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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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谈论食物成语
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E: 欢迎收看“你说我说”，今天我们要谈谈食物成语。
R: 是的。这个话题总是很受欢迎。你可能也喜欢在讲话时加入一些成语，这样你的讲话就会变得生动而有趣。我们从一个褒义的成语开始，谁知道 "big cheese"是谁？
E: "big cheese"听上去好像不太好。事实上，英文中"big cheese"是指老板或负责人。这种说法并没有什么不好。我不太清楚，在中文里这样说人们会做何感想。但在英文中 "big cheese"是指老板，老板本人也会说 "I'm the big cheese"。
R: 是的, "big potato"是什么意思呢?
E: 它的意思与"big cheese"差不多。
R: 我们觉得很奇怪，老板为什么总被说成又大又圆的东西。这些英文成语都可以用，我认为它没有冒犯谁的意思。
E: 如果你把某人叫做"big potato"，其实它是一种友好的称呼。
R: 但我们不希望你陷入"hot water"。"in hot water" 或 "in the soup"都是陷入麻烦的意思。所以我们不希望你遇到麻烦，像掉进"hot water"或"in the soup"一样。
E: 是的，如果说"He's really in the soup"或者说"He is in hot water"，意思是他麻烦缠身。
R: "He's in the peanut gallery."做何解释呢？"peanut gallery"是无足轻重的意思。如果你坐在" peanut gallery"里面，你肯定不是个"big cheese"。
E: 这种说法出自剧院。以前坐在剧院最高处包厢里的人们总是吃许多花生。如果你坐在最高处最廉价的包厢里，说明你不是什么重要人物。现在这种说法常常用在孩子们的身上。比如，当孩子们吵闹的时候，你可以说："Silence in the peanut gallery"。意思是孩子们应该保持安静。
R: 是的，你能听到这样的说法。我们还有一些有关蛋糕的成语，我知道蛋糕在中国也深受人们喜爱。
E: 是的，如果说某事是"a piece of cake"，意思是这件事太好办了。
R: 我不知道这个成语从何而来，也许是与蛋糕易切有关吧。
E & R: 蛋糕吃起来很容易.
R: 这有点像"easy as pie"。"easy as pie"不是说做馅饼很简单，事实上馅饼做起来挺费事的。"easy as pie"的意思是吃起来容易。比如说，作业很容易"easy as pie"。
E: 还有一个与"pie"有关的成语，你知道苹果馅饼类的东西是西方人的家常饮食。如果说"eat humble pie" 是什么意思呢？"humble"是"arrogant"的反义词。如果你历来很骄傲，但你却做错了事, 比如你承认你没有完成作业，老师发现了你的行为并责备了你, 你不得不补做作业，也许要做好几遍。你的同学此时可能会说："He is eating humble pie"，意思是他为此蒙羞，不再骄傲了。
R: 这有点像"eat your words"(食言)。比如你说过了些什么而后反悔，食言的滋味可不一定好受，这是个不错的说法。"take it with a grain of salt" 有何含义？比如，你对听到的或看到的某些东西持有怀疑的态度，它不一定是真实的， 它带有些"salty flavor" (可疑之处)。
E: 如果你认为所见所闻带有"salty flavor"，意思就是你不要完全相信它。
R: 这里有一个快乐的成语, "She is the apple of his eye"。我很喜欢这个成语，这个说法表明他非常宠爱她。
E: 祖父母说起他们的孙子或孙女时，常常用这样的说法。意思是这个孩子是他们的掌上明珠。
R: 他们为孩子而骄傲。还有一个贬义的说法是"sour grapes"，"sour grapes"(酸葡萄)源自伊索寓言。你可能听说过狐狸和葡萄的故事，当狐狸得不到葡萄时，它说：反正它们还很酸呢！所以"sour grapes"(酸葡萄) 代表一种消极的态度。
R: 是的，不好的态度。
E: 你可以说 "He is just sour grapes", 意思是：别听他的！他嘴上说不好，其实不一定不好。
R: 他只是得不到罢了。有关 "beans" 的成语有不少，比如 "full of beans" 。
E: 和"beans"有关的成语都有很长的历史，它们可以追溯到十六世纪。"To spill the beans" 意思是泄露秘密。
R: 透露出一些不该说的信息。
E: 比如, 你可以说某个罪犯说漏了嘴，结果他的同伙都被警察抓到了。
R: 如果说: "You're full of beans"呢？
E: 意思是你精力旺盛。你可以说这匹马"full of beans"，或者说孩子们"full of beans"。
R: "I don't know beans about that"又是什么意思呢？
E: 意思是我对此一无所知。
R: 我不知道有关"beans"的成语从何而来，但是"beans"和"salt"等食品都是人们日常生活离不开的。所以了解有关食物的成语很有必要。
E: 希望你们喜欢这些食物成语，我们以后还会带来更多的食物成语与大家一起分享。
R: 它们充满情趣，同时确实使我们的生活更丰富多彩。
E: 多用一些吧!
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