Some of you brought me this list:
a an Apple polisher (someone who attempts to garner favor with someone of higher rank or status,they butter them up)
a Bad apple (just what it says, a rotten item in a group, eg the one corrupt policeman in t he gang. sayings : one rotten apple will spoil the whole barrel., or, contradictory, the bad apple at the bottom of the barrel: all the others are OK)
a an Apple polisher (someone who attempts to garner favor with someone of higher rank or status,they butter them up)
a Bad apple (just what it says, a rotten item in a group, eg the one corrupt policeman in t he gang. sayings : one rotten apple will spoil the whole barrel., or, contradictory, the bad apple at the bottom of the barrel: all the others are OK)
Baker’s dozen (thirteen of something)
a Bean counter (a name given to accountants or others fixated on fine detail)
Beef: What’s your beef? (What’s your problem?)
beefy- strong, muscular; solid nourishing food/ideas/etc
beefy- strong, muscular; solid nourishing food/ideas/etc
Broth: too many cooks spoil the broth:
the broth of a boy- every bit a boy, a real boy,full of manly characteristics, courage, daring, recklessness...
the broth of a boy- every bit a boy, a real boy,full of manly characteristics, courage, daring, recklessness...
To Butter up (see “apple polisher”)
a Butterball (a person or animal on the chubby side. Often affectionate.)
a cabbage/ a vegetable a person in a long, deep(irreversible?)coma, a braindamaged, braindead person, in a vegetative state(formal)
Cakewalk (an easy task?) to be a piece of cake,= to be easy as pie ( cakewalk : new orleans in origin: a slaves'dance bulesquing their master pretend aristocratic manners.
A big cheese , exactly = un pez gordo
Cheesecake, a hunk of , tio macizo.Often used by wives for their husbands and shortened to hunks, like hon for honey.Pre WWII, a hunk of cheese was a miserable, despicable person.
Cheesecake, a hunk of , tio macizo.Often used by wives for their husbands and shortened to hunks, like hon for honey.Pre WWII, a hunk of cheese was a miserable, despicable person.
cherry= virginity, from the red stainTo lose one's cherry, etc.tabu, but frequently used more semiformally as a euphemism in metaphor : eg the regiment lost its cherry in 1914 (here= saw its first fighting).
the cherry on a cake etc= the final detail, the luxury detail.
the cherry on a cake etc= the final detail, the luxury detail.
Chicken feed (small amount of something, like money) Teaching is chicken feed compared to banking.
a chicken stealer, the lowest level of petty criminal.
a chicken stealer, the lowest level of petty criminal.
Chopped liver (something insignificant)
Cockles- to warm the cockles of one's heart
Corn - the most obvious and basic,( especially in leterature, entertainment, tv shows etc. hence the adj: Corny eg A corny joke , an old unsophisticated unsubtle. joke
Crude
a crumpet tabu .
an egg: a good egg =a decent sort, a worthy person (The spanish metaphor with eggs is a nonstarter in English. For the equivalent, see nuts)
a hardboiled egg =a hardboiled person, often a near-criminal.
a hardboiled egg =a hardboiled person, often a near-criminal.
an Egghead (what some people call intellectuals)
a curate's egg. "Good in parts" as polite, faintpraise way of saying something is hardly good at all, bad, rotten illconcieved, inappropriate, etc
a curate's egg. "Good in parts" as polite, faintpraise way of saying something is hardly good at all, bad, rotten illconcieved, inappropriate, etc
a faggot Uk== meatball, USA USA faggot is tabu, fag usa = homosexual,(fag uk = cigarette, or boy servant at traditional schools) Usa faggot = raving homosexual, as an insult.Faggot UK also = carryable bundle of firewood, and old slang UK = a very used and retired prostitute or insultingly, woman who looks old and wrinkled that way.
Fishy (something suspicious, not right)
To Go bananas (crazy)
a Goose (silly person)
Goulash (a mess)
gravy. the perks and privelidges of the rich and /or influential and powerful
the gravy train: expense accounts, state planes, official cars and residences etc for top administartors and politicians, all at public expense.
to have one's chips: to finish , to be finished with, to die. (in fact, from gambling: to cash one's chips.)
To have one's cake And eat it, one can't, exactly translates the spanish nadar y guuardar la ropa.
gravy. the perks and privelidges of the rich and /or influential and powerful
the gravy train: expense accounts, state planes, official cars and residences etc for top administartors and politicians, all at public expense.
to have one's chips: to finish , to be finished with, to die. (in fact, from gambling: to cash one's chips.)
To have one's cake And eat it, one can't, exactly translates the spanish nadar y guuardar la ropa.
halfbaked, underdone, like politiciams' halfbaked ideas.
(+or- as)Happy as a clam (content person)
hard boiled- blase, seen everything ,unemotional,unfeeling, unaffected by calamities etc.
jam : extra benefits . jammy, lucky, undeservedly lucky.
Mutton dressed up as lamb: rich old women, mostly.
Mutton dressed up as lamb: rich old women, mostly.
Nuts,slang affectionate, only semitabu: testicles.
peanuts, a boy's, or small, testicles, small boys in general .
a wingnut is a nutjob or nutty or nuts, = crazy, probably by analogy with squirrel behaviour.
Peanuts, Monkeynuts (small amount of something)Same as chicken feed. Teachers' pay.
peanuts, a boy's, or small, testicles, small boys in general .
a wingnut is a nutjob or nutty or nuts, = crazy, probably by analogy with squirrel behaviour.
Peanuts, Monkeynuts (small amount of something)Same as chicken feed. Teachers' pay.
Nutty as a fruitcake (crazy person)
a tough nut Noun. A difficult or obstinate person
a tough nut Noun. A difficult or obstinate person
an Odd duck (eccentric person) lame duck adj : politicians still temporarily in office but defeated at election.
To play gooseberry : to be the extra young person preserving sexual propriety.
To play gooseberry : to be the extra young person preserving sexual propriety.
Pea soup (often used to describe the fog of London)
Peanuts (small amount of something)Same as chicken feed
a couch potato, see below
Pork, or pork barrel : unneccessary public money spent on projects and schemes to bribe one sector of voters, minority parties in coalitions, and similar.
Raw a raw recruit etc
Pork, or pork barrel : unneccessary public money spent on projects and schemes to bribe one sector of voters, minority parties in coalitions, and similar.
Raw a raw recruit etc
Scouse- liverpudlian dish ,liverpudlian speech liverpudlian
To Skewer (to spear someone with harsh words)
a Tart. apple/jam tart= sweetheart, possibly any (lowclass ?)city girl, even a prostitute.adj tarty = cheaply decorated., to tart up , decorate or present in a fancy way, redecorate.
a tough cookie Noun. A strong unyielding person.tough guy Noun. A particularly hard and unyielding male, scared of little and acting so.
sixpack 1. Joe sixpack used to mean a couch potato watching TV with his six-can pack of beer. " Now refers to very visible strong abdominal muscles, almost the exact opposite!
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a Turkey (someone who just doesn’t measure up, loser) to be cold turkey = addiction withdrawal symptoms. Our turkey/goose is cooked. we've lost. we're turkey, etc
To Waffle (what politicians often do on important issues)Only by coincidence with the food, it's by analogy with rodents waffling and snuffling meaningless continual noises and face movements.
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related topic:
A Few points:Advice:
BEWARE: Food vocabulary is one of those endless specialized black holes that you can spend a lifetime learning! (And thank God we don't have the 3rdworld problem of starving, or only a little better,being undernourished, or ill-fed , and illnourished at best.
Westerners are overfed)
And there are many, many, other things you need to learn, or to perfect!
So, my advice is
KNOW WHEN TO STOP!
AND
Learn to talk ABOUT food.
Probably more important than just
Vocabulary!
A few tips:
use category words, Eg for cooking methods:
Boiled,(+0r- hard- or soft-) Baked, Roast, SpitRoast,
Fried, DeepFried, StirFried, Stewed, Broiled, Grilled, Barbecued,
Toasted, Steamed, Stuffed,Poached....
DON'T expect to be able to give an EXACT equivalent, very often an exact equivalent DOES NOT EXIST!
It's usually better to DESCRIBE a dish than to try to translate the SPANISH NAME.
(example from English: Do you know what "Toad in the hole"(click 4 link) is ?
Let's translate the NAME of the dish: "SAPO EN EL HOYO"* Does this communicate ANYTHING?
Would YOU ask for that to eat!
No?
Well, the same thing happens if you talk about a "Cubanish ricish dish" or " Daymeal of the sleeve" (Genuine menu examples) for "Arroz a la cubana " or "menestra manchega":
English-Speakers will be lost!
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| salt & pepper areSEASONINGS |
Some Spanish dishes are known by the Spanish name, eg Paella
(Historical note: olla podrida= cocido madrileno, but it isn't used in English anymore except as a literary figure. If you say it to the average English person they'll think you're talking about something else)
Don't confuse, plate, dish, fabada is the national dish of asturias, and course, a six-course meal is typical at weddings
Alright, if you MUST know, "Turron" is "almond and honey -based sweetmeats typical at Christmas and somewhat akin to nougat".Now you know.It's beginning to be sold in England as Turron.
(
TALKING about a (healthy/unhealthy etc) DIET remember, to go/be on a diet = to diet
Category words: Proteins, carbohydrates, Fats and oils, fibre, meat, fish, seafood, shellfish(included in seafood) , Fruit, nuts, eggs , dairy produce/products , veg.(=vegetables), pulses (included in veg.), pastas, bread, cakes &pastries, sweets (candies in USA) & biscuits (cookies in usa)
adj.s: whole , junk, fast, traditional, tinned, frozen, dried, preserved, fresh, oily, fatty, fattening, (fatty =contains fat, fattening=make you fat pastas are fattening, bacon is very fatty), Rich (=fuerte), hot (usually=spicey=picante), nourishing, wholesome , burned/burnt, overdone, underdone, raw (crude is unusual for food, but it's in "oliver" for the rhyme)
Pronunciation Dairy rhymes with scary, fairy, , don't confuse with Diary which rhymes with fire +y,
How often ..do you have ...?, how much...? once a week etc
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| This gif is just because I liked it, it came up looking for greens= veg and greens= environmentalists |
( Pronunciation : omit syllables: chocolate vegetable, camera,omelette different)
frutos secos= fruit and nuts: Fruit and nut chocolate
Pr :soup versus soap Soup rhymes with too, clue. true, soAp with hope, no, coat. THIS mistake causes much confusion."supper" rhymes with upper, mother, brother, lover, etc.
recipe: final "e" sounds /i:/. Doctors PRESCRIBE medicines. they give you a Prescription.
False Friends.
Preserved foods, sometimes callled preserves are often preserved with PRESERVATIVES.(English cooks living in Spain nearly always cause amusement asking for these in shops)
You CONSERVE nature.There are special parks called "conservation Areas". Greens are usually conservationists. Conservationism.
Pickles are PICKLED food, preserved with vinegar.
Now look at the screen and ice age versions
British:
LINK :How To Make Toad In The Hole
Link to a long article on English breakfast
sheer cheek , in T shirts
