I'm Not Hanging Noodles on Your Ears and Other Intriguing Idioms From Around the World Read Free

“poo-poo” theory, and “la-la” theory. We’ll be looking at some of these in the following chapters.
    On Clarifying Terms Used for Sciencey Lack of Awareness
    States of lack of awareness are important throughout this book. Idioms in a sense require us to ignore our awareness of the meanings of their constituent words. Something we do without giving it a second (or first conscious) thought. Beyond just idioms, as Stephen Pinker, a leading psycholinguist and science writer, notes, “Most information processing in the brain is unconscious.” 7 I have become aware that the terms used to describe such states of lack of awareness in scientific, and particularly in sciencey, literature are confusing. They carry so much old baggage, so many unintended undercurrents, that additional clarity is required. Hence, to describe the state of the information processing that we are not aware of, rather than using the subconscious, which too often slips into Freudian territory, or the unconscious, which too often implies complete insensibility, I prefer to use the easier to keep distinct term “non-conscious.” By non-conscious I mean fully awake but below the level of conscious awareness. Non-conscious does not necessarily mean irrational, nor does it necessarily mean only emotional. It seems we are built to have our conscious minds operate on a need-to-know basis. They are meant to be kept mostly in the dark . And they need only be interrupted when it’s really essential or when it’s already safe. They aren’t so useful for anything that’s fast, or dangerous.
    On Listfulness Herein
    I’ve only loosely organized these idioms into chapters, by theme. To these I’ve added a little light-minded commentary on mostly related topics with some tangential excursions. Thus the bulk of this book consists of lists of idioms. Rather than lead you by the nose through this maze of intentionally mis-understandable metaphors, I’d prefer to provide unmediated access to the lists, thereby leaving you the joy of discovering your own connections and resonances. It’s a wonderful thought that you and the lists can make your own sweet, beautiful meaning together.
    PREBUTTALS—ASSORTED APOLOGIES IN ADVANCE
    To Aspiring Multilinguals
    The source language forms of the selected idioms have not been included. This is for reasons of space and economy (of my effort). This book isn’t intended to be a language reference. I’m assuming it’s unlikely that many readers will go to places where the Russian words for “I’m not hanging noodles on your ears” would be useful. If you find yourself needing such words, I’m afraid you will need a more educationally oriented book.
    To Aspired Multilinguals Who May Be Surprised or Offended
    For speakers of any of these languages who have never heard of some of these idioms, or who might disagree with a translation, or who might be offended at a misrepresentation or a lost nuance—I apologize almost wholeheartedly. I can’t vouch for every one of these idioms; some may no longer be in common active use. All I can say for sure is that each was considered, by the compilers of my sources, as being worthy of inclusion in their books. We are all at the mercy of various translators, upon whose good faith we must rely.
    To Etymologists and Vocabularians
    I haven’t even tried to explain or trace the origins of these many idioms. That would have taken far too long. I was also dissuaded by the challenges intrinsic to lexical archaeology. Too much of the relevant detail is entombed forever in the substrata of our cultural history. Even that mighty word-watcher extraordinaire William Safire bows to the difficulties. As he says in his excellent collection of “On Language” columns published in book form as The Right Word in the Right Place at the Right Time, “The source of the expression ‘to pull the wool over your eyes’ is a mystery.” 8 Though he finds a first usage ( Jamestown Journal, 1839) and