A Christmas Carol
Here is a seasonal story for you to read over the holidays: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. You can read the shortened, simplified version first and then you can try reading the original book.
Source: ego4u.com
Take a note of any new words or expressions:
Scrooge is the surname of the main character in A Christmas Carol. Someone who spends as little money as possible and is stingy can be called a scrooge.
as dead as a doornail means that someone or something is clearly dead.
Other similar idiomatic expressions such as the one above:
as deaf as a post means someone has great difficulty with their hearing.
Can you guess how to complete the following with an adjective or a noun:
- as good as ____
- as sick as a ______
- as blind as a ___
- as strong as an __
- as white as a _____
- as ___ as a fiddle (a violin)
- as ____ as a brush
- as ____ as a rake (un rastrillo)
- as ____ as a cucumber (un pepino)
- as ___ as a fox
Comments
Montse
Try the exercise I created in this post if you have time.
I'm going to try to complete the exercise, it's fun!
1.as good as James Stewart in "It's a wonderful Life" (it's a christmas joke!)
2.as sick as a dog
3.as blind as a bat
4.as strong as an stone
5.as white as the snow
6.as fit as a fiddle
7.as daft as a brush (I don't understand this one...)
8.as ____ as a rake (I have no idea)
9.as cool as a cucumber
10.as shrewd as a fox
Have a nice christmas time! I hope you could fly safely!
- As sick as ?
- As blind as a post
- As strong as an elephant
- As white as a snowflake
- As slim as a fiddle
- As clean as a brush
- As straight as a rake
- As serious as a cucumber
- As clever as a fox
I'll go on visiting your blog while I can do it.
Happy Christmas, I see you next year. Montse
Sometimes there is more than one possibilty with these expressions and you can even invent your own ones.
as GOOD as GOLD (to refer to exemplary behaviour esp kids - doesn't apply to the ones I teach)
Do you know I've never seen "It's a Wonderful Life". Natalia, I prefer your joke about flying safely.
as SICK as A PARROT (how you feel when you have said or done something wrong)
as BLIND as A BAT (but they don't bump into things because they have in-built radar system)
as STRONG as AN OX
Montse, we say as DEAF as A POST.
I have a class now. I'll continue with this later.
whose fleece was WHITE as SNOW
and everywhere that Mary went,
her lamb was sure to go.
This is a nursery rhyme. You can also say: as WHITE as A SHEET / A GHOST (to describe how white you look after a shock or being ill)
as FIT as A FIDDLE ( don't ask me what the connection between fitness and fiddles, I've never seen a fiddle exercising in a gym)
as DAFT as A BRUSH (Have you ever had an intelligent conversation with a brush? No? Well, they must be daft then.
as THIN as A RAKE (You must admit they are pretty thin)
as COOL as A CUCUMBER (Not "cool" as in wearing shades. It means that someone shows no emotion and does things very calmly.)
as SLY as A FOX (I hate the way that they are portrayed almost as evil animals. On the contrary, I think they are affectionate creatures)
Think of some similar expressions that you have in Spanish and explain what they mean.
A very Happy Christmas to you both :-)
as sick as a ???
as blind as a MOLE (es igual en español)
as strong as an (TREE???)
as white as a (WALL???)
as ??? as a fiddle
as ??? as a brush
as ??? as a rake (un rastrillo)
as ??? as a cucumber (un pepino)
as SMART, CUNNING as a fox (ASTUTO en español)
As I explained yesterday, language such as similies, sayings and proverbs have fallen out of fashion. However, you do hear old fuddy-duddies like me using them now and again.
as good as GOLD = well-behaved e.g. a dog, a child (no other meaning as far as I know)
as sick as a parrot = very disapponted e.g. feeling you'd have if someone you dislike won big on the lottery
as blind as a bat = very short-sighted
as strong as an ox
go as white as a sheet e.g. when you feel frightened
as fit as a fiddle = fit, especially after an illness or for someone getting on in years
as daft as a brush
as thin as a rake
as cool as a cucumber = showing no fear and without emotion, very calm
as cunning/sly as a fox = clever in a bad way, especially by tricking people