A 'tigris szeme', és egyéb, tigrissel kapcsolatos kifejezések az angol nyelvben
Megkezdődött a kínai holdújév, amely ezúttal a Jang Víz Tigris jegyében fog telni. A tigris egy ázsiai állat, a kínai hagyomány szerint az állatok királya (a nyugati hagyomány oroszlánjának felel meg), és egyben isteni jelleggel bír. Ő a Nagyúr, aki a végtelen időből érkezett. Bundáján a csíkok váltakozása önmagában hordozza a Jin és Jang jelleget, amely a többi állatjegy fölé helyezi. Kínában a tigris a magasztosság, fenségesség és szerencse jelképe.
A kínai asztrológia szerint a tigris jegy szülöttei hatalmas erővel rendelkeznek, amely mindig ott lakozik bennük, még ha épp nyugodtnak is tűnnek. Legfőbb jellemzőjük a hűség, bátorság, nagyvonalúság és lelkesedés. Igazi küzdőszellem, ami erőteljes temperamentummal, lobbanékonysággal párosul. Értelmes, független szellem és alapvetően magányos természet. Vezető típus, aki a munkában is akkor sikeres igazán ha a maga ura lehet.
Az angol nyelvben megtalálható, tigrissel kapcsolatos szólások, kifejezések nagy része a kínai, és tágabb értelemben véve az ázsiai kultúrákból származik, így nem véletlen, hogy többnyire a fent felsorolt tulajdonságokat tükrözik. A következőkben lássunk ezekből néhányat.
tiger
Definíció:
someone who is very determined and strong
Jelentés: erős,
határozott személyiség
Példa: The meekest,
most submissive wife
of today is a tiger by her grandmother's standards.
tiger (woman)
Definíció: a
seductive woman (not necessarily a nymphomaniac, but certainly hypersexual)
Jelentés:
ragadozó; vadmacska
Példa: "Look!
She hasn't taken her eyes off him
for the past hour!"
"Yeah, the tiger
woman staking
her prey."
We fought a lot, but when we made up, she was a real tiger.
tiger mom/mother
Definíció: very
strict mother who makes her children work hard in order to be very successful
at school, etc., thought to be typical of mothers in China and East Asia
Jelentés:
anyatigris
Példa: My
mother was a tiger mom in the sense that she expected a lot from me.
Being raised by a tiger mother
meant I wasn't given the freedom to make my own decisions.
a toothless tiger
Definíció: an
aggressive but harmless person
Jelentés:
fogatlan oroszlán
Példa: He
pretends to be a toothless tiger but
he cannot cheat me.
paper tiger
Definíció: a person, organization, or country that appears to be very powerful or dangerous but in fact
is weak
Jelentés:
papírtigris
Eredete: Mao
Ce-tung használta először az Egyesült Államokra az 1946-ban
Példa: They
are paper tigers, weak and indecisive.
Many people
see North Korea as nothing more than a paper tiger, despite its threats against
other countries.
Easy, tiger!
Definíció: used
for telling
someone to calm
down, not to get over emotional
or not to rush
into sg
Jelentés:
Nyugi! Higgadj le!
Példa: "I've
just met the perfect man. He's tall, handsome, kind. I'm going to marry him and
have children. We'll live together in a house by the sea. We'll..."
"Easy
tiger! Do you even know his name?"
"Right, this
food is disgusting, we're leaving the restaurant right now."
"Easy tiger! I
quite like it here. Let's wait until the main course comes."
eye of the tiger
Definíció: When
you say someone has the "eye of the tiger", you are talking about
someone who is focused, confident, and has the look of being intense, somewhat
cold but very fierce.
Jelentés:
eltökélt, harcos
Eredete: The
phrase became popularized with the song Eye of the Tiger, an 80's hit performed
by the band Survivor. It was written at the request of actor Sylvester Stallone
to become the theme song for the movie Rocky III.
Példa: Every
great leader has the eye of the tiger, a passion to move forward in the face of opposition.
tiger by the tail
Definíció: a situation that is safer to continue
than to quit
Jelentés: lőporos hordó
Példa: I wouldn't go down the
road of high-risk investments like those-you
might end up with
a tiger by the tail.
to catch/have a tiger by the tail
Definíció: to get/be involved with sy
or sg that is powerful
and could become
troublesome or threatening
Jelentés: a
tűzzel játszik; lőporos hordón ül
Példa: It is becoming increasingly obvious
that we have caught
a tiger by the tail
with our military
intervention in this region-it was foolish
to get involved, but
it would be catastrophic to leave now.
Though he was temporarily in control,
it was like having a tiger
by the tail.
He who
rides a tiger is afraid to dismount.
Definíció: Once a dangerous or troublesome
venture is begun, the safest course is to carry it through to the end.
Jelentés: Jobb az útnak feléről visszatérni,
mint eltévedni. / Aki a tűzzel játszik, könnyen megégetheti magát.
Eredete: ősi kínai közmondás, amely a 19. század végén került az angol nyelvbe
Példa: "I believe that Hitler is riding a tiger in
trying to keep all Europe under control by sheer force." (Daily Progress, 1940)
tiger's juice/milk/sweat
Definíció: used
in reference to various hard liquors, especially gin, whiskey, or brandy.
Jelentése: tömény
(szeszes ital)
Példa: Let's bring
a couple of bottles of tiger's sweat with us to drink around the campfire at night.
Give me some of
that tiger juice, will ya?
Put a tiger in your tank.
Definíció: to have a lot of energy, enthusiasm and will power
Jelentés: kirobbanó
energiával, életerővel rendelkezik
Eredet: Esso
szlogen az 1960-as évekből.
Példa: The manufacturers advertise the energy supplement
as being able to put
a tiger in your tank
when you're feeling
tired.
A tiger can't change its stripes
Definíció: a person cannot change his/her essential nature
or character (especially if it is bad)
Jelentés: kutyából nem lesz szalonna.
Eredete: ókori görög közmondás, amely a
Bibliában is feltűnik (Jer. 13.23)
Példa: After our breakup, he came crawling back, trying to convince me that he'd changed, but I know that a tiger can't change its stripes.
the lady or the tiger
Definíció: an
outcome or resolution to something that is unknowable or unsolvable
Jelentés: megoldatlan/megoldhatatlan
befejezés
Eredete: Frank
Stockton "The Lady or the Tiger?" című allegorikus meséjének a címe (1882)
Példa: The film
closes on a lady-or-the-tiger ending, with the audience never
knowing whether the villain or the protagonist is killed.
tiger economy
Definíció: the economy
of a country that is growing very quickly
Jelentés:
tigris gazdaság
Példa: Tiger
economies show simultaneous growth in the agricultural and nonagricultural
sectors during the period of rapid economic growth.
Corporations
had to face the increasing power of the East Asian tiger economies.
Little Tigers/Four Asian Tigers
Definíció: a term for
four small but mighty Asian nations - Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and South
Korea; collectively, these four nations have joined the ranks of the wealthiest
countries on earth due to rapid development between the 1960s and the 1990s.
Jelentés: Kistigrisek
Példa: Between
the early 1960s and 1990s, the Four Asian Tigers underwent rapid
industrialization and maintained exceptionally high growth rates of more than 7
percent a year.
Celtic Tiger
Definíció: the
Irish economy, or Ireland itself, as regarded during the period of rapid economic growth that characterized the period from 1995 to 2007
Jelentés: Kelta
Tigris (=Írország, ír gazdaság)
Példa: The Celtic
Tiger went from boom to bust with breathtaking speed.
The Celtic
Tiger has shown itself to be a lame duck that the rest of Europe has to lend a
helping hand and take by its limp wings.
