Idioms: animals

Tim Bowen takes the bull by the horns as he explores the widespread use of animal idioms in society.

The important contribution that animals have always made to human society is reflected in the number of idiomatic expressions containing references to animals. Many of them have negative connotations: a dog’s life (a life full of misery and troubles), make a pig of yourself (=ponerse morado, eat far too much food at one time), the black sheep (the odd one out in a family or a group who is disapproved of by the others). Others have more positive associations: to keep the wolf from the door (=ir tirando, to earn enough money to buy food and other essentials), to take the bull by the horns (to deal with a problem in a direct and confident way, even though there is some risk in doing this), to break your duck (to be successful after a series of failures).

As the credit crunch(=escasez de crédito) dominates the headlines, animal idioms have been much in evidence in the press. Reckless bankers who have made huge personal fortunes out of activities that have hurt millions have been described as fat cats (=pez gordo), and the results of their activities as the chickens coming home to roost (=if you say that chickens are coming home to roost, you mean that bad or silly things done in the past are beginning to cause problems, you have to face the consequences of your mistakes or bad deeds, negative results of the actions becoming clear). Many people, however, seem to regard an economic slump as the elephant in the room (=el verdadero problema, something which is obvious but most people choose to ignore) and, indeed, some people don't give a monkey’s (=don’t care, I don´t give a shit)) about economics and high finance and say the whole thing is a clear case of the tail wagging the dog (=,a bad situation brought about when something important is controlled by someone or something less important).

Note

THE CHICKENS HAVE COME HOME TO ROOST -- Chickens scratch around in the barnyard, in the fields and woods during the day. But at night they come home to the hen-house to roost. This saying is comparing a person's evil or foolish deeds to chickens. If a person does wrong, the "payback" might not be immediate. But at some point, at the end of the day, those "chickens" will come home to roost. "One has to face the consequences of one's past actions. In English, the proverb goes back to Chaucer's 'Parson's Tale' (c 1390). It was also know to Terence (about 190-159 B.C.) First attested in the United States in the 'Life of Jefferson S. Batkins' (1871). The proverb is found in varying forms: Curses, like chickens, come home to roost; Sooner or later chickens, come home to roost..." From "Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings" by Gregory Y. Titelman (Random House, New York, 1996).La idea es que una mala acción es devuelta a su creador, como un boomerang, que tarde o temprano recibirá su merecido, en forma inevitable, tal como las gallinas regresan al gallinero por la noche. Como "el que la hace la paga".Otra versión de "aquellos polvos trajeron estos lodos".quien siembra vientos recoge tempestades.

If criminals get more rights, the tail will be wagging the dog.(=minority will be controlling the majority)
It is like the tail wagging the dog when the receptionist is able to control everything in the office.(=a situation where a small part controls the whole thing