How to set the value?
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From: Pascal J. Bourguignon on 10 Nov 2009 03:17 rpw3(a)rpw3.org (Rob Warnock) writes: > Pascal J. Bourguignon <pjb(a)informatimago.com> wrote: > +--------------- > | rpw3(a)rpw3.org (Rob Warnock) writes: > | > But I'm sorry, Pascal. I couldn't find one that was uniquely French... > | > | I guess the corresponding expression would be "un �clair en plein jour", > | which is quite rareley used. > +--------------- > > My sister (who speaks *much* better French than I!) says that the > Harper/Collins/Robert dictionary lists "coup de tonnerre" -- literally > "a clap of thunder" or "thunderclap", but figuratively meaning > "bombshell", "bolt from the blue", or "thunderbolt". Does that > sound appropriate here? > > [A friend of hers also suggested "sans crier gare" -- "without any > warning or unexpectedly" -- but I'm not sure that's quite the same.] Yes, "sans crier gare" would mean the same. On the other hand, I'm not sure about "coup de tonnerre", since it's usually preceded by the flash... -- __Pascal Bourguignon__ http://www.informatimago.com
From: Alberto Riva on 10 Nov 2009 23:28 Rob Warnock wrote: > webmasterATflymagnetic.com <webmaster(a)flymagnetic.com> wrote: > +--------------- > | p...(a)informatimago.com (Pascal J. Bourguignon) wrote: > | > r...(a)rpw3.org (Rob Warnock) writes: > | > > Pascal J. Bourguignon <p...(a)informatimago.com> wrote: > | > > +--------------- > | > > | ...strange things may occur in a Common Lisp implementation > | > > | when you evaluate this setq out of white at the toplevel... > | > > +--------------- > | > > | > > Aha! Interesting difference in idioms here: in the U.S. one would say > | > > "out of the blue" instead of "white". > | > > | > Well, not being a native speaker, I must have misremembered the idiom. > | > So: s/white/the blue/ > | > | Naw -- Europe's cloudier than the US; white skies rather than blue skies. > +--------------- > > Actually, looking at Wiktionary[1] it would seem that in most European > countries the analogous idiom to the English "out of the blue" has > more to do with "clear sky" rather than "the blue" [albeit clear skies > *are* typically blue], and *not* "white" [though see (Russia#2) below]: > > - From clear sky (Germany) > > - Like a lightning bolt out of a clear sky (Finland, Sweden) > > - Like a thunder {from,in} {the,a} clear sky (Bosnia, Serbia, > Croatia, Lithuania, Russia#1, Iceland#1) > > Some more... indirect phrases were also given as alternates: > > - Like snow onto the head (Russia#2) > > - Like the devil from the sheep's leg (Iceland#2) In Italian we have "fulmine a ciel sereno", which is essentially the same as the Finnish and Swedish expression above. It's normally used for things that are totally surprising and unexpected, so it has a "stronger" meaning than the English idiom... Alberto
From: GP lisper on 15 Nov 2009 05:26
On Sun, 08 Nov 2009 11:18:06 -0500, <vnikolov(a)pobox.com> wrote: > > > > On Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:50:57 -0600, rpw3(a)rpw3.org (Rob Warnock) said: >> ... >> - Like a thunder {from,in} {the,a} clear sky (Bosnia, Serbia, >> Croatia, Lithuania, Russia#1, Iceland#1) > > Add Bulgaria to this list. > > As a sidenote, there is (at least in Bulgarian) an expression that > literally means "see stars in the middle of a white day", which > refers to the "stars" one "sees" after a strike on the head, but > that is a rather special case of surprise. Ah, the things I learn in c.l.l that bring a smile to my face. |