SURVEY: Idiomatic Expressions In Your ConLang Or ConCulture

Yet Another Survey Question from Tom H.C. in MI;

I don't think ConLang ListGroup has talked about idioms since mid-July of this
year (2005 CE), and ConLang ListGroup hasn't talked about idioms in ConLangs
since mid-January of this year. ConCulture ListGroup hasn't talked about idioms
since the end of July last year (2004 CE), and hasn't talked about idioms in
ConLangs since the beginning of August year before last (2003 CE).

I want to ask people to take their own favorite idioms in the languages they
know -- whether L1s or L2s -- and;
1) if they feel like it, translate them into their ConLangs;
2) make up one or more equivalent idioms in their ConLangs, if there are any
(note: in case a ConCulture uses a NatLang, its idiom may nevertheless be
different from *here*'s);
3) provide an IMT (I think that stands for Interlinear Morphemic Translation)
gloss (if you can, and want to), as well as a word-for-word translation, of
your ConLang's/ConCulture's idiom(s), into your favorite languages, which I
hope will include English.

To start off, I am going to list a few synonymous idioms that I happen to like
(just pick out the one or ones you like best);

His elevator doesn't go all the way to the top.

He doesn't have both oars in the water.

He's a few bricks shy of a full load.

His lights are on, but there's nobody home.

(Alternatively:
Nice house -- nobody home.)

He's not playing with a full deck.

He couldn't pour piss out of a boot with the instructions printed on the heel.

He's so dense, light bends around him.

His mind is write-protected.


If what you don't know can't hurt you, he's practically invulnerable.



It's hard to believe he beat 100,000 other sperm.



He's one prayer short of absolution.



He's playing baseball with a rubber bat.



He's running U.S. appliances on British current.



He's several nuts over fruitcake minimum.



The cheese slid off his cracker.



He couldn't find his own ass with a map and a compass.



He's overdue for reincarnation.



He is proof that God has a sense of humor.



He couldn't hit sand if he fell off a camel.



He couldn't spell "cat" if you spotted him the "C" and the "A".



He forgot to pay his brain bill.



He was hiding behind the door the day the brains were handed out.



He's skating on the wrong side of the ice.



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And, no, not even one of these is original with me.



Tom H.C. in MI




		
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