တော်က မျှော့သွေးစမ်းသလို မေးမိလေသည်။
* Explore the possibilities surreptitiously; Put out feelers; Assess the situation in a sneaky way.
ဥပမာ – မျက်ပြူးဆန်ပျာ ဖြစ်ခဲ့ရသည့် မဲခွဲဆုံးဖြတ်ချက်က သူ၏အစွမ်းအစကို မျှော့သွေးစမ်းဘိသကဲ့သို့ ရှိခဲ့ရပြီ။
DEFINITION
To fumble as a leech
A leech, when attached to a host, attempts to extract blood by fumbling to locate the area where the arterial system is accessible. During this process, the leech moves its head hesitantly from side to side, searching for the optimal spot. This behaviour, characterized by hesitant and uncertain movements in pursuit of an opportunity, is likened to the actions of a leech and is termed as “fumbling”.
Here are similar English idiom versions:
A similar English expression might be “feeling around in the dark”, which refers to attempting to find something without much knowledge or guidance.
Example sentence: “He was feeling around in the dark for a solution to the problem, unsure of where to start.”
Another expression could be “flying blind”, which means to proceed without a clear understanding or direction.
Example sentence: “Without any instructions, I felt like I was flying blind trying to assemble the furniture.”
Alternatively, “stabbing in the dark” can be used, which suggests making attempts without a clear idea of what will work.
Example sentence: “I’m just stabbing in the dark here, hoping one of my guesses will lead to the right answer.”
Here are the expanded versions:
Grasping at straws: Attempting to find a solution or make sense of something in a desperate or unfruitful manner.
Example sentence: “She’s grasping at straws trying to justify her actions; it’s clear she made a mistake.”
Barking up the wrong tree: Pursuing a mistaken or misguided course of action.
Example sentence: “I think you’re barking up the wrong tree if you believe he’ll lend you money; he’s as broke as you are.”
Casting about: Searching or exploring aimlessly for a solution or direction.
Example sentence: “The team has been casting about for new ideas, but nothing seems to be gaining traction.”
Wandering in the wilderness: Being lost or unsure of one’s direction, especially in terms of finding a solution or path forward.
Example sentence: “Ever since she lost her job, she’s been wandering in the wilderness, unsure of what to do next.”
Fish out of water: Feeling uncomfortable or out of place, often due to being in an unfamiliar situation or environment.
Example sentence: “At the fancy dinner party, I felt like a fish out of water among all those wealthy socialites.”
These idioms and expressions all convey the idea of uncertainty, confusion, or ineffectiveness in pursuing a goal or solution, similar to the behaviour of a leech “fumbling” to locate the optimal spot for blood extraction.
ရွက်ပုန်းသီး
/rwakpun:si:/
* အရွက်၊ အကိုင်းများ ဖုံးကွယ်နေသဖြင့် လူမမြင်သာသောကြောင့် အနှောင့်အယှက်ကင်းစွာ ကြီးရင့်ရသောအသီး။
* သစ်ပင်ဝါးပင်ကြီးများအောက်၌ ရွက်ပုန်းသီးမှည့်နေသော။
• အရည်အချင်းရှိသော်လည်း မထင်မပေါ်ဖြစ်နေသူ။
ဥပမာ – ထူးချွန်ထက်မြက်သည့် မျိုးဆက်သစ် ရွက်ပုန်းသီး အားကစားသမားများ ပေါ်ထွက်လာစေရေးအတွက် ရည်ရွယ်သည်။
DEFINITION
Fruit hidden under leaves
If a fruit is hidden under leaves, it can grow undisturbed and reach its full potential without being seen by potential thieves who might pick it prematurely. Similarly, a beautiful girl who goes unnoticed because she seldom mingles in crowds is sometimes referred to as a “fruit hidden under leaves”. In some rare instances, this term is also used to describe a concubine who is kept secretively.
Here are the expanded versions:
In English, there are several idiomatic expressions and sayings that convey similar meanings to the Myanmar idiom provided:
Hidden gem: Refers to something or someone of great value or talent that is not widely known or recognized.
Example sentence: “Sarah is a hidden gem in the art world; her paintings are stunning but she rarely exhibits them.”
Diamond in the rough: Describing someone or something with great potential or value that is not yet fully developed or recognized.
Example sentence: “With a little training, Jack could be a diamond in the rough; he’s got natural talent but lacks experience.”
Wallflower: Used to describe a person, typically a shy or reserved individual, who avoids drawing attention to themselves in social situations.
Example sentence: “Even though she’s incredibly talented, Emily is a bit of a wallflower at parties; she prefers to observe rather than participate.”
Under the radar: Describing something or someone that goes unnoticed or remains unseen, often intentionally.
Example sentence: “Our new marketing campaign flew under the radar, but it’s been incredibly successful in attracting new customers.”
Hidden talent: Refers to a skill or ability that someone possesses but keeps concealed or is not widely known.
Example sentence: “No one knew Mike had such a hidden talent for singing until he performed at the talent show.”
These English expressions capture the essence of the Myanmar idiom, conveying the idea of something valuable or talented that remains unseen or unrecognized by others.
Here are a few more English expressions that convey similar meanings:
Best-kept secret: Referring to something or someone that is not widely known but highly regarded by those who are aware of it.
Example sentence: “The small bakery on the corner is the town’s best-kept secret; their pastries are incredible.”
Sleeper hit: Describing a book, movie, or other form of entertainment that becomes unexpectedly popular despite little initial attention or promotion.
Example sentence: “The indie film was a sleeper hit, gaining a cult following after its release.”
Dark horse: Referring to a person or thing that unexpectedly emerges to win or succeed, often without being noticed or considered a likely contender.
Example sentence: “Lisa was the dark horse in the competition, but she surprised everyone by winning first place.”
Quiet achiever: Describing someone who achieves success or accomplishes excellent things without seeking or receiving much recognition or attention.
Example sentence: “John is a quiet achiever; he works diligently behind the scenes and always exceeds expectations.”
Unsung hero: Refers to someone who deserves recognition or praise for their actions or contributions but does not receive it.
Example sentence: “The volunteers who work tirelessly at the local shelter are the unsung heroes of our community.”
These expressions all capture the idea of something or someone valuable, talented, or successful that remains hidden or unnoticed by others.
ဒိန်းတလိန်းနတ်ဖမ်း
/dein׃ d׃lein׃ na’ hpan׃/
အချစ်အတွက် အရူးအမူးဖြစ်သည်။
ဥပမာ – ကျွန်မအဖို့ ဒိန်းတလိန်းနတ်ဖမ်းသလို ခပ်ကြမ်းကြမ်း ခပ်ရမ်းရမ်းပြောမိတယ်။
ကြောင်းတူသံကွဲများ
• အရူးအမူးဖြစ်
• အချစ်ရူးရူး
be infatuated; fall head over heels (in love).
DEFINITION
To be possessed by the Deindalein nat
If someone’s spouse has another partner or keeps a secret lover, the hurt person will feel really upset and worried. Their heart will beat fast, like the sound of an Indian drum linked to a spirit called Deindalein. People think they’re possessed by this spirit when they feel this way.
Here are similar English idiom versions:
Smitten:
Definition: To be deeply affected by love for someone.
Example sentence: “Ever since he met Sarah, he’s been absolutely smitten with her.”
Love-struck:
Definition: Overwhelmed or affected by intense feelings of love.
Example sentence: “He’s been love-struck ever since he laid eyes on her.”
Crazy about someone:
Definition: To have strong feelings of love or affection for someone.
Example sentence: “She’s crazy about him; she talks about him all the time.”
Infatuated:
Definition: To be intensely fond of or attracted to someone.
Example sentence: “She’s infatuated with him; she can’t stop talking about him.”
Bitten by the love bug:
Definition: To suddenly become infatuated or enamoured with someone.
Example sentence: “Ever since their first date, he’s been bitten by the love bug.”
Madly in love:
Definition: To be deeply and passionately in love with someone.
Example sentence: “They’re madly in love; you can see it in the way they hold hands.”
Swept off one’s feet:
Definition: To be charmed or enamoured by someone’s romantic gestures.
Example sentence: “He swept her off her feet with his surprise proposal.”
Twitterpated:
Definition: To be romantically infatuated or love-struck.
Example sentence: “They’re both so twitterpated; they can’t stop giggling around each other.”
Head over heels in love:
Definition: Completely and deeply in love with someone.
Example sentence: “She’s head over heels in love with him, and it’s clear he feels the same way.”
SOURCES:
• မြ န် မာ စာလုံး ပေါ င်း သတ် ပုံ
ကျ မ်း (မြန်မာစာအဖွဲ့၊ ၂၀၀၃ ခုနှစ်)
• Myanmar Idioms, written by Saya Hla Thamein
• THEIDIOMS.COM
• MMPROVERBS.PRO
• IDIOMIC.COM
