Re: USAGE: Cool idioms (was Re: Bibliography)

Tom Wier <artabanos@...> wrote:
> Adam Walker wrote:
>
> > >The grammars are still in preparation, and for all
> > >I know, will remain in preparation until Easter and
> > >Pentecost fall on the same day...
> >
> > Is that a Dutch idiom?  Whether it is or not I love it!
>
> I second that!  To all non-native-English-speakers, what other
> idioms exist in y'all's languages that have that same general meaning?
Well, in Spanish you have _el di'a de XXX_ ("XXX's day") as a
general impossible date for something, like _ad calendas graecas_
so to speak. It can be for example _el di'a del arquero_
"gatekeeper's day" or _el di'a del astronauta_ "astronaut's day"
-- which of course do not exist.

And there's an idiom for periods, like "once in a blue moon",
_cada muerte de obispo_ "every bishop's death" (this has to have
a malicious intent!)


--Pablo Flores

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
 Zymurgy's Law of Volunteer Labour:
  People are always available for work
  in the past tense.