The Relationship between Idioms and Culture f

Ⅰ. Introduction
The idiom is a kind of special speech form that is particular in meaning, grammatical structure and usage.
Idiomatic expressions are even difficult for native English speakers because their meanings cannot be determined through an analysis of their individual words. For instance, “to fall out” means “to quarrel”, but neither “fall” nor “out” has a sense of quarrel. Another example is “a feather in one's cap”, which means “an honor or a success, of which one can be proud”. The meaning of this idiom is a metaphorical one. “Under the rose” is also very difficult to understand from the literal meanings of its component words. Its true meaning is “secretly”. “To have a bee in one's bonnet” means “to have a strange fixed idea about something”.  “To kick the bucket or to bite the dust” means “to die”. The figurative interpretation of “shoot th breeze” is “to talk without purpose”. Unlike literal language, it is impossible to explain the idiom from the literal meaning of the individual words. Thus, English idioms are difficult to understand and acquire, because they are a combination of two or more words, which function as a unit of meaning.
For we Chinese students, English idioms are a stumbling block. It is very possible that they often not only feel at a loss in understanding conversations because of a key idiom but also misuse idioms.  In this paper, I am going to make a study of    the relationship between idioms and culture and throw some light on the learning of English idioms.
As we all know, language is closely related to culture and can be said as a part of culture. From a dynamic view, language and culture interact with each other and shape each other. Language is the carrier of culture which in turn is the content of language. We can dig out cultural features from language and explain language phenomena with culture.
Idioms as a special form of language exist in both of them and carry a large amount of cultural information such as history, geography, religion, custom, nationality psychology, thought pattern and etc, and therefore are closely related to culture. They are the heritage of history and product of cultural evolvement. Consequently, we can know much about culture through studying idioms and in turn get better understanding of idioms by learning the cultural background behind them.
 
Ⅱ. The origins of the idiom
America and Britain are the countries that have Christianity and Hebraism as their cultural background. Most idioms produced in this background carry rich religious elements. Getting to the roots of idioms, we can find that they originated from literary masterpieces, the Bible, Greek and Roman mythologies, ancient fables, historic events, anecdotes, customs, seafaring, agriculture, daily life, animal habitual behaviors, etc, which involved every aspect of life. That is why idioms are hard to understand. The essential point of studying idioms well is to realize them through the background of the traditional culture, thought pattern, geography, religion, and custom.
(Ⅰ). Literary masterpieces
Many popular western literary masterpieces have the classic words, phrases and sentences that attract people greatly. They are shaped to evolve the hidden meaning. For example:
Screw up one’s courage: to overcome one’s fear; to stop oneself from being afraid.
Man Friday: a faithful and willing attendant, ready to turn his hand to anything. (The young savage found by Robinson Crusoe on a Friday, and kept as his servant and companion on the desert island.)
To the manner born means ‘be born to do’. (Hamlet)
Pound of flesh: fair but unreasonable request. (The Merchant of Venice)
(Ⅱ).The Bible
    It is a firm concept of western people that God created people. They think that God is omnipotent and sacred. God, Christ, devil, Adam and some educational segments of the stories in the Bible are passed down because of people’s favor or even some historical and political causes. For example:
Judas’s kiss: a deceitful act of courtesy. (Judas betrayed his Master with a kiss. Matt.xxvi, 49)
Much cry and little wool: a proverbial saying expressive of contempt or derision for one who promises great things but never fulfils the promises. (Originally the proverb ran,“Great cry and little wool, as the Devil said when he sheared the hogs”; and it appears in this form in the ancient mystery of David and Abigail, in which Nabal is represented as shearing his sleep, and the Devil imitates the act by “shearing a hog”.
Turn the other cheek: to take no action against the person who has hurt or harmed one, esp. to allow him to do it again. (Do not resist one who is evil. But if any one strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also…——New Testament)
e.g.: The murders have made me change my mind about capital punishment. We should bring back hanging. It is time to stop turning the other cheek.
The widow’s cruse: a small supply of anything that, by good management, is made to go a long way and to be apparently inexhaustible. (In allusion to the miracle of the cruse of oil in 2 kings,ⅳ)
So when we learn idioms about Bible, we can read Bible, which will increase our knowledge and help us to be familiar with the features of western culture and have a clear understanding of the hidden meanings of idioms.
(Ⅲ). Greek and Roman mythologies
Mythologies are ancient stories that are based on popular beliefs or that explains natural or historical events because the people of the primeval society were scared of
the nature and longed for the nice future.
Midas touch: the excellent skill of making money. (Midas is a legendary king of Phrygia who requested of the gods that everything he touched might be turned into gold. His request was granted, but as his food became gold the moment he touched it, he prayed the gods to take their favor back. He was then ordered to bathe in the Pacto´lus, and the river ever after rolled over golden sands. )
Pandora’s box: a prolific source of troubles. (In Greek mythology a box containing all the evils of mankind and given by Zeus to the mythological Pandora, who opened it against the command of Zeus, thus, all the evils flew forth and they have ever since continued to afflict the world, only Hope remained in the bottom; something that produces many unforeseen difficulties)
Sphinx’s riddle means ‘the difficult riddle’ (Sphinx is a monster of ancient mythology; The Grecian Sphinx was generally said to be a daughter of Typhon and Chimaera; she infested Thebes, setting the inhabitants a riddle and devouring all those who could not solve it. The riddle was——
What goes on four feet, on two feet, and three.
But the more feet it goes on the weaker it be?
and it was at length solved with the answer that it was a man, who as an infant crawls upon all-fours, in manhood goes erect on his two feet, and in old age supports his tottering legs with a staff. On hearing this correct answer the Sphinx slew herself, and Thebes was delivered. )
(Ⅳ). Ancient fables
Though ancient fable stories are short and refined, they teach people many philosophic and educational theories while being narrated. They are also parts of the
kindergarten education of Chinese children. It is obvious that they are popular even among Chinese people. They, especially Aesop's Fables are the favorites of Chinese people. For example:
Naked truth: the plain, unvarnished truth; the truth without trimmings. (The fable says that Truth and Falsehood went bathing; Falsehood came first out of the water, and dressed herself in Truth’s garments. Truth, unwilling to take those of Falsehood, went naked.)
Sour grapes: disparage something that is beyond one’s reach. (The allusion is to Aesop’s well-known fable of the fox, which tried in vain to get at some grapes, but when he found they were beyond his reach, he went away saying, “I see they are sour.” )
Bell the cat: risk one’s own life to do something dangerous. (The allusion is to the fable of a cunning old mouse, who suggested that they should hang a bell on the cat’s neck to give notice to all mice of her approach. )
Cat’s paw: the tool of another, the medium of doing another’s dirty work. (The allusion is to the fable of the monkey who wanted to get some roasted chestnuts from the fire, and used the paw of his friend, the cat, for the purpose.)
The lion’s share: the largest part: all or nearly all. (In Aesop’s Fables, several beasts joined the lion in a hunt; but, when the spoil was divided, the lion claimed one quarter in right of his prerogative, one for his superior courage, one for his dam and cubs, “and as for the fourth, let who will dispute it with me.” Awed by his frown, the other beasts yielded and silently withdrew.)
(Ⅴ). Historic affairs
meet one’s Waterloo:  be finally and crushingly defeated in a contest, esp. after
a period of success.(Waterloo is a place where Napoleon was ultimately beaten by Wellington and Blucher in 1815)
(Ⅵ). Anecdotes
Man for all seasons: the person who is erudite and adaptable.
Mickey Mouse: small, insignificant, or worthless person. (From the name of a mouse-like cartoon character created by Walt Disney 1901-1966, US cartoonist)
(Ⅶ). Customs
Indian File: one after the other, singly. (The American Indians, when they go on an expedition, march one by one. The one behind carefully steps in the footprints of the one before, and the last man of the file is supposed to obliterate the footprints. Thus, neither the track nor the number of invaders can be traced.)
A feather in one’s cap: an honor; something to be proud of. (The allusion is to the very general custom in Asia and among the American Indians of adding a feather to the headgear for every enemy slain. )
Nest egg: money laid by. (The allusion is to the custom of placing an egg in a hen’s nest to induce her to lay her eggs there. If a person has saved a little money, it serves as an inducement to him to increase his store.)
The skeleton at the feast: the thing or person that acts as a reminder that there are troubles as well as pleasures in life. (Plutarch says in his Moralia that the Egyptians always had a skeleton placed in a prominent position at their banquets.)
(Ⅷ). The animals’ habitual behaviors

As wide as owls: very clever.( The owl was given to Minerva for her symbol )
No spring chicken: the woman who is no longer young.
Swan’s song: the last work of a poet, composer, etc. (The song fabled to be sung by swans at the point of death.)
Bury one’s head in the sand: refuse to take any notice of a difficulty; refuse to admit that something is a problem and hope that it will get better by itself.
(Ⅸ). Seafaring
Keep one’s head above water: avoid bankruptcy. (The allusion is to swimming; so long as one’s head is above water one’s life remains, but bad swimmers find it hard to keep their heads above water.)
On the rocks: “stony broke,” having no money. (A phrase from seafaring; a ship that is on the rocks will very quickly go to pieces unless she can be got off; so will a man.)
(All) at sea: wide of the mark; quite wrong;  (As we all know, if a person is in the open ocean without compass or chart, he will get lost.)
With colors nailed to the mast: to the bitter end. (If the colors are nailed to the mast, they cannot be lowered to express submission.)
e.g.: If they catch you at disadvantage, the miners for your life in the word; and so we fight them with our colors nailed to the mast. ——Scott: The Pirate, ch. Xxi
To sail under false colors: to act hypocritically; to try to attain one’s object by
appearing to be other than you are. (The term is a nautical one, and refers to the practice of pirates approaching their unsuspecting prey with false colors at the mast.)
(Ⅹ). Agriculture
To hold out the olive branch: to make overtures for peace. (In allusion to the olive being an ancient symbol of peace. In some of Numa’s medals the king is represented holding an olive twig, indicative of a peaceful reign.)
To nip in the bud: to destroy before it has had time to develop; usually said of bad habits, tendency to sin, etc. Shakespeare has——
The third day comes a frost, a killing frost;
And, when he thinks, good easy man, full surely
His greatness is a-ripening, nips his root,
And then he falls, as I do.         Henry Ⅷ, ⅲ, 2.    
As cool as a cucumber: perfectly composed; not in the least angry or agitated.(cucumber-time: the dull season in the tailoring trade )
The last straw: the only hope left; the last penny; an addition to a set of troubles, which makes them at last too much to bear. (The allusion is to the old proverb, “It is the last straw that breaks the camel’s back.” In weighing articles, as salt, tea, sugar, etc., it is the last pinch which turns the scale; and there is an ultimate point of endurance beyond which calamity breaks a man down.)
Turn on a new leaf: to begin a new course of improved behavior, habit, etc.
To beat the bush: to allow another to profit by one’s exertions. (The illusion is to beaters, whose business it is to beat the bushes and start the game for a shooting party.)
(Ⅺ). Daily life
A dark horse: a person who keeps his true capabilities to himself till he can produce them to the best advantage. (a horse whose merits as a racer are not known to the general public)
See how the cat jumps: like “see which way the wind blows”; which of the two alternatives is likely to be the successful one before you give any opinion of its merit or adhesion to it, either moral or otherwise. (The allusion is either to the game called “tip-cat”, in which before you strike you must observe which way the “cat” has jumped up, or to the cruel sport mentioned above.)
 
III .Comparison and contrast between Chinese and English Idioms
Chinese and English fall into different language families. Chinese belongs to Chinese-Tibetan language family while English belongs to Indonesian family. The two languages also differ in terms of types. Chinese is classified as an isolated language while English an inflectional language. As mentioned above, the cultures all over the world grow on somewhat the same ground though they do simultaneously on even more different ground. As a result, idioms carry both the human common feathers and one nation’s individualities at the same time. The common feather provides the possible ground where the comparison between idioms from different languages can be carried out. From the view of meaning and form, Chinese and English idioms may be generally categorized into the following four groups.
A.      Both of the meaning and form are similar. For example,
(1) Look before you leap. 三思而后行.
(2) Burn one's boat. 破釜沉舟.
(3) Strike while the iron is hot. 趁热打铁.
(4) An eye for an eye ,a tooth for a tooth. 以眼还眼，以牙还牙.
(5) to lose one's face, to save one's face 丢面子，保面子.
B.      The meaning is similar while the form is dissimilar. For example,
(1) The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. 这山望着那山高.
(2) Nothing ventured, nothing gained. 不入虎穴，焉得虎子.
(3) That’s a piece of cake. 那是小菜一碟.
(4) As poor as a church mouse. 一贫如洗.
(5)      Let sleeping dogs lie. 切勿打草惊蛇.
(6)      Diamond cut diamond, crook cut crook. 棋逢对手
(7)      As blind as a bat. 有眼无珠
C.      The meaning is dissimilar while the form is similar. For example,
 (1) to fish in muddy water (英语：形容多管闲事，自讨没趣)（中文：浑水摸鱼）
(2) to make one's hair stand on end (英语：令人毛骨悚然)（中文：令人发指）
(3) to blow one's own horn (英语：自我炫耀，自吹自擂)（中文：各吹各的号）
(4) to lock the stable gate after the horse has bolted (英语：太迟了)（中文：亡羊补牢）
D.      Both of the meaning and form are dissimilar. For example,
       (1) Modest dogs miss much meat. (英语：谦虚的狗没肉吃)（中文：满招损，歉受益）
(2)An excess of modesty obstructs the tongue. (英语：谦虚过分束缚舌头)（中文：人贵有自知之明）
 
IV. Cultural Differences Reflected by Chinese and English Idioms
Both China and Britain have a long history, which fertilized their brilliant cultures. The common experiences and reciprocal interaction in various aspects through long-time communication between the two countries induce a lot of common points in culture.
In early British history, Britain was occupied by the Roman empire for nearly four hundred years. The Romans left their deep marks on Britain culture. In 49 B.C. the Roman emperor Caesar sent the order of burning out boats after his army passed Lupigen River, showing the determination to take a all-out war. That is the origin of the English idiom ‘burn one’s boat’ (谢金良，1986). Incidentally, in 208 B.C. General Xiangyu in China sent the similar order to smash all the boats after the army passed River Zhang in attempt to show its determination of winning the war, which made the birth of the Chinese idiom ‘破釜沉舟’. The two idioms are stunningly the same in form and meaning, which reflect the same point in culture ------ the same concept to show inexorable determination or irrevocable decision.
What’s more, some similar points in culture are resulted from the reciprocal learning and affection in the course of communication between the two countries. For example, the Chinese idiom ‘以眼还眼, 以牙还牙’ was borrowed from the English idiom, while the English idioms ‘to lose one’s face’ and ‘to save one’s face’ are borrowed from the Chinese ones.
Although Chinese culture and English culture have much in common as showed above, they have more in discrepancy owing to their different geographical environment, history, religion and so on. The differentiation is a common phenomenon, which appears in varied forms, one of which is idiom. Then let me analyze four cultural divergences resulting in differences between Chinese idioms and English idioms.
A.      Geographical differences
Geographical environment plays an important role in shaping one country’s culture and human beings have no choices and capacities to change the geography. As a result, idioms based on geographical features appear different.
Britain is an island country, which does not share land border with any other countries except the Republic of Ireland. In history, its navigation industry has ever been the first one for a long time. So, British people have a special passion for water. However, the most part of China belongs to inland place where people cannot live without earth. This very geographical difference results in different idioms in the two languages. For example, to show somebody being extravagant, there is a Chinese idiom ‘挥金如土’, but in English the idiom is ‘spend money like water’. Take the other instance, in southern China with mild and moisture weather, bamboo is a familiar plant for people there, so they use the idiom ‘雨后春笋’ to describe the new things cropping up in great numbers. Correspondingly, English have the idiom ‘spring up like mushrooms’ to tell the same meaning, since in England mushroom in spring can be seen everywhere. Besides the different idioms expressing the same notion in the two languages, there are a lot of idioms related to water in English and earth in Chinese which have no corresponding counterpart in the other language, like the English idioms ‘to rest on one’s oars’, ‘to keep one’s head above water’, ‘all at sea’ and etc.
B.      Conventional differences
One nation’s custom is formed through a long history and firmly rooted in people’s mind. It is closely related to national psychology and acts as one important source of idioms. In different countries and nations customs drastically differ in various aspects. Due to that, a lot of idioms turn out with varied dress.
Take food habit for example, cake has been a common food in English for a long history, so it is understandable that they use ‘a piece of cake’ denoting an easy-done task. However, in China, cake cannot be seen until the last one hundred years. So it is impossible for the same idiom to appear in Chinese. On the other hand, dishes are common in China. Therefore a similar idiom ‘小菜一碟’ turned out in Chinese to express the same meaning. Another example is related to the habitual way of working in the field. Chinese people were habituated to use the bull to plough the field before modernized agriculture was developed, while English did with a horse. Consequently, Chinese say ‘力大如牛’ to describe someone with great strength while English do ‘as strong as a horse’ in alternation.
C.      Value orientation differences
From people’s working and living experience of one country, different values have been abstracted, accumulated and handed down from generation to generation. Because of different experience between countries, values originated from it also turned out to be largely varied and even totally opposite, which idioms are built on, therefore also differ greatly.
For instance, modesty is valued in Chinese culture almost since the beginning of Chinese history. There are a great number of Chinese idioms showing the virtue to be modest and shame to be proud, such as ‘满招损, 谦受益’, ‘虚心使人进步, 骄傲使人落后’, ‘王老汉买瓜, 自卖自夸’ and etc. On the contrary, Britain as a developed capitalist country is infested with fierce social competition so that people there emphasize individual behaviors, achievement and value. Their value orientation in this aspect appear to be in contrast with Chinese. They have idioms showing the uselessness to be modest such as ‘modest dogs miss much meat’, ‘where there is fear there is modesty’, ‘an excess of modesty obstructs the tongue’ and etc.
D.      Religious differences
Religion exists in every county and nation and affects much in people’s belief and life, especially before the modern civilization. Numerous idioms were generated from the fountain of religion. The people in different countries mostly believe in different schools of religion. Therefore, some differences of idioms between Chinese and English can be traced back to the origin of religion.
Religion played a key role in British society especially before capitalization. The majority of the English people believe in Christianity and regard the Bible as one of the most important classical works in their life. The Bible is comprehensive of nearly all the matters in life so that it acts not only a classic in religion but also an important supporter of British culture, or even of western culture. Innumerable idioms are originated from the Bible, such as the idiom referring to the unwise act of forcing the extremely conservative person to accept new conceptions, ‘to put new wine in old bottles’, the idiom describing thrilling horror caused by something, ‘to make one’s hair stand on end’, another idiom denoting revenge in the same way, ‘an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth’ and etc. Besides, the idiom ‘as poor as a church mouse’ also is somewhat influenced by religion. In Christian church, there is no devoted food, which is not the same case in Chinese temples. Therefore, The mice in the church, which have no food, can be said as poor.
Different from Britain, Chinese culture evolved from Confucian School, Taoist School. There are traces of Taoist principles and Confucian principles in Buddhist doctrines. Therefore, although Buddhist culture originated from the other country, it has been assimilated in Chinese culture through a thousand years of spreading and accepting Chinese feathers at the same time. It has been a part of Chinese culture and exerted enormous influence on Chinese traditional culture and present life as well. In language, a large number of Chinese idioms can be traced back to Buddhist School. For example, the idiom "道高一尺, 魔高一丈" is originally the warning in Buddhism to warn Buddhist disciples of the outside temptations, which remind the disciples of the hard prospect to overcome all the difficulties both inside and outside in order to make the slightest development. Now it is used to tell there is always at least one power stronger than the other. For another instance, "一尘不染" is also a Buddhist term. Buddhist School calls sex, sound, smell, flavor, touch and rule as "六尘" and Buddhist disciples should not be affected by the above six. Now this idiom evolved to describe a person who is pure and honest or a thing which is clean and in order.
 
V. Conclusion
A great number of definitions have been given to culture. Therefore, idiom is a part of culture. As such, it cannot but serve and reflect cultural needs.
Today, the type of figurative language is highly used in the daily life in America. It is necessary for us to have such knowledge of how to comprehend. The ability to understand idioms is important to successful communication. The difficult comprehension of English idioms may also lead to communication breakdown for the persons from different language communities. Failure to grasp the meanings of idioms can impinge upon an individual’s understanding of language in social, academic, and vocational settings. In order to communicate with each other fluently, the study of the relationship between the idiom and culture is significant and promising.




目录
Ⅰ. Introduction
Ⅱ. The origins of the idiom
(Ⅰ). Literary masterpieces
(Ⅱ). The Bible
(Ⅲ). Greek and Roman mythologies
(Ⅳ). Ancient fables
(Ⅴ). Historic affairs(Ⅵ). Anecdotes
(Ⅶ). Customs
(Ⅷ). The animals’ habitual behaviors
(Ⅸ). Seafaring
(Ⅹ). Agriculture
(Ⅺ). Daily life
III. Comparison between Chinese and English Idioms
IV. Cultural Differences Reflected by Chinese and English Idioms
V. Conclusion


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