BSBIV:
Don’t feel too badly - the first time I heard the Americanism, ‘There’s more than one way to skin a cat’, I thought, ‘Why would you need more than one way?’
It was years before I found out that no cats were harmed in the making of this proverb.
About a monthish ago, a coworker was explaining how in his gaming group, one of the team members was from England, and he did not understand "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink" proverb. I thought how can anyone not get that. Then, not 10 minutes later, another coworker who is from Nigeria, asked if anyone was sitting in a chair, to which I replied, "On your feet, lose your seat."
I could visibly watch the utter confusion wash over her face. And then I thought, "Oh, now I get it".
Sometimes you think words make so much sense, but not so much in other societies.
Don’t feel too badly - the first time I heard the Americanism, ‘There’s more than one way to skin a cat’, I thought, ‘Why would you need more than one way?’
It was years before I found out that no cats were harmed in the making of this proverb.
About a monthish ago, a coworker was explaining how in his gaming group, one of the team members was from England, and he did not understand "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink" proverb. I thought how can anyone not get that. Then, not 10 minutes later, another coworker who is from Nigeria, asked if anyone was sitting in a chair, to which I replied, "On your feet, lose your seat."
I could visibly watch the utter confusion wash over her face. And then I thought, "Oh, now I get it".
Sometimes you think words make so much sense, but not so much in other societies.