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Food Idioms
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E: Hi! Welcome to "Let's talk". Today we're going to be talking about food idioms, things about food.
R: Yeah. This is always a popular topic. But you might want to throw in some special idioms, just to spice up your conversation. We want to start with a really good one. Do you know who is the "big cheese"?
E: "Big cheese" sounds bad, but actually in English "big cheese" is the big boss or the person who is in charge. And it's not a bad thing to say. I'm not sure what the feeling will be like if you say that in Chinese. But if you say "he is the big cheese" in English, it just means he is the boss. The boss might say "I'm the big cheese."
R: And what would say about "the big potato"?
E: It's about the same, isn't it?
R: Yeah. We are thinking about this and wondering why the boss is always called something big and round. But those are English idioms you can use. I don't think they should offend anyone in English.
E: Yeah. If you call someone "the big potato", it's actually a kind of friendly thing, isn't it?
R: But we don't want to get you in hot water. "In hot water" or "in the soup", those are both being in trouble. So you know we don't want you to feel like falling into boiling water or "in the soup", same idea.
E: Yeah. You can say "he is really in the soup" or "he is in hot water". It means he is in trouble.
R: And what if he is in "the peanut gallery"? "The peanut gallery" is not so important. You are obviously not the big cheese if you're in "the peanut gallery."
E: Right. And that came from the theatres in England. The higher levels of balcony in the theatre were where they ate a lot of peanuts and so if you are up in the highest level, the cheapest level, you weren't important. You're in "the peanut gallery." And now in English it's often used for children. You can say it if there is something happening and the kids are making a lot of noise. You can say "silence in the peanut gallery." That means that children should be quiet.
R: Yeah. That's true. Now what about cake? We have several idioms for cake. And I know in China now it is still popular to eat cake.
E: Yeah. But if you say something is a piece of cake, that means it's very easy.
R: I don't know where that came from. Perhaps it's easy to slice cake.
E: It's easy to eat cake.
R: It is a little bit like "easy as pie." "Easy as pie" doesn't mean it's easy to make pie. Actually it is quite difficult to make a good pie. But "easy as pie" means it's easy to eat. And you could say "Oh! That homework was as easy as pie."
E: There's another pie idiom which is very interesting. You know apple pie is one of our most common food in the west. If you say "eat humble pie", now what is a humble pie? "Humble" is the opposite of "arrogant. " So sometimes if you have been arrogant and did something wrong, eg. you didn't do your homework, the teacher finds it out. She scolds you and you have to do all the homework all over again. Then your fellow students might say "Oh, look! He is eating the humble pie." That means he has to be humble instead of being arrogant.
R: He is sorry. It's little bit like "eat your words." If you say something and later you regret it, you have to eat your words. And maybe they don't taste so good. So that's a good expression. Also "take it with a grain of salt" means someone tells you something and you read something, but you should be skeptical. It might not be true. So little salty flavor to it.
E: Yeah. When you take something with a grain of salt, it means you don't believe everything they say.
R: Now here is a happier one. "She is the apple of his eye." I like that when I think that's happy. She is the apple of his eye. He must love her.
E: Yeah. Or perhaps you're talking about a granddaughter and the grandfather, or grandson and grandfather. You can say "the child is the apple of his eye."
R: He is very proud. But another food is not so good. It's "sour grapes." "Sour grapes" comes from an old story, Aesop's fable. You may know that story about the fox who wanted the grapes. When he couldn't reach them he said "they are sour anyway." So "sour grapes" means the person has the negative attitude.
R: Yeah. Bad attitude.
E: Yeah. And so you can say "Oh! He’s just sour grapes. " That means you don't have to listen to him. He is saying it is bad, but it's not really bad.
R: Yeah. He just doesn't get any. Now there are quite a few about "beans." "Full of beans", right?
E: They are really old. Most of the beans idioms are very, very old. They date back to the 16th century. "To spill the beans" is to tell the secret.
R: To reveal something maybe you shouldn't say, right?
E: Right. So you could say "the criminal's spilled the beans", and then so all the others were arrested by policemen.
R: But if "you are full of beans."
E: If you are full of beans, you are bouncing around. You could say the horse is full of beans or the children are full of beans.
R: What if you say "I don't know beans about that"? what does that mean"?
E: That means I don't know anything.
R: Right. I don't know where they got that with the beans. But then of course beans and salt are used for eating. So it's good to know the expressions that go with them.
E: So we hope you've enjoyed these food idioms and we can always get some more. We enjoy looking them up to share them with you.
R: They are very interesting and they do make life more colorful.
E: And we use them all the time.
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談論食物成語
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E: 歡迎收看“你説我説”，今天我們要談談食物成語。
R: 是的。這個話題總是很受歡迎。你可能也喜歡在講話時加入一些成語，這樣你的講話就會變得生動而有趣。我們從一個褒義的成語開始，誰知道 "big cheese"是誰？
E: "big cheese"聽上去好像不太好。事實上，英文中"big cheese"是指老闆或負責人。這種説法並沒有什麼不好。我不太清楚，在中文裏這樣説人們會做何感想。但在英文中 "big cheese"是指老闆，老闆本人也會説 "I'm the big cheese"。
R: 是的, "big potato"是什麼意思呢?
E: 它的意思與"big cheese"差不多。
R: 我們覺得很奇怪，老闆為什麼總被説成又大又圓的東西。這些英文成語都可以用，我認為它沒有冒犯誰的意思。
E: 如果你把某人叫做"big potato"，其實它是一種友好的稱呼。
R: 但我們不希望你陷入"hot water"。"in hot water" 或 "in the soup"都是陷入麻煩的意思。所以我們不希望你遇到麻煩，像掉進"hot water"或"in the soup"一樣。
E: 是的，如果説"He's really in the soup"或者説"He is in hot water"，意思是他麻煩纏身。
R: "He's in the peanut gallery."做何解釋呢？"peanut gallery"是無足輕重的意思。如果你坐在" peanut gallery"裏面，你肯定不是個"big cheese"。
E: 這種説法出自劇院。以前坐在劇院最高處包廂裏的人們總是吃許多花生。如果你坐在最高處最廉價的包廂裏，説明你不是什麼重要人物。現在這種説法常常用在孩子們的身上。比如，當孩子們吵鬧的時候，你可以説："Silence in the peanut gallery"。意思是孩子們應該保持安靜。
R: 是的，你能聽到這樣的説法。我們還有一些有關蛋糕的成語，我知道蛋糕在中國也深受人們喜愛。
E: 是的，如果説某事是"a piece of cake"，意思是這件事太好辦了。
R: 我不知道這個成語從何而來，也許是與蛋糕易切有關吧。
E & R: 蛋糕吃起來很容易.
R: 這有點像"easy as pie"。"easy as pie"不是説做餡餅很簡單，事實上餡餅做起來挺費事的。"easy as pie"的意思是吃起來容易。比如説，作業很容易"easy as pie"。
E: 還有一個與"pie"有關的成語，你知道蘋果餡餅類的東西是西方人的家常飲食。如果説"eat humble pie" 是什麼意思呢？"humble"是"arrogant"的反義詞。如果你歷來很驕傲，但你卻做錯了事, 比如你承認你沒有完成作業，老師發現了你的行為並責備了你, 你不得不補做作業，也許要做好幾遍。你的同學此時可能會説："He is eating humble pie"，意思是他為此蒙羞，不再驕傲了。
R: 這有點像"eat your words"(食言)。比如你説過了些什麼而後反悔，食言的滋味可不一定好受，這是個不錯的説法。"take it with a grain of salt" 有何含義？比如，你對聽到的或看到的某些東西持有懷疑的態度，它不一定是真實的， 它帶有些"salty flavor" (可疑之處)。
E: 如果你認為所見所聞帶有"salty flavor"，意思就是你不要完全相信它。
R: 這裡有一個快樂的成語, "She is the apple of his eye"。我很喜歡這個成語，這個説法表明他非常寵愛她。
E: 祖父母説起他們的孫子或孫女時，常常用這樣的説法。意思是這個孩子是他們的掌上明珠。
R: 他們為孩子而驕傲。還有一個貶義的説法是"sour grapes"，"sour grapes"(酸葡萄)源自伊索寓言。你可能聽説過狐狸和葡萄的故事，當狐狸得不到葡萄時，它説：反正它們還很酸呢！所以"sour grapes"(酸葡萄) 代表一種消極的態度。
R: 是的，不好的態度。
E: 你可以説 "He is just sour grapes", 意思是：別聽他的！他嘴上説不好，其實不一定不好。
R: 他只是得不到罷了。有關 "beans" 的成語有不少，比如 "full of beans" 。
E: 和"beans"有關的成語都有很長的歷史，它們可以追溯到十六世紀。"To spill the beans" 意思是洩露秘密。
R: 透露出一些不該説的信息。
E: 比如, 你可以説某個罪犯説漏了嘴，結果他的同夥都被警察抓到了。
R: 如果説: "You're full of beans"呢？
E: 意思是你精力旺盛。你可以説這匹馬"full of beans"，或者説孩子們"full of beans"。
R: "I don't know beans about that"又是什麼意思呢？
E: 意思是我對此一無所知。
R: 我不知道有關"beans"的成語從何而來，但是"beans"和"salt"等食品都是人們日常生活離不開的。所以了解有關食物的成語很有必要。
E: 希望你們喜歡這些食物成語，我們以後還會帶來更多的食物成語與大家一起分享。
R: 它們充滿情趣，同時確實使我們的生活更豐富多彩。
E: 多用一些吧!
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