LINGUIST List 13.521

Mon Feb 25 2002

Qs: English Idioms, English "to be"/Present Perfect

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  • Beate Waffenschmidt, idioms
  • John R Te Velde/forlang/cas/Okstate, English 'to be'

    Message 1: idioms

     Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2002 19:45:14 +0100
    From: Beate Waffenschmidt <bwaffenschmidtt-online.de>
    Subject: idioms


    Dear linguists,

    our applied linguistics dept. at T�bignen / Germany is currently working on a series of business English learning modules based on videos produced for business training. The plot is a detective story about a murder mystery in the London financial business, but the detective is Irish. In the video, there are two expressions that are obscure even to our native speakers - perhaps someone can help with the meaning of these?

    1. to whistle dixie

    context: a friend explains the detective (who doesn't know about finance) how to read accounts to find a clue to a man's suicide, he doesn't understand a word, she says, "you have to work out a few ratios, analyse liquidity etc.", to which replies (probably ironically). "Now you're whistling dixie!"

    >Could this mean something like: "Oh, great idea!" or "Things are totally clear to me now!" (each ironical) ??

    2. Better than a bent canary on payday

    context: the detective thinks he's found an explanation for the suicide in the accounts, and says: "Too good to be true! Better than a bent canary on pay day! The guy obviously had a weak heart and a nervous disposition. I figured a man in his condition could have keeled over at the sight of something wrong in those accounts".

    >The illocution seems clear to me (better than nothing), but what exactly does the phrase mean? I found "canary" as informer, "bent" as "open to bribery or unfaithful", hence an informer who refuses to give evidence when the case is solved (i.e. the detective's payday). Maybe this is an over-interpretation - does anybody know if the canary thing is an idiom or a proverb?

    Looking forward to your help. Thanks in advance + best regards, Beate Waffenschmidt

    PS: I'll post a summary if there's interest.

    **************************** Beate Waffenschmidt T�bingen University - Applied Engl. Linguistics Wilhelmstrasse 50 D-72074 T�bingen Fax. ++49 7071 295079 Mail beate.waffenschmidtuni-tuebingen.de

    Message 2: English 'to be'

     Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2002 12:57:27 -0600
    From: John R Te Velde/forlang/cas/Okstate <forljrvokstate.edu>
    Subject: English 'to be'


    Does someone have examples from published texts of the use of 'to be' as a helper for the present perfect in English, as in the German Perfekt? Examples from German would be:

    Erika ist gestern Abend ins Kino gegangen Wir sind im Sommer nach Berlin geflogen

    I seem to recall that there are, for example, lines in children's poetry like:

    "...and the cow IS gone up to the moon"

    I can't seem to find texts with this usage, however. If someone knows how far back this goes in the history of English, that would also be helpful. Thanks!

    John te Velde Assoc. Prof. of German Oklahoma State University forljrvokstate.edu