[Lexicog] new idiom

[Hayim Sheynin]

Another idiom describing a very strong and bossy woman in Russian is "boy baba" (here is boy not like in English 'boy', and not Tom boy girl, but 'a battle', and there is non-idiomatic parallel to this expression 'boevaya zhenstchina" ) so the literary meaning can be translated approximately as 'warrior woman'. This is a metafor and has nothing to do with war or battle.

P.S. When I used the word 'testicles' in one of my previous postings about a similar idiom, I just tried to be polite.  It is the same as  was cited by my Polish colleague. I tried to keep with a convention accepted in the academic journals.
Once publishing an Castilian-Arabic  glossary (probably from the first third of the 15th century) I found  in the Cairo genizah, I transcribed and translated a big cache   of sexual terms, including the word for sexual act. The editor, Dr. Nemoy, may his memory be blessed, forced me either to change them to polite English forms or to translate to Latin.
However when my publication reached Spanish scholars, one of them used this part of glossary in his publication to speak about them in direct Spanish terms.

I think this is amusing.

Hayim Y. Sheynin

Fritz Goerling <Fritz_Goerling at sil.org> wrote:                                          
  Polish “pantoflarz” is the same as the German “Pantoffelheld” (“slipper hero” or the expression I mentioned below “he stands under the slipper of his wife”). We also call a wife who is bossing her husband around a “Drachen” (dragon) or “Hausdrachen” (house dragon). 
   
  Fritz Goerling
   
            In Polish there is a phrase ,,pantoflarz" (lit. "the one who is under his wife's slipper") - the equivalent of a 'hen-pecked husband'. 
 On the other hand, if we say that somebody 'has testicles' (or, to be more precise, 'has balls' - ,,z jajami"; the Polish word being decidedly less formal and ruder than 'testicles') it is by no means a pejorative statement and means that somebody has 'the guts'. It is used in Polish with reference to women who are courageous, know exactly what they want to do, and are not afraid of the consequences. It can be expressed in two ways: "Ta kobieta ma jaja" (literally: 'This woman has balls'), or "To jest kobieta z jajami" (literally: 'It is a woman with balls')
 
 Filip Rudolf
    ----- Original Message ----
 From: Hayim Sheynin <hsheynin19444 at yahoo.com>
 To: lexicographylist at yahoogroups.com
 Sent: Saturday, March 3, 2007 8:41:48 PM
 Subject: RE: [Lexicog] new idiom
    In Russian there is an idiom  Ona  baba  s iaytsami  (lit. she is a woman with testicles). This is about very active or attacking female personality.
 
 Hayim Sheynin  
 
 Fritz Goerling <Fritz_Goerling@ sil.org> wrote:
          Wayne,
  
     
  
    Today I read a funny extension of the expression “hen-pecked” in English:
  
    “He’s so hen-pecked he moults twice a year.” “Hen-pecked” is an expression I have not found in other languages.
  
    Other expressions conveying the same idea are in German “er steht unter dem Pantoffel” (he stands under the slipper) or “”er steht unter der Knute/Fuchtel seiner Frau” (he stands under the club/rod of his wife) or “sie hat die Hosen an” (she wears the pants). In French we have “il est sous la férule de sa femme” (he is under the rod of his wife; under her thumb) or “elle porte la culotte” (she wears the pants).
  
    There is quite some similarity with some interesting differences. What other colorful idioms do other languages have to express the same idea?
  
     
  
    Fritz Goerling
  
     
  
    I enjoy learning new idioms in any language. Yesterday I heard a new 
 Cheyenne idiom:
 
 Náma'xene'enéseha He'haévêháne. 'I came down with a bad cold.' [lit. Cold 
 (personified) beat me up bad.]
 
 Have you heard any new idioms lately?
 
 Wayne
 -----
 Wayne Leman
  
  
  
     
    
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