Different countries have different living environment and different living environment gestates diverse cultures. So the connotations of animal words are no exception. For example, because Britain’s fishery , ship-building industry and the marine transportation industry hold great proportion in the economy. In the language expression what they naturally associate are things related with the marine. In English there are many idioms related with the fish. Such as: “Drink like a fish (牛饮/niu214jin214/)”, “a big fish (大亨/ta51hen55/)”, “a dull fish (迟钝汉/tʂi214tun51han51/)”, “a poor fish (倒霉的人/tao214tu35tɣ214ʐen214/)”, “a cool fish (无耻之徒/wu214tʂi214tʂi55tʰu214)”, “a cold fish (冷漠的人/leŋ214mo51tɣ214ʐen214/)”, “a loose fish (放荡鬼/faŋ51taŋ51kui214/)” and so no.
However China is a country living on agriculture. It belongs to inland place where people cannot live without earth. Above 80% of the nation’s population are engaged in the agriculture. People’s production and economic activity are mainly attachment on land. So things they usually associate with are always related to land. Therefore, cattle play an extremely important role in ancient agricultural life. Many Chinese idioms take cattle as metaphor. For example, “他壮得像头牛/tʰa55ʈʂuaŋ51tɣ214ɕiaŋ51tʰou214niu214/ (He is as strong as an ox.)”. In English this should be translated as “He is as strong as a horse”. This is because the Chinese have been using “牛/niu214/ (ox)’ in farming for thousands of years while the horse has been used for most farming work in Britain.
Some special animal words, idioms come from historical books and classical works, and fable and story are the important components of them.
For example, we have the English idiom “cook one’s goose”. The literal Chinese translation of this idiom is “烹某人的鹅/pʰeŋ55mou214ʐen214tɣ214ɚ214/”. That’s confusing to the Chinese. Its correct translation should be “战胜某人/tʂan51ʂeŋ51mou214zen214/( frustrate somebody’s will or destroy or defeat somebody)”. This idiom comes from an ancient story. English tradition has it that in The Middle Ages, a city was suddenly surrounded by enemies. A resident of the city hanged a goose on a tower to express his scorn for the enemies. But that was a terribly wrong action. The enemies could not stand his shame. Every soldier became mad, and soon they conquered the city. The goose was cooked by the enemy soldier. Later, people use the idiom to mean ‘frustrate somebody’s will’ or ‘destroy or defeat somebody’.e.g. “If we try hard, we will surely cook their goose. ”
We also have some idioms that come from The Fables of Aesop, e.g.
“Cherish a snake in one’s bosom ”. The Chinese translation of this idiom is“养虎贻患/jaŋ214hu214wei214huan51/( Cherish a tiger in one’s bosom)”.
“Cherish a snake in one’s bosom ”. The Chinese translation of this idiom is“养虎贻患/jaŋ214hu214wei214huan51/( Cherish a tiger in one’s bosom)”.
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