Drinking like a fish!

We finally arrived at our penultimate article on idioms, after having explored idioms with numbers (here and here), body parts (here and here) and animals (here and here). We decided to do that because as Cooper (1999) said: “idiom study presents a special language problem for all language learners because the figurative meaning is unpredictable. And now “Drinking like a fish! Let’s talk about food and drinks!

Food & drink – 1

Let’s start with what many Italians dream of: “eating like a fish/mangiare a sbafo”. Who wouldn’t dream of being able to eat whatever he/she wants without paying? Try the delights of Enrico Bartolini without paying a euro? And who wouldn’t dream to forget the love that let us “drinking like a sponge/bere come una spugna“? However, this expression is certainly not a positive one as it means being a big drinker. Anyway, it’s better if we go out to eat and drink, “not eat like dogs/mangiare da cani” which means eating badly.

Food & drink – 2

There are also some fairly cryptic sayings, such as “eating the leaf/mangiare la foglia” or “giving it away/darla a bere”. What will they mean? There are two different origins to the first. For some, it comes from the observation of those animals that have a very developed sense of smell and can immediately distinguish poisonous plants from good ones. For others, it comes from the peasant world and means “having experience” because only the already adult animal feeds on grass while the puppies feed on their mother. The second is convincing someone of something that isn’t true.

Food & drink – 3

Try to complete the sentences with the right way of saying it. 1.………………………… a lei,?! Ma è una ragazza troppo intelligente e furba! 2. Giacomo mi dice sempre che sono un’ottima cuoca solo per venire a casa mia e …………………………. 3. Sai come si dice “a Carnevale ogni scherzo vale” e così con alcuni amici abbiamo preparato uno scherzo per Giovanni ma secondo me lui …………………………. 4. Quel ristorante è pessimo, tutte le persone che ci sono andate …………………………. Share the solutions with us!

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