LL-L "Idiomatica" 2008.05.03 (02) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 03 May 2008 - Volume 02
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From: Tom Carty <cartyweb at hotmail.com>
Subject: The Way We Say Things...

The way we say things across Europe... taken from
www.CafeBabel.com<http://www.cafebabel.com/>
Bun in the oven  ([Attached graphic removed] Illustration: Henning Studte)
Mighty oak trees may be born from tiny acorns, but women only ever give
birth to little angels. Tiny fingers, peachy skin, a few curls of hair on
the forehead . . . when new parents hold their little *bundles of
joy*, or *little
cabbages* (*petit bout de choux* as the French say) in their arms, it
becomes the most precious treasure in the world.

The Italians, true believers, pick their babies fresh from the garden,
believing *i bambini nascono sotto i cavoli* (*babies are born under the
cabbages*). Thank you Mother Nature! These strange horticultural ideas also
made it to France, where they say little girls are born *dans les
roses* , *amongst
the roses*. The stork myth is also found in many European cultures,
including in Germany, where the *bird bites the mum-to-be* to fertilise her:
*von Storch gebissen* . But the legend of the long-legged migrant, as odd as
it seems, is a serious affront to women. After all, they do all the work,
once the seed has been surreptitiously planted, carrying and giving birth to
the offspring. And it seems that this process is much less magic than the
initial stage for which the stork gets the credit.

The Spanish, more down to earth perhaps, have understood the truth. Their
phrase *tener un bombo* , which simply means 'to be pregnant', gives the
image of a huge heavy drum, straight out of a brass band. It moves, it
rumbles, it grows inside, like a loaf of bread or, as the English say, *a
bun in the oven* , portraying the mother as a cosy cooker. The more
carnivorous Germans prefer to see it not as a sweet snack but rather a piece
of roasted meat: *einen Braten in der Rïhre haben* . The French have another
phrase which hides the secrecy, drama and sometimes complete surprise of the
event: *trouver un polichinelle dans le tiroir* (*to find a puppet/ Punch in
the drawer*) is not something you do deliberately, neither is finding
oneself *en cloque* (*with a blister*).

But this voyage into the varied world of motherhood must be worth the
effort. As soon as the baby is born, he or she is *brought into the light* (
*dare alla luce* the Italians say). Then the loudmouths of all languages
have nothing more to say, and in the stunned silence of two new-born parents
the quiet chirping of a bird floats in the air above the cradle.

*Welcome to Lorenzo Farano, our youngest
babelian<http://community.cafebabel.com/profile/display/l.farano/>
*


*Listen again!*

French:*les filles naissent dans les roses*
*avoir un polichinelle dans le tiroir*

Italian:*Il bambini nascono sotto I cavoli*
*dare alla luce*

English:*'to have a bun in the oven'*

Spanish:*tener un bombo*

German:*vom Storch gebissen*
*einen Braten im Ofen haben*

Jane Mery - Paris - 16.4.2008 | Translation : Sarah Elizabeth Gray
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