Blogger: Etta Wilson
Location: Books & Such Nashville Office
Weather: Warm and cloudy
I’ve been waiting for some readers to mention idioms with religious content.
Hebrew poetry in the Bible is very idiomatic. Certainly those in the Jewish faith have a long history of using idioms, some still in their mama loshen (mother tongue). Their idioms are often humorous, edged with irony and come from that large cache of Yiddish lore that originated in the ghettos.
I wish we could have seen the faces of some of the biblical speakers to better interpret their sayings. Was Jesus smiling when he said “…it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God”?
At the heart of idiom and simile is allegory. Shakespeare’s writing, both comedic and tragic, is filled with idioms. As John Keats wrote, “Shakespeare led a life of allegory; his works are the comments on it.”
When we use these figures of speech, we are basically making comparisons, and as writers, we need to make comparisons in unusual and memorable ways. Several of you have responded to my Monday queries saying that idioms work better in fiction. I think you’re right, but regardless, our readers remember what we write in new and different ways, although the truth of it may be never-changing.
Last weekend I was spading a bed to plant pansies and an earthworm crawled out. Just at that time a good friend called to say she was trapped in slow-moving traffic and a worm could crawl to Nashville quicker than she could drive it. I told her I knew just how slow she was going! Let’s keep our eyes and ears open. Idioms and similes are all around.
That made me laugh! With the torrential rains here, the earthworms have been out en masse on our expanse of driveway. I used to try and save them, tossing them back into the grass (and they wriggle so unappreciatively when I try to pick them up) but there are just too many. Besides, the ones that don’t make it back to the ground dry out and make a crunchy snack for our 2 outside dogs. Ewww.
(ahem)
I heard an interesting explanation in a Bible class many years ago. The pastor was talking about that very camel and the “eye of the needle”. He said when caravans would approach a walled city at night, the large gates were already closed but a small guarded gate remained open. To come in, a camel would have to bend down on its knees and crawl through.
So it wasn’t impossible but it was very difficult. And that small gate was called “the eye of the needle”.
I’ve not heard that bit of Middle Eastern culture discussed since but it seemed logical at the time.
Someone just wrote an email and mentioned a drop in the bucket. 🙂
I had forgotten that explanation about the “eye of the needle”. Thanks for the reminder. It also alerts us to the fact that the meaning of idioms changes from culture to culture and age to age.
Etta
I’m just reading over the proofs for my new juvenile novel, Crossovers. It’s about a hockey player who wants to learn to jump and spin. I made a point of using hockey metaphors I thought would come to my character’s mind. My favorite is the neighbor kids who bounce off the walls worse than a bucketful of pucks at a pre-game warmup.
Speaking of worms (okay, this is a bit off topic,) I once told a retired pastor I always try to rescue earthworms stranded on the sidewalk and put them back on the grass or dirt. He replied, “On the Day of Judgement all the worms will rise up and praise your name!” It’s not a figure of speech, but it’s certainly an interesting mental image.
How much fun!! Know it will be a wonderful book!!! Congrats!