Messages: 25
Language: English
sudanglo (User's profile) January 30, 2013, 12:01:51 PM
"Ne la plej feliĉa floro en la bukedo"I like it.
But perhaps this comparison would work even better for a disparaging comment on someone's looks Ŝi ne estas la plej bela floro en la bukedo
jkph00 (User's profile) January 30, 2013, 10:46:30 PM
sudanglo:And with such considerate good manners, too!"Ne la plej feliĉa floro en la bukedo"I like it.
But perhaps this comparison would work even better for a disparaging comment on someone's looks Ŝi ne estas la plej bela floro en la bukedo
Here in the South we're a bit more direct, I fear: "ugly as a mud fence" (tiel malbela kiel ŝlimbarilo?).
jkph00 (User's profile) January 30, 2013, 10:50:15 PM
erinja:Maybe "Ne la plej feliĉa floro en la bukedo" (not the happiest flower in the bouquet) works. I think of flowers as being an unreservedly "happy" thing. You can also imagine a wilted flower drooping, mimicing an unhappy person.That's certainly a pleasing metaphor and I would certainly understand it immediately. Thank you!
erinja (User's profile) January 31, 2013, 3:20:34 AM
(I'm not a southerner but I confess that I've been tempted to use this euphemism in Esperanto once or twice - Benu lian/ŝian koron!)
jkph00 (User's profile) February 3, 2013, 2:23:41 PM
erinja:No, in the South, if you want to call someone ugly or stupid or incompetent or whatever, you just say "Bless his/her heart". And it's understood!That's true, Erinja. If I hear someone say, "He's ugly as a mud fence, bless his heart," I know they're sympathetic. It's not his fault. If, on the other hand, they preface it with, "They must have spit that baby. He's ugly as a mud fence," it's clear there's no sympathy there.
I used to hear my relatives say of me, "He's so skinny he has to run around in the shower to get wet, bless his heart."