Re: Weekly Vocab #2.1.8 (repost #1)

Hi!

Joseph Fatula writes:
>...
> All kidding about transoceanic differences aside, how are metric units
> used in the languages of metric countries?  Specifically, are idioms
> using units of measure translated to the new system?  In English we
> say things like "an ounce of prevention is a pound of cure", or
> "crawling along inch by inch", or "I don't trust him an inch", things
> like that.
>...
Interesting question.  I remember that Dutch reassigned the old units
to the metric system, which I found quite elegant:
   1 ons  = 100g
   1 pond = 500g

Then I noticed that German does, too, with some measures:
   1 Pfund   = 500g
   1 Zentner = 50kg

And indeed, older people (e.g. my mother) do buy '1/4 Pfund Schinken'.

Back to idioms: some are translated:

  'inch by inch'
  Zentimeter für Zentimeter

  'I don't trust him an inch.'
  Ich traue ihm keinen Meter über den Weg.
  I   trust him no     meter over the way/path.

'keinen Meter' can be used in other idioms, too:

  Das  stimmt        keinen Meter.
  That is-true/right no     meter.
  'It is not true/right at all.'

Also:
  kein Gramm zuviel
  no    gram  too-much

Sometimes dialects differ, e.g. 'Zollstock' (lit. 'inch stick' =
'folding rule') is 'Meter' (='meter') in Saarlandian and Western
Palatinian (and maybe other dialects).  Not an idiom, but still.

Other idioms, e.g. with money sometimes last much longer than
currencies, e.g. the German Mark which has now been replaced by the
Euro.  There's still a saying:

   Wer den Pfennig nicht ehrt,   ist des    Talers          nicht wert.
   Who the penny   not   honours is  of-the dime's/dollar's not   worth.
   'He who does not honor the penny is not worth owning a dime.'

(Note that this uses a genitive core argument to 'wert sein' ('to be
worth'), and many people get it wrong, using accusative case, which
changes the meaning to '... is not worth a dime.')

**Henrik

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