Off topic: Periphrastics Thread poster: nmfurla (X)
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nmfurla (X)
Local time: 08:57
Italian to English
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Whilst cleaning out some old files, I came across this - from many moons ago.
Circumlocution is the verbal vice opposed to the virtue of brevity. It consists of making the simple complex, the obvious obscure and, at times, the familiar enjoyably strange. Here are a number of circumlocutions - known as "periphrastics". Number 10 has got me stumped?!
1. A mobile section of petrified matter agglomerates no bryophytes.
"A rolling stone gathers no moss."
2. Desist from enumerating your fowl prior to their emergence from the shell.
3. Scintillation is not always identification for an auric substance.
4. A plethora of culinary specialists has a deleterious effect upon the quality of purees, consommes and other soluble pabula.
5. A chronic disposition to inquiry deprived the domestic feline carnivorous quadruped of its vital quality.
6. It is in the realm of possibility to entice an equine member of the animal kingdom to a source of oxidized hydrogen; however, it is not always possible to force him to imbibe.
7. Persons deficient in the faculty of determining values move with impetuosity into places which purely spiritual beings view with trepidation.
8. If John persists without respite in a constant and prolonged exertion of physical or intellectual effort, he will develop into a ;youth slow and blunted in perception and sensibility.
9. Immediately upon the absence of the domesticated carnivorous feline, the common house rodent proceeds to engage in sportive capers.
10. A round bulging vessel made of staves bound with hoops that is destitute of contents is productive of the most deafening din.
11. Products of ingenuity are the offspring of exigency.
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Too many cooks will spoil the broth ???
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Curiosity will kill the cat.
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You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink
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When the cat's away, the mice will play
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Don't count your chickens before they've hatched
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Fools rush in where angels fear to tread
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An empty barrel makes the most noise.
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All that glitters is not gold.
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All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
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nmfurla (X)
Local time: 08:57
Italian to English
TOPIC STARTER | Quite right! | Feb 14, 2012 |
Sylvie Chartier wrote:
An empty barrel makes the most noise.
Thanks Silvie, I had forgotten this one!
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nmfurla (X)
Local time: 08:57
Italian to English
TOPIC STARTER
Sylvie Chartier wrote:
Too many cooks will spoil the broth ???
"Too many cooks spoil the soup"
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nmfurla (X)
Local time: 08:57
Italian to English
TOPIC STARTER | Angels...and wise men | Feb 15, 2012 |
Sylvie Chartier wrote:
Fools rush in where angels fear to tread
My mother used to say, "Fools rush in where wise men fear to tread" whenever she wanted to discourage me from doing something she disagreed with.
[Edited at 2012-02-15 06:28 GMT]
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