Animal Expressions T - Z

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Here are some more animals to add to the list of expressions. See A - D, E - H, K - M, O - P and R - S.

Turkey


This is a picture of a very friendly turkey who is being looked after, along with my Pepita the pigeon and many other animals, in La Voz Animal shelter.

Cold turkey is the unpleasant physical reaction that people experience when they suddenly stop taking a drug that they have become addicted to.
  • I tried quitting smoking for several years, using nicotine patches, gums, and even hypnotherapy. Eventually, I just had to go cold turkey and rely on my own willpower.
  • He had been spending far too much time on dating apps, so he decided to go cold turkey and deleted all of them.

Vulture

A vulture is a person or organization that is eager to win an advantage from other people's difficulties or problems.
  • The vultures started circling when they heard that Auntie had gone into an old people's home.
A culture vulture is a person with an excessive or pretentious interest in the arts.
  • Raphael can't visit anywhere without going to a museum or seeing a play at the theatre. He's such a culture vulture.


Whale


If you have a whale of a time, you enjoy yourself very much.
  • I wasn't looking forward to going to the party but we ended up having a whale of a time.




Wolf

A wolf in sheep's clothing is a person with a pleasant and friendly appearance that hides the fact that they are very bad and dangerous. The phrase originates in a sermon by Jesus recorded in the Christian New Testament: Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves (Gospel of Matthew 7:15, King James Version).
  • There's something about him that makes me feel uneasy. He might turn out to be a wolf in sheep's clothing.
If you keep the wolf from the door, you have just enough money to be able to eat and live.
  • He doesn't earn much and what with the huge rise in the cost of living, he doesn't know how he's going to keep the wolf from the door.




Worm

Source: Pexels (Leni)  


If you worm yourself/your way into something, you gradually achieve a position of trust, possibly by being dishonest (conseguir con malas artes).
  • He managed to worm his way into her affections and then robbed her of her life savings.
If you worm (your way) out of doing something, you avoid doing something that you have been asked to do by making an excuse that may be dishonest but clever
  • How did you worm your way out of going to the meeting?
The early bird catches the worm is a saying that means someone will have an advantage if they do something immediately, or before other people do it.
  • I thought it better to wait and see rather than rush things. The early bird doesn't always catch the worm you know.

Comments

Sir Joseph said…
Hi Graham,

You said that this turkey is friendly, but it reminds me a teacher whom I had a lot of years ago and he wasn´t friendly. He was always complaining about everything. It was grumpy. He seemed to be cold turkey.

The vultures are proper to the ecosystem, especially to the countryside. A person culture vulture doesn´t annoy anybody, in my opinion, if he is boring you can tell him goodbye.

Sometimes, you are looking forward to going to the countryside to enjoy walking and instead of having a whale of a time, you end up completely soaked, because it only rains when you go out from Madrid.

I don´t trust who promises me that he will pay very well if I lend money, he is a wolf in sheep´s clothing.
Your memory works very well because you remember this comment since 2020.

The early bird catches the worm is the same who gets up early god helps him, in Spanish. But I remind you that too in Spanish, it doesn´t dawn before if you get up early. It seems to me that we talk about it in 2018 or before.

See you.
Saturday, 29 October, 2022
Graham said…
Good afternoon José,

I can't think why this turkey reminds you of an old teacher. At first, I thought your old teacher was me. I can be grumpy, especially in the mornings but as one of my students told me - I'm "a nice grumpy". I'll settle for that.

I'm definitely not an early bird - I don't like to be reminded of the expression. In fact, I don't really believe in it.


You said that this turkey is friendly, but it reminds me of a teacher I had many years ago and he wasn't friendly. He was always complaining about everything. He was grumpy. He seemed to be experiencing cold turkey. (whom = formal, a lot of = informal)

The vultures are good for the ecosystem, especially for the countryside. A (person who is a) culture vulture doesn't annoy anybody, in my opinion, if he is boring you can walk away.

Sometimes, you are looking forward to going to the countryside to enjoy walking and instead of having a whale of a time, you end up completely soaked, because it only rains when you go out of Madrid.

I don´t trust anyone who promises me that he will pay very well if I lend him money, he is a wolf in sheep´s clothing.
Your memory works very well because you remember this comment since 2020. (I wish my memory was so good but I used the search engine in Twitter. )

The early bird catches the worm is the same as the Spanish expression - God helps those who get up early. But I remind you that also in Spanish we have - it doesn't dawn before if you get up early. It seems to me that we talked about it in 2018 or before.
Wednesday, 02 November, 2022
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