Colors in Idiomatic Expressions - IS MUNI

Masaryk University Faculty of Arts

Department of English and American Studies

English Language and Literature

&

Teaching English Language and Literature for Secondary Schools

Bc. Ondřej Pelech

Colors in Idiomatic Expressions Master’s Diploma Thesis

Supervisor: Doc. PhDr. Naděžda Kudrnáčová, CSc.

2015

I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography.

…………………………………………….. Author’s signature

Acknowledgement

I would like to thank doc. PhDr. Naděžda Kudrnáčová, CSc., for her guidance and advice.

Big thanks also go to my family and friends for their support and patience.

Table of Contents

Introduction ................................................................................................. 5

1. Colors and their meaning in idioms ......................................................... 7

2. Theoretical background .......................................................................... 8

2.2. Idiomaticity in dictionaries and specialized sources ............................ 9

2.2.1. Idiomaticity in dictionaries of phrases and idioms .......................... 9

2.2.2. Idiomaticity in specialized sources............................................... 13

2.3. Definition of an idiom .................................................................... 18

2.3.1. Definition of an idiom in dictionaries ........................................... 18

2.3.2. Definition of an idiom in specialized sources ................................ 21

2.3.3. Definition of an idiom for the purpose of this thesis ..................... 26

2.4. Methodology ................................................................................. 27

2.4.1. Collection of idioms .................................................................... 27

2.4.2. Categorization ........................................................................... 29

3. Idiom analysis ..................................................................................... 38

3.1. Full correspondence ...................................................................... 38

3.2. Key lexeme correspondence .......................................................... 52

3.3. Partial correspondence .................................................................. 57

3.4. Non correspondence ..................................................................... 64

3.5. Results of the analysis ................................................................... 97

4. Conclusion.......................................................................................... 103

Sources of idioms ...................................................................................... 109

References ................................................................................................ 111

Summary .................................................................................................. 114

Resumé .................................................................................................... 115

5

Introduction

The topic of this diploma thesis is an analysis of English idiomatic

expressions and a comparison of these expressions with their Czech equivalents.

As its name suggests the thesis deals with idioms that contain colors, namely

“black” and “white” in their English versions. The English idioms and their Czech

equivalents are compared on various levels to prove or disprove the main

hypothesis which is that there is a similar perception of colors in English and

Czech idiomatic expressions. The source language for the corpus of idioms is

English, various printed and online dictionaries were used to create the corpus of

English idioms and to find as many Czech equivalents as possible.

The thesis consists of three major parts. The first part is the theoretical

background necessary for a detailed idiom analysis. At the very beginning it tries

to present the most important works regarding phraseology and especially

idiomaticity. Various dictionaries and linguistic works focusing on the study of

idioms were analyzed in the attempt to find as many definitions of the term

“idiom” as possible. The author then defines “idiom” for the purposes of this

thesis. Then the methodology of the analysis is presented and the methods used

for creating the corpus are discussed. The categorization of collected idioms is

then explained and the findings about the perception of the idioms, which is the

main focus of the thesis, are presented.

The second part of the thesis is the idiom analysis. Collected idioms are

divided into categories based on their correspondence between the two

languages, English and Czech. The main aim of the thesis is to find the feelings,

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emotions, evaluations and other aspects in collected idioms, which is done is the

second part of the thesis.

The third major part of the thesis is the conclusion. The results of the

analysis are presented, they are organized into tables and commented on them.

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1. Colors and their meaning in idioms

My hypothesis is that each color has a certain special meaning in idiomatic

expressions in one language and that there is a certain correspondence in the

use of colors in English and Czech idioms. I believe that aspects of one color are

typical and stable in English idiomatic expressions and that these aspects to some

extent correspond to their Czech equivalents. My corpus of idiomatic expressions

that contain “black” and “white” (in the English versions of the idioms) and its

Czech equivalents should prove or disprove this hypothesis.

English and Czech are very different languages at various levels.

Etymologically, English and Czech both belong to Indo-European languages, but

they are in different language groups – English is Germanic, Czech is a Slavic

language. While English lost some of its synthetic features and has become more

analytical over time, Czech remains a synthetic language.

Despite the differences described above, during my studies I noticed some

significant similarities concerning the use and the perception of phrases in the

two languages. The connotations of some English words and phrases are

remarkably similar to the connotations of their Czech correspondents.

There are thousands and thousands English idioms, hundreds of them

have a color in them. I believe that there is a certain emotivity, evaluation, mood

and other aspects that persist in a number of English idiomatic phrases and that

are typical of each color.

I believe that the analysis of my corpus of idioms will provide convincing

results for my hypothesis.

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2. Theoretical background

2.1. Idiomaticity and phraseology in general

The study of idioms was neglected in the past and even in the first half of

the twentieth century idioms were not given the attention that they deserve.

Although many works on the topic of idiomaticity were written, some scholars

notice that many important linguists of that era completely ignored this topic (e.g.

Makkai: 1972: 26).

This is quite surprising, because as Čermák points out, idioms seem to be

present in every language investigated so far (2007: 252). This neglecting can

partly be caused by the fact that an idiom is always some kind of anomaly of at

least one of its constituents as far as its “paradigmatic and/or syntagmatic

aspects are concerned” (Čermák 2007: 253). Therefore it is extremely

complicated (if not impossible) to fit an idiom in rigid grammatical patterns which

can be discouraging for linguists.

As far as English-Czech and Czech-English dictionaries are concerned, the

authors of English-Czech dictionary of idioms point out that the first dictionaries

specialized in the field of idiomaticity were not published until the short time

between the end of the war in 1945 and the start of communist reign in 1948.

After that no dictionary specialized in this linguistic field was published until the

1980s (Kroulík and Kroulíková 1993: 5).

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2.2. Idiomaticity in dictionaries and specialized sources

Idiomatic expressions are an important part of both English and Czech

language. They are used on a daily basis and one needs to learn them in order

to fully master the language. The attempt of this subchapter is to list comments

of known scholars on the problem of recognizing an idiom and to sum up their

reasons why learning idioms and the ability to use them properly are a big

problem for students of languages.

2.2.1. Idiomaticity in dictionaries of phrases and idioms

One of the main reasons why understanding and learning idioms are a big

problem for Czech learners of English is described in Anglicko-český frazeologický

slovník where the authors discuss the issues. They claim that learners cannot

expect to find an absolute Czech equivalent to an English idiom and vice-versa,

because the correspondence is usually only partial, which makes it difficult to

fully grasp the expression (Bočánková and Kalina 2007: 7).

Julius Chromečka in his dictionary explains the importance of using

phrasemes and idioms since they add the authenticity and briefness to one’s

speech. At the same time he warns against overusing them and using them

inappropriately (2004: 3).

Kroulík and Kroulíková see three problems in understanding (and using)

idioms. One of them is lexicological – the meaning of the words does not

correspond to the meaning of the whole expressions. Another problem is that

knowledge of grammar is usually of no use when trying to get the meaning of an

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idiom and logical thinking does not help with that either. The third problem is

that in idiomatic phrases there is a characteristic impossibility of replacing a word

with another one that normally works as its synonym (idioms are “fixed”) and the

word order must be followed carefully. Changing or omitting a word would

damage the idiom or change its meaning – the authors give an example of the

difference between on foot and on the foot. The authors also point out that it

cannot be explained why it is perfectly acceptable to say make a journey and it

is not possible to use make a walk, because take a walk is the grammatical

expression (1993: 7).

David Crystal talks about two main features that an idiom needs to have.

One is that “meaning of the idiomatic expression cannot be deduced by

examination of the constituent lexemes.”, second is that “the expression is fixed,

both grammatically and lexically” (Crystal 2003: 163). The author does not talk

about the problems for learners, yet it is obvious that both described features

may cause them great difficulties.

A.P. Cowie in Volume 2 of Oxford Dictionary of Idiomatic Language (1985:

x) claims that semantic and structural problems of idioms are so big that “many

students view them with the trepidation of a man approaching a well-planted

minefield”.

He also points out that the best known approach to idiomaticity, popular

among linguists as well as among dictionary-makers, is “based on the difficulty

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of interpreting idioms in terms of the meanings of their constituent words” (1985:

xii). At the same time the author claims that emphasizing the ease or difficulty of

interpretations is insufficient, because it covers only a small class of idioms.

Idioms that keep both figurative and literal meaning are left out of account (giving

the example of catch fire and close ranks).

The author warns against creating two “water-tight” categories – idiomatic

and non-idiomatic phrases – with a rigid boundary between them; instead he

provides a complex categorization of collocations into:

(i) Pure idioms – idioms in the strict sense.

(ii) Figurative idioms – idioms with only a seldom variation. For some

speakers these expressions are unrelatable and therefor they may fall into

“pure idioms” category.

(iii) Restricted collocations – sometimes referred to as “semi-idioms”, are

expressions with a figurative sense not found outside its limited context,

but a degree of lexical variation is possible in some member of this

category.

(iv) Open collocations – the elements are freely recombinable and,

typically, each element is used in a common literal sense.

(Cowie 1985: xii – xiii)

Although Cowie’s division is logical, it is not perfect for the categorization,

because there are two major problems. The first problem is that there are idioms

belonging to “figurative idioms” for some speakers and “pure idioms” for others.

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Therefore it is not clear how to categorize these expressions. Both these

categories are of idioms, so this is not as crucial as the second big problem – the

ambiguity of “restricted collocations”. The author allows “a degree” of lexical

variation in “some” members of this group. That means that there might not be

space for any lexical variation in a particular expression (which is normally the

sign of idiomatic expressions) and yet such an expression will be put into a non-

idiomatic category (namely into “restricted collocations” category).

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2.2.2. Idiomaticity in specialized sources

Stanislav Kavka in his “A book on idiomatology” (2003: 5) provides an

overview of approaches concerning idioms and idiomaticity. He lists a great deal

of definitions taken from various linguistics works and discusses several

difficulties that learners of English might have with idioms. He quotes C. J.

Fillmore et al. who discuss the idiomaticity: “We think of a locution or manner of

speaking as idiomatic if it is assigned an interpretation by the speech community

but if somebody who merely knew the grammar and the vocabulary of the

language could not, by virtue of that knowledge alone, know (1) how to say it,

or (2) what it means, or (3) whether it is a conventional thing to say.” (in Kavka

2003: 5)

Kavka then sums the whole matter, claiming that understanding an idiom

does not guarantee its smooth use – even if the meaning of the phrase answer

the door was clear (and it is not), a learner of English might not know about the

(in)conventionality of such a phrase (2003: 15).

Kavka mentions P. Kay who offers an interesting point about the problems

idioms can cause. His point could also serve as a definition of an idiom: “an

idiomatic expression is something a language user could fail to know while

knowing everything else in the language” (in Kavka 2003: 15). Kavka

acknowledges Kay’s attitude as comprehensible and useful, but points out that it

is too general and vague. Kavka believes that the solution to problems of

idiomaticity is to unambiguously answer one fundamental question regarding

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idioms, which is: “Where does a free combination end and where does an

idiomatic expression begin?” (2003: 15).

In the attempt to answer this question Kavka provides a detailed analysis

of English multi-word expressions based on the amount of variation the

expressions contain. The author creates a scale that ranges from “free

combinations” to “idioms proper” (2003: 18-19). Interesting point is that although

these two categories stand on opposite sides of the scale they still may overlap.

This describes a problem users of English may experience – although it is true

that idioms are generally somehow “fixed”, yet some of them are quite “free”.

This means that the ability of an idiom to change depends on that

particular idiom. One must not rely on their general knowledge of the language

or on their knowledge of other idioms from the language.

Leonhard Lipka compares idiomatic expressions to morphologically parallel

unidiomatic expressions. He points out that idioms “are characterized by various

grammatical deficiencies, e.g. that the singular or plural cannot be formed, the

word order cannot be changed, modifiers cannot be inserted and, in general, a

number of transformations cannot be performed” (1972: 78-79).

Lipka also warns against a common misconception which is that idioms

must consist of at least two words. Talking about “words” is not accurate and

can be very misleading – although it is true that (according to all materials that

were consulted) idioms are polymorphemic items, this does not mean that there

must be (at least) two isolated “words” in every idiom. Lipka provides an example

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of the word knucklehead – although it is only one isolated word, it is a compound

noun that consist of two lexemes and, because of its other qualities, can be

considered to be an idiom. Therefore it is better to talk about “lexemes” or “free

morphemes” instead of “words” when discussing this typical feature of idioms.

(1972: 79).

Weinreich (1963: 182, in Lipka 1972: 78) makes a difference between

“unilateral idioms” (gives the example of charge an account where only charge is

idiomatic) and “bilateral idioms” (e.g. rub noses).

Geoffrey Leech describes institutionalization, which is the process a non-

idiomatic phrase must undergo in order to become an idiom. He comes with the

term “petrification” which is a process that causes a diversion from the original,

lexical meaning of an expression towards its institutionalized meaning. He claims

that this process is often accompanied by “shrinkage” of denotative meaning of

the expression and by “solidifying” its form (1981: 225-226).

For this institutional narrowing of denotative meaning he gives the

examples of wheel-chair and push-chair. A wheel-chair is not just any chair with

wheels and not ever chair that one pushes is a push-chair. Without the

institutional factor one may interchangeably use wheel-chair and push-chair,

because push-chairs have wheels and wheel-chairs can be pushed. However,

because of this diversion of meaning, a wheel-chair is for invalids and a push-

chair for infants and they are therefore not interchangeable (Leech 1981: 226).

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The diversion of meaning created by institutional narrowing can cause

English-learners a great deal of difficulties, because without having the

knowledge of this shift in meaning, one is not able to use institutionalized phrases

properly.

Frank Palmer in his book Semantics (1981: 80) writes about syntactical

and grammatical restrictions that some idioms have, giving the example of a well-

known idioms to kick the bucket (to die) and to spill the beans (to give away a

secret or a surprise). These idioms are partly “flexible” and “frozen” at the same

time. They can be both used in the past tense (which shows their flexibility) but

in none of them the grammatical category of number can be changed.

Furthermore, they differ in their flexibility: while it is fine to change the voice of

one of these idioms and say the beans were spilled, this cannot be done in the

other idiom: sentence the bucket was kicked is ungrammatical (1981: 80).

These syntactical and grammatical restrictions of some idioms are big

issues for English-learners. It is hardly possible to fully understand how a

restricted idiom acts when consulting a dictionary or from coming across the

idiom in one sentence – a great deal of context (e.g. example sentences) must

be provided so that the learner could use such an idiom properly.

17

Alan Cruse discusses the difference between idioms and collocations. In

his book Lexical Semantics (1991: 40) he claims that collocations are (in contrast

to idioms) “fully transparent in the sense that each lexical constituent is also a

semantic constituent”, giving the example of heavy drinker.

Cruse focuses on lexical level of idioms. He emphasizes that an idiom must

be “lexically complex” (one idiom must consist of more than one lexical

constituent) and it should be “a single minimal semantic constituent”. In short he

sees an idiom as an expression that is “a lexical complex which is semantically

simplex” (Cruse 1991: 37).

Cruse analyzes an idiom as a lexical unit. He claims that multiword idioms

show internal cohesion that is normally typical of single words. He points out that

“syntactic constituents are not semantic constituents, and therefore are not open,

for instance, to adjectival and adverbial modification…” (1991: 39).

This short overview of issues that are linked to idioms and idiomaticity

shows the great complexness of the topic. Each linguist deals with the issue from

a different point of view, but there is one point they all agree on – to fully

understand an idiom (this includes the ability to use such an idiom properly) is

quite a challenge.

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2.3. Definition of an idiom

This subchapter provides an overview of definitions of an idiom that can be

found it general sources, dictionaries of collocations and idioms and in specialized

linguistic works.

2.3.1. Definition of an idiom in dictionaries

A list of definitions taken from English monolingual, Czech monolingual

and English-Czech / Czech-English dictionaries is provided.

Definitions from general dictionaries

These dictionaries were selected because they consist of two well-known

sources of English for general purposes, one specialized dictionary and one

respectable source of Czech language, edited by the Institution of the Czech

Language.

Longman dictionary of contemporary English uses this definition of an

idiom: “a group of words with a meaning of its own that is different from the

meaning of each separate word put together”, and gives an example of idiom

under the weather meaning ill (1995: 708).

Macmillan English dictionary for advanced learners says that an idiom is

“an expression whose meaning is different from the meaning of the individual

words”, giving the example of to have your feet on the ground meaning to be

sensible. (2007: 749).

http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/expression

http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/meaning_1

http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/individual_1

http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/word_1

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According to Longman Dictionary of Applied Linguistics, an idiom is “an

expression which functions as a single unit and whose meaning cannot be worked

out from its several parts” (1985: 134).

The Free Dictionary by Farlex (online source) provides several definitions

of an idiom, the first is “an expression whose meaning is not predictable from the

usual grammatical rules of a language or from the usual meanings of its

constituent elements” (The Free Dictionary, 2015).

Slovník spisovné češtiny pro školu a veřejnost in both its editions (1978

and 1998) defines an idiom as “a fixed combination of words characteristic for a

certain language that is generally impossible to be translated word to word”

(1978: 136; 1998: 112).

Definitions from dictionaries used for creating the corpus

In the second part of the overview, the attempt was to provide definitions

from all dictionaries that were used to create the corpus of idioms for the analysis.

It is crucial what the authors of the dictionaries consider an idiom to be. However,

many of the dictionaries do not provide any definition or talk about the topic only

vaguely.

A Learner’s Dictionary of English Idioms states that an idiom is “a phrase

which you cannot understand by putting together the meanings of words in it”

(1986: iii).

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Česko-anglický frazeologický slovník by Bočánková and Kalina comments

only on the problems of translating idiomatic expressions but does not provide

any definition, this is also the case of Stručný česko-anglický slovník frází a idiomů

by Julius Chromečka and both Comprehensive Czech-English and Comprehensive

English-Czech dictionaries by Josef Fronek.

Dictionary of English Colloquial Idioms by Frederick T. Wood says, in the

introduction, that idioms “may be defined firstly as phrases which allow no

element to be replaced by a synonym (...); secondly, they are phrases in which

the individual parts (if taken separately) do not suggest the meaning of the

whole…” (1979: iv).

Kroulík and Kroulíková (in the introduction to their English/Czech

dictionary of idioms) consider an idiom to be a fixed phrase that has a specific

meaning, different from the meanings of the words in the phrase and that this

specific meaning cannot be grasped by a simple word-to-word translation (1993:

7).

Oxford Dictionary of Current Idiomatic English, Volume 2: Phrase, Clause

& Sentence Idioms says that “The sense of the whole cannot be arrived at from

prior understanding of the parts” (1985: x).

Tomáš Hrách in his Sbírka anglických idiomů a slangu says that idioms are

phrases fixed (ordinarily used) in a certain language (1998: 5).

The definition that was found in The Free Dictionary was listed in previous

subchapter.

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2.3.2. Definition of an idiom in specialized sources

Kavka (2003: 5-6) gives an overview of definitions of an idiom by scholars

who deal with this field of linguistics. The author comments only on some of

them, the rest is only listed.

Gairns-Redman (1986): an idiom is “...a sequence of words which operates

as a single semantic unit, and like many multi-word verbs the meaning of the

whole cannot be deduced from an understanding of the parts” and also notes

that they are often syntactically and sometimes grammatically restricted.

Bahns (1993): “Idioms [unlike free combinations] are relatively frozen

expressions whose meaning do not reflect the meanings of their component

parts”.

Katz and Postal (1964): “The essential feature of an idiom is that its full

meaning… is not a compositional function of the meanings of the idiom’s

elementary parts.”

Fraser (1970) “I shall regard an idiom as a constituent or a series of

constituents for which the semantic interpretation is not a compositional function

of the formatives of which it is composed.”

Katz (1964): “Idioms do not get their meanings from the meanings of their

syntactic parts.”

Machonis (1985): “Our definition of idioms, or frozen expressions, is rather

broad. Ideally, an expression is frozen if the meaning is not predictable from the

composition.”

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Smith (1943): “Those forms of expressions, of grammatical construction,

or of phrasing, which are peculiar to a language, and approved by its usage,

although the meanings they convey are often different from their grammatical or

logical signification.”

Van der Linden (1991): “The traditional definition of an idiom states that

its meaning is not a function of the meanings of its parts and the way these are

syntactically combined; that is, an idiom is a non-compositional expression.”

Weinreich (1984): “A complex expression whose meaning cannot be

derived from the meaning of its elements.”

Van de Voort and Vonk (1992): “An expression whose overall figurative

meaning cannot be derived from the meaning of its parts.”

Makkai (1972): “Any polylexonic lexeme made up more than one minimal

free form or word, as defined by morphotactic criteria”.

All definitions found in Kavka 2003: 5-6. The author does not cite the exact page.

Here’s a list of some other scholar’s definitions on an idiom, some of them

are analyzed and commented on.

Rosamund Moon says that an idiom is “a particular collocation of phrasal

lexeme, peculiar to a language” (1998: 3).

According to Bolinger, idioms are “groups of words with set meanings that

cannot be calculated by adding up the separate meanings of the parts” (1981:

51).

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Leonhard Lipka warns that is very difficult to find one definition of an idiom

because idiomatic expressions do not form a simple homogeneous category –

they can be simple compounds, fixed collocations or complex expressions (1990:

74).

He says that idioms are “formally complex lexemes that cannot be broken

down into morphemes” (1990: 74) and claims that an expression becomes an

idiom when “the semantic changes are so extreme that the meaning of the whole

lexeme can no longer be derived from its parts” (1990: 95).

Fernando and Flavell provide a very complex and comprehensive

description of key features that an idiomatic expression needs to have:

1. its meaning is not the compositional sum of its constituents;

2. it is a unit that either has a homonymous literal counterpart or at least

individual constituents that are literal, although the expression as a

whole would not be interpreted literally;

3. it is transformationally deficient in one way or another;

4. it forms part of a set of expressions in a given language;

5. it is institutionalized.

(1981: 47)

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František Čermák comes with two approaches. First of them is based on

combinatorial analogy and anomaly and it defines an idiom as “a unique and fixed

combination of at least two elements for which it holds that at least some of

these do not function, in the same way, in any other combination of the kind, or

do function in a highly restricted number of them only” (2007: 253).

The second approach does not bring a definition as such, but it sums up

all features that a phraseme need to have in order to be considered idiomatic.

The key features are:

1. underlying (syntagmatic and paradigmatic) anomaly,

2. deficient and restricted function and transformation capacity,

3. entropic, accidental, non-modelled formation,

4. functional analogy to the word-class and sentence function,

5. economical, abstract, as well as vague denominative quality,

6. ready-made pragmatic tool quality,

7. non-additive (non Fregean) function (and meaning) constituents.

(Čermák 2007: 258)

Čermák’s approach covers expressions from many points of view and

analyzes them into a great detail. However, his attempt to find a definition is very

complicated and it would be hardly possible to apply all his points when deciding

between an idiomatic and a non-idiomatic expression.

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Some definitions collected from specialized sources are somewhat more

detailed than those take from the dictionaries, some are quite similar to them.

More importantly, regardless of the other aspects that are taken into

consideration, all definitions from specialized sources as well as those taken from

dictionaries describe two crucial features of an idiom.

The first feature of an idiom is that its meaning is not compositional, that

is there is no possibility of getting the overall meaning of the phrase from knowing

the meaning of individual words/parts/elements/segments.

The second feature (which is partly connected to the first one) is that each

idiom has its inner structure – it can be logically divided into parts and, therefore,

each idiom must consist of at least two lexemes.

Each linguist has a different approach when forming their definitions and

each linguist focuses on different aspects of idiomaticity. Therefore it is not

possible to create one universal definition of an idiom that would cover all possible

aspects and features and, at the same time, would remain practical and

applicable, in other words not excessively long.

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2.3.3. Definition of an idiom for the purpose of this thesis

In previous chapters a great deal of definitions were discussed. The definitions

were taken from general and specialized dictionaries as well as from specialized

linguistics works. Unfortunately no definition is fully suitable for the purpose of

this thesis and therefore a definition needs to be created.

For the purpose of this thesis an expression is an idiom if:

a) It is polylexonic;

b) Its meaning is not compositional and therefore cannot be derived from the

meanings of its constituents;

c) It is fixed (up to a certain point);

d) It is institutionalized.

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2.4. Methodology

2.4.1. Collection of idioms

A crucial part of preparation of the thesis was, apart from the preliminary

research considering idiomaticity in general, creating the corpus of idioms for the

analysis. Several dictionaries were used to create the corpus (see previous

chapter). The main source of idioms was The Free Dictionary, an extensive

electronic source that lists expressions that are used by British, American and

Australian speakers. This dictionary provides many definitions to most idioms

and, even more importantly, one can find example sentences to the idioms. Both

these characteristics are very useful as far as the analysis is concerned. It is

practical to know a number of English definitions in order to fully understand the

meaning of an idiom and example sentences provide the context, which is very

important for understanding the structure and use of the idiom. Together they

help to categorize idioms and to study their meaning.

In order to cover as many English idioms as possible, another English

monolingual dictionaries were used in order to complete the corpus:

Dictionary of English Colloquial Idioms by F.T. Wood and R. Hill;

Oxford dictionary of current idiomatic English by A.P. Cowie, vol.2.;

A learner’s dictionary of English Idioms by I.R. McCaig and M.H. Manser.

Some new idioms were collected from these dictionaries and definitions of those

idioms that had been collected from The Free Dictionary were listed as well. After

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the collection from English monolingual dictionaries was done several English-

Czech and Czech-English dictionaries were studied to provide Czech equivalents

to the English idioms.

English-Czech and Czech-English dictionaries used for the corpus:

Anglicko-český frazeologický slovník by Milena Bočánková and Miroslav Kalina;

Anglicko-český slovník idiomů [a ustálených rčení metaforických, obrazných a

lidových] by Břetislav Kroulík and Barbora Kroulíková;

Comprehensive Czech-English Dictionary by Josef Fronek;

Comprehensive English-Czech Dictionary by Josef Fronek;

Sbírka anglických idiomů & slangu by Tomáš Hrách;

Stručný česko-anglický slovník frází a idiomů by Julius Chromečka;

Velký anglicko-český slovník by Karel Hais and Břetislav Hodek, Volume I and

Volume IV.

Czech equivalents and definitions of collected idioms were than taken and

listed in the corpus. Idioms that had not been found in English monolingual

dictionaries were put into the corpus as well. At the end of the collection, Slovník

české frazeologie a idiomatiky by František Čermák was studied for more Czech

equivalents and definitions.

29

2.4.2. Categorization

As was already discussed (see 2.2.1.) some linguists attempt to provide a

categorization of idioms. However, these attempts are uncertain and sometimes

too ambiguous. After consulting many linguistic works that are focused on the

field of idiomaticity (see previous sub-chapters) the author of this thesis decided

to base the categorization on Jana Vokáčová’s dissertation. She created three

categories of idioms:

a) Total correspondence. Idioms from this group need to agree on several

levels – stylistic (functional), semantic and formal. Stylistic (functional)

correspondence means that the idiom and its equivalent are used in the

same style, that is, they must not be used in slang in one language and

poetic style in the other language. Semantic correspondence compares the

meaning of the idioms; in this category it should be identical. Formal level

compares the individual components of the idiom in the two languages.

Vokáčová then creates two sub-categories called “100% correspondence”

(idioms that absolutely correspondent) and “overall correspondence” (a

slight variation is possible).

The problem of this category is that it is hardly possible to distinguish

idioms from these sub-categories. The author admits that another

researcher might set the dividing line differently, which would of course

affect the categorization.

b) Partial correspondence. Idioms from this category still show a great deal of

correspondence, but there are significant differences in the two languages.

30

Idioms and their equivalents must agree on the semantic level but they use

different lexical means for their formation. Vokáčová then divides the

idioms into seven sub-categories, considering various aspects, e.g.

expressiveness, hypernyms and hyponyms, different grammatical number,

etc.

c) Non correspondence. This wide category contains idioms that have no

equivalent and those that have a non-idiomatic equivalent. In order to

make the categorization more comprehensive, the author divides this

category into four subcategories.

(Vokáčová 2008: 62-67)

31

Categorization used in this thesis

Although the categorization of this thesis is based on the described

categories by Vokáčová, there are some important changes that were applied.

Because the categorization is not the only aim of the thesis, the process was

somewhat simplified and not so many sub-categories are used.

If the Czech dictionaries provide more entries that differ so significantly

that they might influence the categorization of an idiom, the idiom is categorized

according to its maximum correspondence. For example, if one dictionary

provides a Czech idiomatic equivalent and other dictionaries provide only non-

idiomatic equivalents, the idiom is categorized according to the idiomatic

equivalent.

If the author of this thesis knew another Czech equivalent to any English

idiom, this would not be relevant for the categorization. The categorization is

based only on the studied dictionaries.

When more lexically similar expressions (e.g. different parts of speech)

were found, they are dealt with in accordance to their semantic meaning. If their

semantic meaning is similar to each other, they are considered to be one idiom,

and are analyzed together (e.g. black market, black marketeering and black

marketer). When, however, these lexically similar expressions have different

semantic meaning, they are dealt with individually (see e.g. black-coat vs black-

coated).

This thesis divides idioms into four categories, one of the categories has

two subcategories.

32

Full correspondence

Idioms that belong to full correspondence category are identical or very

similar in English and in Czech. They agree on semantic level (the meaning is the

same), on lexical level (the same structure) and formal level (belong to the same

register).

white collar Hais, Hodek: bílý límeček; přen. bílý límeček, nemanuální pracovník, pracovník v administrativě, úředník; Fronek: bílý límeček.

Definition by The Free Dictionary: A white-collar worker is someone who works

in an office, doing mental rather than physical work.

The semantic meaning of this phraseme is the same and it cannot be deduced

from the individual parts in any of the two languages, lexical and formal level

agree as well. This idiom can be considered identical in English and Czech and is

therefore listed in full correspondence category.

33

Key lexeme correspondence

Idioms from this group agree on semantic level, but they cannot be

considered identical, since there is a difference on formal or lexical level (or both).

The key characteristic to put an idiom into this category is the presence of the

key lexeme in both languages – if there is “black” in English there must be “černý”

in the Czech version of the idiom and when there is “white” in English there must

be “bílý” in Czech. An example:

(in) black and white Bočánková: (in –) černé na bílém; Čermák: černé na bílém; Fronek: (have something in –) mít co černé na bílém; Hais, Hodek: (have it in –) mít to černé na bílém/písemně Chromečka: (have sth in –) mít co černé na bílém.

Definition by The Free Dictionary: Written down or in print, and therefore official.

(Only the most relevant definition is listed. For more definitions see the analysis.)

Although this idiom might seem to be equal in English and Czech, there is

a minor difference that does not allow listing it into absolute correspondence

category. The Czech version uses the preposition “na” (“on” in English), which is

most certainly not equivalent to “and” used in the English version.

34

Partial correspondence

Idioms from this category must agree on semantic level and must be

idiomatical in both languages, but they differ on both lexical and formal level.

white-bread Fronek: AM pej. tradiční, úzkoprsý

Definition from The Free Dictionary: (American) White-bread people or things are

ordinary and boring, and often those that are typical of white, American people.

Czech equivalent “úzkoprsý” is idiomatic, but completely different lexemes are

used to convey the meaning in English and Czech language.

Non correspondence

This category has two sub-categories according to the (non) idiomaticity

of the idiom in the other language.

a) with a non-idiomatic equivalent

Idioms from this category do not have any idiomatic equivalent in the other

language, but their meaning is expressed by a non-idiomatic word, collocation or

expression. For example:

white hat Hrách: AM slang. řádný člověk, klaďas.

Definition from The Free Dictionary: n. A good guy; a hero. (From Western

movies where you could tell the good guys from the bad guys by the color of

their hats: white for good, black for bad.)

35

Only one dictionary provides Czech equivalents of the English idiom. Neither of

the provided Czech expressions is idiomatic, so this idioms belongs to non

correspondence – with a non-idiomatic equivalent.

b) with no equivalent

Idioms from this group have no Czech equivalent in any Czech dictionary

that were studied.

white knuckler No Czech equivalent.

Definition from The Free Dictionary:

1. n. A tense and nervous person.

2. n. A suspenseful event, such as an exciting movie or a rough airplane flight.

The Free Dictionary provides two definitions to the English idiom, no Czech

equivalent to any of them was found in any of the dictionaries.

36

2.4.3. Color derivation

The English idioms can be divided into two groups as far as their use of

color is concerned. The first group consists of idioms that are truly idiomatic and

they use a color in a completely figurative meaning – for example black comedy,

which is most certainly not “black”. These idioms are called “not color derived”.

Idioms from the second group are “color derived”, that is, the use of color

in them is originally based on the true meaning of the color. Some of the idioms

depict things of the color they are not anymore (for example black box which is

not actually black), some of them depict things that really are white or black

(white trash) and in some cases the things appear to be black, even though

they aren’t (black ice). In all cases, however, the phrases must be idiomatic

according to the definition created for the purpose of this thesis. Whether

the idiom (its English version) is color derived or not is stated in the

comment below each idiom.

In some cases it was not possible to determine if the idiom is color

derived or not. In these cases the color derivation is “uncertain” (and again,

it is mentioned in relevant comments).

37

2.4.4. Colors and their typical meaning in idioms

As was outlined in the hypothesis, the author of this thesis believes that

there are certain qualities (emotivity, mood, .etc.) that are stable and typical of

each color in idiomatic expressions. These qualities are called “color aspects”.

The thesis tries to find these aspects in order to prove or disprove this hypothesis.

If there is any color aspect found in the idiom, it is listed below the English

definition(s).

If there is an aspect of the idiom that is conveyed by a word that has this

aspect normally, this aspect is not considered to be a color aspect of the idiom.

For example “white collar crime” involves illegality/fraud, because illegality/fraud

is logically included in “crime” no matter what the surroundings of the words are.

Therefore in this case illegality/fraud is not a color aspect of the idiom.

38

3. Idiom analysis

This chapter presents English idioms that were found in the studied

dictionaries together with their Czech equivalents. When it is not obvious why the

idiom was listed in a particular category, it is explained. At the end of the chapter

the results of the analysis are presented.

3.1. Full correspondence

Idioms from this category are identical or very similar in the two

languages, because they agree on semantic, lexical and formal level.

BLACK

a black day; black Friday

Fronek: černý den. Hais, Hodek: (– Friday) černý pátek.

Cowie: A day, or some less specific point of time, when sth sad or disastrous

happens (to sb).

McCaig, Manser: (For sb) a day or time when sth sad, very unpleasant, or

disastrous happens (to sb).

The Free Dictionary:

1. A day when something very unpleasant or sad happens (usually + for).

2. Also Black Monday, Black Tuesday, etc. A day of economic catastrophe.

Nothing is really “black” in this idiom and the same lexemes are used to convey

the meaning in English and in Czech.

Color aspects: negativity, sadness, tragedy.

Not color derived.

39

black art(s) Fronek: (-arts) černá magie, podvodné machinace, Hais, Hodek: (-art) černé umění.

The Free Dictionary: Black magic; witchcraft.

The word “black” is not used here in its typical, dictionary sense.

Color aspects: evil, illegality/fraud, negativity.

Not color derived.

black box Fronek: 1. černá skříňka; 2. kouzelná skříňka.

Hais, Hodek: 1. (pův. let.) černá skříňka; 2. (jakékoli) kontrolní

elektronické zařízení, palubní zapisovač dat.


1. (Electronics) a self-contained unit in an electronic or computer system whose

circuitry need not be known to understand its function.

2. (Aeronautics) an informal name for flight recorder.

Czech equivalent “černá skříňka” is the reason for listing the idiom into this

category. A black box used to be really black, but it is not anymore.

Color derived.

40

black coat Hais, Hodek: (black-coat) hanl černokabátník, černý pták (duchovní).

The Free Dictionary: A clergyman.

Clergymen are often dressed in black colored clothes, which questions the

idiomaticity of this phrase. On the other hand, the not every clergymen has to

wear black clothing and they do not wear it constantly (and still such a person

can be called “a black coat”) and the phrase itself is fixed, so it is an idiom.

Color derived.

black comedy Fronek: černá komedie. Hais, Hodek: (black comedy, black humor) hrůzostrašný, morbidní.

The Free Dictionary: no result.

Oxford: (Theatre) (the style of) play in which comic elements are combined with

more tragic, macabre or absurdly evil ones, with the latter on the whole

predominating; a situation, an event, with a mixture of farcical and tragic

elements.

The reason for listing this idiom into this category is Fronek’s equivalent that does

not explain the meaning of the phrase (which is the case of Hais and Hodek’s

entries).

Color aspects: evil, death/morbidity, tragedy.

Not color derived.

41

black death Fronek: černá smrt, mor. Hais: (Black Death) černá smrt, mor.

The Free Dictionary: An outbreak of virulent plague, especially its bubonic form,

that killed large numbers of people throughout Europe and much of Asia in the

14th century.

The reason for listing this phrase as an idiom is the fact that it can be used

figuratively, in situations that are not connected to the Middle-Age epidemic.

Color aspects: death, negativity, tragedy.

Color derived.

black deed Fronek: špatný čin. Hais: černý skutek.

No English definition was found.

Color aspects: evil, illegality/fraud, negativity.

Not color derived.

black economy Fronek: černá ekonomika.

The Free Dictionary: A segment of a country's economy that consists of black-

market activities.

Color aspects: illegality/illegality.

Not color derived.

42

black gold Fronek: černé zlato, nafta. Hais, Hodek: černé zlato, přen. nafta, ropa.

The Free Dictionary: (Informal) petroleum.

The use of this phrase is based on the color (which suggests non-idiomaticity of

the phrase) but it is so conventional and it has such a shift in meaning that it is

considered to be an idiom.

Color derived.

black humor Fronek: černý humor.

The Free Dictionary: The juxtaposition of morbid and farcical elements (in writing

or drama) to give a disturbing effect.

Color aspects: death/morbidity.

Not color derived.

black list, black-list, blacklist

Bočánková: 1. (be on the blacklist) být na

černé listině; 2. (blacklist sb) dát koho na

černou listinu. Fronek:

1. (black list) černá listina; 2. (blacklist) dát koho na černou

listinu. Hais, Hodek:

1. (black-list) dát na černou listinu.

2. (blacklist) černá listina (podezřelých, diskriminovaných apod.).

43

The Free Dictionary: A list of persons or things considered undesirable or

deserving punishment.

Wood:

1. A list of undesirable, untrustworthy or suspicious people;

2. (To black-list): put on such a list.

All three expressions are analyzed together, because their semantic meaning

differs only insignificantly, mostly because they are different parts of speech.

Color aspects: negativity.

Not color derived.

black magic Fronek: černá magie. Hais, Hodek: černá magie.

The Free Dictionary: Magic practiced for evil purposes or in league with supposed

evil spirits; witchcraft.

Although one may imagine “black magic” to be really black, it does not necessarily

have to be so, the word “black” is not used in its dictionary sense.

Color aspects: evil, negativity.

Not color derived.

44

black market, black marketeering, black marketer, on the black market

Fronek: 1. (black market) černý trh,

pokoutní obchod, šmelina 2. (on the -) na černém trhu; 3. (marketer) šmelinář, pokoutní

obchodník, kšeftař na černém trhu;

4. (marketeering) šmelinaření, špinavé kšeftaření. Hais, Hodek:

1. (black market) černý trh, šmelina;

2. (on the black market) bchodovat na černém trhu, šmelit s;

3. (black marketer) šmelinář.


1. The illegal business of buying or selling currency or goods banned by a

government or subject to governmental control, such as price controls or

rationing.

2. A place where such illegal business is carried on.

3. (Black marketer) someone who engages illegally in trade in scarce or controlled

commodities.

The semantic meaning of the phrases is very similar so they are analyzed

together.

Color aspects: illegality/fraud, negativity.

Not color derived.

45

black mass Fronek: černá mše. Hais, Hodek:

1. černá mše (uctívání ďábla); 2. círk. rekviem.

The Free Dictionary: A travesty of the Roman Catholic Mass, said to be performed

by Satanists.

Color aspects: evil.

Color derived.

Black Monday Hais, Hodek: 1. zast. = Easter Monday; 2. škol. slang. černý pondělek

(první den nového školního roku).


1. Easter Monday.

2. The first Monday after the holidays.

This idiom must not be dealt with together with “black day (black Friday)”,

because while any day can be black day in the sense of the idiom (that is, there

can be a black Thursday etc.), Black Monday will always be a Monday in both

definition of this idiom.


Not color derived.

46

black money Bočánková: černé příjmy; Hais: AM slang. černé příjmy (nepřihlášené ke zdanění).

The Free Dictionary: Income, as from illegal activities, that is not reported to the

government for tax purposes.

There is a minor difference between the English “money” and Czech “příjmy”,

which is normally translated as “income”. This difference, however, is so small

that the author of the work decided to list this idiom into this category.

Color aspects: illegality/fraud.

Not color derived.

black sheep, black sheep of the family

Bočánková: (– of the family) černá ovce rodiny. Fronek:

1. prašivá ovce; 2. (the black sheep of the family)

černá ovce rodiny. Hais, Hodek: černá ovce, též přen.

Cowie: (also black sheep of the family) That member (of a family or other group)

who is thought to be a disgrace to other members of it.

McCaig, Manser: (–of the family) A criminal or other person who does wrong; sb

who is (considered to be) a disgrace to the family or group to which he belongs.


1. A disreputable or unloved family member.

2. The least reputable member of a group; a disgrace.


Color derived.

47

WHITE

white book Fronek: bílá kniha. Hais: polit. Bílá kniha.

The Free Dictionary: An official publication of a national government.

It is not possible to say whether Fronek understands the English phrase

idiomatically or not. This, however, does not influence the categorization.

Color derived.

white collar, white collar crime, white collar union, white collar worker

Hais, Hodek: bílý límeček; přen. bílý límeček, nemanuální pracovník, pracovník v administrativě, úředník; Fronek:

1. bílý límeček; 2. (– crime) zločin bílých límečků 3. (– union) odborářská

organizace administrativních pracovníků

4. (– workers) bílé límečky, duševní pracovníci.

Cowie: (a –) Professional, business and clerical employment.

McCaig, Manser: (– job, worker, etc) Professional or business work etc.


1. (a – worker) Someone who works in an office, doing mental rather than

physical work.

2. (a – crime) A generic term for crimes involving commercial fraud, cheating

consumers, swindles and other forms of dishonest business schemes.

Nowadays “white collars” do not really wear white collars.

Color derived. Because of the word “crime”, negativity is not attached to white.

48

white crow Hais, Hodek: bílá vrána, vzácnost.


Color aspects: positivity, rareness.

Color derived.

white elephant Bočánková: danajský dar, zbytečná přítěž. Fronek:

1. nerentabilní projekt; 2. danajský dar, zbytečná přítěž.

Hais, Hodek: 1. bílý slon; 2. přen. zbytečná přítěž, zbytečný

krám, danajský dar. Kroulík: nevýnosná záležitost.

Cowie: Sth useless, seldom used, or too costly to be worth maintaining.

McCaig, Manser: Sth that is never or hardly ever used but has cost a lot of money.


1. (a -) Something that has cost a lot of money but has no useful purpose.

2. Something that is large and unwieldy and is either a nuisance or expensive to

keep up.

This idiom is listed in this category because of the equivalent “bílý slon” from Hais

and Hodek’s dictionary.


Color derived.

49

white feather, show the white feather

Fronek: (show the –) chovat se zbaběle, projevit strach. Hais, Hodek: bílé pírko (symbol zbabělosti) (př.).

Cowie: a symbol of fear, cowardice, or timidity.

The Free Dictionary: (show the -) Display cowardice.

Color aspects: cowardice, fear.

Color derived.

white list Hais, Hodek: bílá listina (dobře zapsaných osob, nezávadných uměleckých děl apod.).

The Free Dictionary: A list of people or things considered to be acceptable or

trustworthy.

Color aspects: positivity.

Not color derived. (It might be actually white, but thanks to the fact that it will

be written on a paper which is usually white.)

white magic Fronek: bílá magie. Hais, Hodek: bílá magie.

The Free Dictionary: Magic or incantation practiced for good purposes or as a

counter to evil.

Color aspects: goodness, positivity.

Not color derived.

50

white man’s burden Hais, Hodek: břímě bílého muže.

The Free Dictionary: no results.

Cowie: The former concept (justifying colonization etc.) of the European’s duty

to advance civilization, education, trade, public health, etc. in underdeveloped

parts of the world.

Color derived.

white nights Fronek: 1. bílé noci; 2. bezesné noci

Hais: (singular) 1. bílá noc 2. bezesná noc.

The Free Dictionary: no results.

Cowie: (a white night) sing. a sleepless night (from French nuit blanche with the

same meaning).

Not color derived.

white noise Hais, Hodek: sděl. tech. bílý šum (šum s konstantní spektrální hustotou, neutrální zvuk překrývající nežádoucí zvuky.

The Free Dictionary: Acoustical or electrical noise of which the intensity is the

same at all frequencies within a given band over time.

Both English and Czech definition say that it is really a noise, which, of course,

cannot be white (at least not following the dictionary definition of the word).

Not color derived.

51

white sheep Hais: přen. bílá ovce (normální jednotlivec mezi abnormálními).


Color aspects: positivity, rareness.

Color derived.

white trash Fronek: bílá nuzota. Hais, Hodek: AM hanl. bílá pakáž, chudý běloch, bílá chudina (na jihu USA).

Cowie: Any person(s) of European or American extraction who is/are thought (by

sb or by another group) worthless or despicable.

The Free Dictionary: (American very informal) an offensive way of describing

poor white people who are not educated.

Color derived.

Negativity is attached to “trash”, not “white”.

white witch Fronek: dobrodějná čarodějnice, dobrá víla. Hais: bílá čarodějka, dobrodějná víla.

The Free Dictionary: Also known as “cunning folk”, these were medieval witches

believed to practice magic for the purposes of good rather than evil. The term is

also used by some to describe a modern witch.


Color derived.

52

3.2. Key lexeme correspondence

Idioms from this category must agree on semantic level, but they differ on

formal or lexical level (or both) in the two languages.

There are two conditions for listing the idiom into this category. The first

is that the phrase must be idiomatic in both languages and the second condition

is that the key lexeme must be present in both languages. The key lexeme is the

color, so for English “black” there must be “černý” in Czech and for English

“white” there must be “bílý” in Czech.

BLACK

be black-hearted, blackhearted

Bočánková: mít černou duši. Hais, Hodek: zlý.

The Free Dictionary: Disposed to doing or wishing evil; malevolent.


Not color derived.

(in) black and white Bočánková: (in –): černé na bílém. Čermák: (let somebody have sth in –) dát někomu něco černé na bílém Fronek:

1. be black and white: být černobílý;

2. (put sth) in black and white: černé na bílém;

3. Have something in black and white: mít co černé na bílém, mít co písemně. Hais, Hodek:

1. (have it in) mít to černé na bílém / písemně;

53

2. adj černobílý (film, television), pérovkou provedený;

3. “to a moralist everything is either black or white”. listed, no translation. Chromečka: (have sth in –) mít co černé na bílém.

Cowie:

1. Not coloured; having no other colours than black and white.

2. (Consider moral etc matters only in terms of) absolute wrong or right, without

recognizing any more subtle variations.

McCaig, Manser:

1. (Of moral matters) as absolute right or wrong with no grades between them;

2. In print or in writing.


1. A monochromatic picture, drawing, television image, computer monitor, or

film, as opposed to one using many colors.

2. Also, black or white. Involving a very clear distinction, without any

gradations.

3. In black and white. Written down or in print, and therefore official.

4. If you think facts or situations are black and white, you have a simple and

very certain opinion about them, often when other people think they are really

more complicated.

5. A very clear choice that causes no confusion.

Wood: Stated plainly in writing.

54

This idiom is listed in this category because of the Czech equivalent “černé na

bílém” Fronek and Hais and Hodek. The idiomaticity of this expression is based

on the fact that there does not have to be any “black” or “white” part, the only

important thing is to be written.

Color aspects: oppositeness.

Color derived.

pretend/say that black is white Čermák: 1. (insist that black is white) dělat

z černého bílé; 2. (swear –) převracet něco,

překrucovat něco úplně, stavět něco na hlavu.

The Free Dictionary: To say the opposite of what is really true.

Čermák’s equivalent “dělat z černého bílé” is listed in this category because of its

idiomaticity and presence of the key lexeme, although the first part of the idiom

is lexically different in the two languages. The rest equivalents belong to partial

correspondence category.


Color derived.

55

WHITE

(in) black and white Bočánková: (in –): černé na bílém. Čermák: (let somebody have sth in -) dát někomu něco černé na bílém Fronek:

1. be black and white: být černobílý;

2. (put sth) in black and white: černé na bílém;

3. Have something in black and white: mít co černé na bílém, mít co písemně. Hais, Hodek:

1. (have it in) mít to černé na bílém / písemně;

2. adj černobílý (film, television), pérovkou provedený;

3. “to a moralist everything is either black or white”. listed, no translation. Chromečka: (have sth in –) mít co černé na bílém

English definitions: see above (in “black”).


Color derived.

pretend/say that black is white Čermák: 1. (insist that –) dělat z černého

bílé; 2. (swear –) převracet něco,

překrucovat něco – úplně, stavět něco na hlavu.

The Free Dictionary: To say the opposite of what is really true.


Color derived.

56

white paper, White Paper

Hais, Hodek: 1. bílý papír; 2. (často) White Paper poli. Bílá

Kniha. Kroulík: GB informační oficiální zpráva vlády.


1. A government report.

2. An authoritative report on a major issue, as by a team of journalists.

Although the equivalent “bílý papír” might look like an example of full

correspondence category, it is not, because in that case the English expression

is not translated as an idiom. Therefore it has no influence on the categorization.

Color derived.

white sale Fronek: bílý týden, prodej lůžkovin. Hais: obch. bílý týden.

The Free Dictionary: A special offering of towels, bed linens and similar goods,

not necessarily white-colored.

Color derived.

White scourge Hais, Hodek: Bílá metla lidstva (tuberkulóza).


Color derived.

57

3.3. Partial correspondence

Expressions from this category agree on semantic level and must be

idiomatic in both languages, but they differ on lexical and formal level.

BLACK

beat somebody black and blue, beat a person black and blue

Bočánková: zbít koho. Fronek:

1. zbít koho, až je celý modrý/samá modřina;

2. bít koho hlava nehlava. Hais, Hodek: (beat –) zbít koho, až je celý modrý.


This idiom is listed into this category because of Fronek’s “bít koho hlava

nehlava”, the rest equivalents belong to non correspondence – with a non-

idiomatic equivalent.

Color derived.

Black Maria Fronek: zelený Anton. Hais, Hodek: “zelený Anton” (vozidlo, v němž se převážejí zatčení).

The Free Dictionary: A police van for transporting prisoners.

Color derived.

black book, black books

Bočánková: (be in sb’s black books) být u koho špatně zapsán. Fronek: (be in sb’s black books) být u koho špatně zapsán. Hais, Hodek:

58

1. (black book) černá kniha, listina;

2. (be deep in a p.’s black books) být (velmi) špatně zapsán (u koho). Kroulík: (be in the ~) být špatně zapsán, tj. v nepřízni.

Cowie: (In someone’s black/bad books) in disfavour with someone.


1. A list of persons or things out of favor.

2. Little black book: see “little black book”.

Czech equivalent “černá kniha, listina” has no effect on the categorization,

because the English phrase is not taken as an idiom and is translated word-to-

word.


Not color derived.

black in the face with rage Hais: celý rudý vztekem.

No English definition was found. Although the Czech version of this idiom might

not seem idiomatic at first glance (because one’s color in the face is really

changed in such a situation) the idiom is listed in this category because most

definitely not the whole person becomes red.

Color derived.

59

black out, black-out, blacking-out, blackout

Fronek (black out): 1. windows - zatemnit; 2. lights - zhasnout, pozhasínat

(všechna světla); 3. broadcasting - přerušit; 4. omdlít, ztratit (nakrátko)

vědomí, (when drunk or on drugs) mít okno. Fronek: (blackout)

1. dočasná ztráta vědomí, okno; 2. (of lights) výpadek proudu,

during war) zatemnění, (theat) zhasnutí jevištních světel;

3. zákaz vysílání (určitých) zpráv. Hais, Hodek (black out):

1. div. zhasnout/vypnout jevištní světla;

2. zhasnout (přestat svítit); 3. (dočasně) ztratit

vědomí/zrak/paměť; 4. přestat fungovat; 5. rušit, přerušit (rozhlasové n.

televizní vysílání); 6. blokovat, vyřadit z provozu;

(blackout) 1. zatemnění; výpadek proudu; 2. přechodná ztráta

zraku/vědomí/paměti; “okno”; 3. dočasné zastavení, přerušení,

vyřazení z činnosti; 4. div. zhasnutí/vypnutí jevištních

světel; 5. div. krátký skeč.

Kroulík: ztráta vědomí, “okno”.

Cowie:

1. v. Suffer temporary loss of consciousness or memory (esp during flight of after

a severe blow);

2. v. Make invisible from the air at night by covering windows, lights etc.;

3. Bring television transmission to a halt by strike action;

4. Not allow news etc to be released, suppress it.

60

McCaig, Manser: Lose consciousness for a short time.


Lit.

[For lights] To go out; to stop emitting light; to cause a failure of electrical power

in some region; extinguish all lights.

Fig.

1. To pass out; to become unconscious; to lose consciousness or memory

temporarily; to suppress some memory from the conscious mind; to prohibit the

broadcast or spread of something, especially by censorship; obliterate with black,

as in crossing out words on a page or print on a screen; lose consciousness, faint;

also, experience a temporary loss of memory; to stop being conscious.

2. The extinguishing or concealment of all visible lights, usu. as a precaution

against air raids.

3. A period of failure of all electrical power, sometimes caused by an unusually

heavy demand for electricity by those using the system.

Many definitions were provided by The Free Dictionary and many Czech

equivalents were found in the dictionaries. The reason for listing this idiom into

partial correspondence category is the equivalent “mít okno”, provided by

Fronek’s and Hais and Hodek’s dictionary. The rest idioms belong to non

correspondence with a non-idiomatic equivalent.

Color derived.

61

black(en) sb’s eye (for him) Bočánková: (black sb’s eye) dát komu do zubů, do držky Fronek: (black sb’s eye) udělat komu monokl, modřinu pod okem.

Cowie: Hit sb in the eye and so make it black and bruised; punish or assault sb.

Oxford: Hit sb in the eye and so make it black and bruised; punish or assault sb.

No definition was found in The Free Dictionary.

Fronek’s equivalent belong to non correspondence with a non-idiomatic

equivalent, because it does not provide an idiomatic equivalent.

Color derived.

blacken sb’s name Fronek: utrhat komu na cti.

Oxford: Make someone’s character (though idle gossip etc) seem worse than it

really is.


Not color derived.

blackjack Fronek: 1. černá pirátská vlajka; 2. jedenadvacet (hazardní hra); 3. AM zabiják (kůží obalený kus

železa). Hais, Hodek: 1. (pův. kožená) veliká nádoba

(na pití); 2. pirátská vlajka; 3. AM zabiják (obušek…); 4. kart. jednadvacet (hazard.

hra); 5. miner. tmavý sfalerit; černý

uhelný jíl.

62


1. A leather-covered bludgeon with a short, flexible shaft or strap, used as a hand

weapon.

2. Games A card game in which the object is to accumulate cards with a higher

count than that of the dealer but not exceeding 21. Also called twenty-one, vingt-

et-un.

3. Sphalerite.

The reason for listing the idiom into this category is the equivalent “zabiják”,

found in both Fronek’s and Hais and Hodek’s dictionary.

Color derived.

put up a black Hrách: udělat chybu/botu; zmýlit se.


Hrách’s equivalent “udělat botu” is idiomatic and that is the reason for listing the

idiom into this category.


Not color derived.

63

WHITE

bleed white, bleed sb white, bleed a person white, bleed somebody white

Fronek: (bleed sb white) pustit komu žilou, připravit koho o velké peníze, oškubat koho. Hais: (bleed a person white) pustit žilou komu, vyždímat, vysát (finančně, pracovně). Hrách: (bleed somebody white) oškubat koho, stáhnout z koho poslední košili; připravit koho o všechny peníze (př.). Kroulík: přijít o všechno.

The Free Dictionary: (Bleed someone white) also “bleed someone dry” tv. to take

all of someone’s money; to extort money from someone.

Czech equivalents “pustit komu žilou”, “oškubat koho” and “stáhnout z koho

poslední košili” belong to this category, the rest equivalent belong to non

correspondence with a non-idiomatic equivalent.

Not color derived.

white bread, white-bread

Fronek: 1. (white bread) bílý chléb 2. white-bread) AM pej. tradiční,

úzkoprsý. Hais: (white bread) bílý chléb (pšeničný). Hrách: (white bread) AM slang. cnostný, dobře vychovaný, ale nudný, nezajímavý člověk; suchar.

The Free Dictionary: (American) white-bread people or things are ordinary and

boring, and often those that are typical of white, American people.


Color derived.

64

3.4. Non correspondence

Non correspondence – with a non-idiomatic equivalent

The English idiom has no idiomatic equivalent in Czech language, the

meaning is expressed by a non-idiomatic expression, word, collocation.

BLACK

a black mark Fronek: minus, minusovy bod; Hais, Hodek: křížek (u jména, jako výraz nespokojenosti).

The Free Dictionary: If you get a black mark, people think that something you

have done is bad and they will remember it in future; an indication of censure or

failure.

Wood: An indication or expression of disapproval or of dissatisfaction.


Color derived.

be black and blue, black-and-blue;

Fronek: (be –) být samá modřina. Hais, Hodek: (black-and-blue) celý modrý (zhmožděný po úderech).

The Free Dictionary: Mod. bruised, physically or emotionally.

Color derived.

65

be in a black mood; black mood

Fronek: (be in a –) být deprimován. Hais, Hodek: zasmušilost, melancholie.


Color aspects: negativity, sadness.

Not color derived.

be in the black, get into the black

Fronek: 1. prosperovat, být rentabilní, mít

aktivní saldo na kontě, nebýt (už) prodělečný, (national economy) mít aktivní platební bilanci;

2. (get into the black) zažít vynášet, nést zisk. Hais, Hodek: ekonomicky prosperovat, být aktivní, nemít dluhy Hrách: být v plusu; být výdělečný, vynášet.

McCaig, Manser: Having money in one’s account; not in debt.


1. If a bank account is in the black, it contains some money, and if a person or

business is in the black, they have money in the bank and are not in debt.

2. Fig. not in debt; in a financially profitable condition. (As opposed to in the red.)

3. Mod. financially solvent; profitable; not in debt. (From a practice of listing

expenses in red and income in black.)

4. In a situation in which you are earning more money than you are spending.


Color derived.

66

beyond the black stump Fronek: austr daleko od ruchu města/civilizace.

No English definition.

Color aspects: negativity. (attached to “black stump”)

Not color derived.

black beauty Hais, Hodek: AM slang. Amfetamin.


Not color derived.

black-coated Hais, Hodek: 1. (– worker) úředník, pracovník

v administrativě; 2. úřednický, pracující v

administrativě.

The free Dictionary: (Industrial Relations & HR Terms) Brit (esp. formerly) (of a

worker) clerical or professional, as distinguished from commercial or industrial.

Color derived.

black despair Fronek: naprosté zoufalství. Hais, Hodek: čirá beznaděj.


English dictionaries do not consider this expression to be idiomatic, but it matches

the criterion for idiomatic phrases for this thesis – the color is not used in the

traditional sense, its meaning is defined together with the other lexeme from the

phrase.

67

Although it might seem that negativity and sadness are aspects of the color,

these aspect belong to “despair”.

Not color derived.

black dog Hais, Hodek: přen. rozmrzelost, deprese, kocovina.

The Free Dictionary: Depression or melancholy.


Not color derived.

black eye; black eyed; get a black eye; give sb a black eye

Bočánková: zlý/zakaboňený kukuč Fronek:

1. modřina pod okem, monokl;

2. (get a –) inkasovat monokl;

3. (give sb a –) udělat komu modřinu pod okem Hais, Hodek:

1. černé oko; 2. modřina kolem oka, podlité

oko, “monokl”; 3. přen. porážka, ostuda, špatná

reputace; 4. (black-eyed) jsoucí s podlitým

okem, s “monoklem” kolem oka/na oku.

McCaig, Manser: An area of severe bruising and swelling around the eye.


1. Lit. A bruise near the eye from being struck.

2. Fig. Harm done to one's character.

3. n. A moral blemish; an injury to the prestige of someone or something.

4. A mark of shame, a humiliating setback.

68

As far as Hais and Hodek’s definition “černé oko” is concerned, this idiom would

be listed in full correspondence category. In this situation, however, it seems that

Hais and Hodek use word to word translation in the definition (that is, they really

mean an eye that is black). Their other translations as well as the equivalents

given by other dictionaries list this idiom into this category.

Color aspects: negativity. Specific aspect: humiliation.

Color derived.

Black Friar Hais, Hodek: dominikán.

The Free Dictionary: A Dominican friar.

Color derived.

black gown Hais, Hodek: 1. talár 2. jezuitský misionář u

západoamerických indiánů


This idiom was found in Hais and Hodek’s dictionary only.

Color derived.

black gungeon Hrách: nark. zvláště silný druh marihuany.

No English definition was found. This idiom was found in Hrách’s dictionary only.

Color derivation – unknown.

69

black hole Hais, Hodek: 1. voj. slang. díra, basa, báň,

loch, (vězení); 2. hvězd. černá díra

The Free Dictionary: A wretched prison cell or other place of confinement.

Hais and Hodek’s equivalent “černá díra” has no influence on the categorization

because that phrase is not taken as an idiom but as a term from physics.


Color derived.

black ice Fronek: náledí, ledovka. Hais, Hodek: náledí (zejm na vozovce).

The Free Dictionary: A thin, nearly invisible coating of ice that forms on paved

surfaces.

Color derived.

black labour Hais, Hodek: odbory neuznávaný, stávkokazecký.

No English equivalent was found.



Not color derived.

70

black letter Hais, Hodek: 1. fraktura, švabach; 2. psaný nebo tištěný

švabachem; 3. zastaralý; 4. tištěný černým tiskem.

The Free Dictionary: A heavy typeface with very broad counters and thick

ornamental serifs.

Hais and Hodek’s equivalent “zastaralý” is not listed in The Free Dictionary. The

idiom was found in Hais and Hodek’s dictionariy only.

Color derived.

black letter day Hais, Hodek: 1. obyčejný (nesváteční) den,

všední den; 2. nešťastný den.

No English definition was found. This idiom was found in Hais and Hodek’s

dictionary only.

Color aspects: sadness, tragedy.

Not color derived.

black letter edition Hais, Hodek: inkunábule.

No English definition was found. This idiom was found in Hais and Hodek’s

dictionary only.

Color derived.

71

black light Hais, Hodek: černé světlo (neviditelné ultrafialové n. infračervené záření).

The Free Dictionary: Invisible ultraviolet or infrared radiation.

Color derived.

Black look, give (sb) a black look.

Fronek: (give sb a black look) zle si koho poměřit. Hais, Hodek: (he gave me a black look) nepřátelský, zarputilý, zlý. Kroulík: nevraživý, zlý pohled.

Cowie: A look of strong dislike, disapproval, resentment etc.

McCaig, Manser: An angry or disapproving expression on a person’s face.

The Free Dictionary: (give –) Scowl at someone, look disapproving.


Not color derived.

black mouth Hais, Hodek: 1. černohubý tvor; 2. klevetník.

No English definition was foud, this idiom was found in Hais and Hodek’s

dictionary only.

Although Hais and Hodek provide an equvilalent “černohubý tvor”, this idiom is

not listed in full correspondence, because in this case the phrase is not taken

idiomatically (it is really a creature that has a black mouth).


Not color derived.

72

black petrol Hais, Hodek: nezákonný, ilegální, pokoutní, nezákonně získaný.


This idiom was found in Hais and Hodek’s dictionary only and it lacks a part of

this lexical (and logical) meaning in the Czech version. Nevertheless it is listed in

this category because the word “black” is not used in its typical, dictionary sense

and a conventional use is suggested.

Color aspects: illegality/fraud.

Not color derived.

black propaganda, radio Hais, Hodek: nepřátelský (nepřítelem prováděný).

The Free Dictionary: Propaganda that does not come from the source it claims

to come from.

There is a significant difference of the meaning in the two variations, when

compared Hais and Hodek’s definition with the definition taken from The Free

Dictionary.


Not color derived.

black rock Hrách: sušené vepřové.


This idiom was found in Hrách’s dictionary only.

Color derivation – uncertain.

73

black spot Fronek: 1. (on a road) místo častých

dopravních nehod; 2. (unemployment) nejvíce

postižená oblast Hais, Hodek: místo častých dopravních nehod.

Oxford: A place or area where unpleasant and unwanted things occur regularly

and without much chance of improvement e.g. epidemics, crime, traffic

accidents, unemployment etc.

Color aspects: negativity, tragedy.

Not color derived.

black stranger Hais, Hodek: úplně cizí člověk.



Not color derived.

black stuff Hrách: AM nark. opium

The Free Dictionary: Regional drug slang for heroin.

There is a slight difference in the Czech and English definition: Hrách talks about

opium which is the source for heroin. This, however, is no obstacle against listing

this idiom into this category since these two terms are often interchanged.

Not color derived.

74

black tie, black-tie, black-tie crowd, black-tie dinner

Fronek: 1. černý motýlek; 2. (black tie crowd) lidé ve

smokingu, vyšší kruhy, elegantní společnost;

3. (black tie dinner) inf banket, na kterém je povinné společ.obl nebo smoking. Hais:

1. černá vázanka, černý motýlek; 2. (black-tie) smoking; 3. (black-tie) oblečený do

smokingu.

No English definition was found to “black-tie crowd” and “black tie dinner”.

English expression “black tie” and its Czech equivalents “černý motýlek” and

“černá vázanka” are not idiomatic.

“Black-tie crowd” and “black tie dinner” are idiomatic since a significant shift of

meaning takes place.

Color derived.

blackball, black ball.

Fronek (blackball): 1. hlasovat proti; 2. hlas proti, veto;

Hais: (black ball) 1. černá hlasovací kulička; 2. přen. hlas proti; 3. v .hlasovat a p. proti; 4. hlasovat černou kuličkou; 5. vetovat; 6. (pohrdavě) přehlížet,

ostrakizovat.


1. A negative vote, especially one that blocks the admission of an applicant to an

organization.

75

2. To vote against, especially to veto the admission of.

3. To shut out from social or commercial participation; ostracize or boycott.


Color derived.

blackbirder, blackbirding, blackbird.

Fronek: otrokářská loď. Hais, Hodek:

1. (blackbirder) otrokář, obchodník s otroky; otrokářská loď;

2. hist. zajatý černoch na otrokářské lodi;

3. (blackbirding) obchod s černými otroky.

The Free Dictionary: (Blackbird) (formerly) to kidnap and sell into slavery.

Color derived.

blackbrowned Hais, Hodek: zamračený.



Not color derived.

blackguard, blackguardism, blackguardly

Bočánková: lotr/ničema. Fronek:

1. holomek, gauner, lump, ničema;

2. (blackguardism) darebáctví, ničemnost, gaunerství. Hais, Hodek:

1. hulvát, ničema, holomek, lump; sprosťák;

76

2. chovat se hulvátsky, tropit povyk;

3. nadávat do hulvátů (komu), sprostě mluvit, sprostě nadávat (komu);

4. hulvátský, darebácký, sprostý; 5. (blackguardism) hulvátství,

darebáctví, sprostota, sprosťáctví;

6. (blackguardly) hulvátský, sprostý (language); hulvátsky, sprostě.

The Free Dictionary: (blackguard)

1. A thoroughly unprincipled person; a scoundrel.

2. A foul-mouthed person.


Not color derived.

blackhead Fronek: uher, pupínek. Hais, Hodek: pupínek, uher.

The Free Dictionary: A black-tipped plug of fatty matter clogging a pore of the

skin, esp. the duct of a sebaceous gland.

Color derived.

77

blackleg Fronek: 1. stávkokaz; 2. amer podvodník, fixlař; 3. dělat stávkokaze.

Hais, Hodek: 1. profesionální hráč hazardních

her, podvodník; 2. hl BR stávkokaz; 3. toxemie (nemoc ovcí a

dobytka); 4. stávkokazecký; 5. dělat stávkokaze proti.


1. To act against the interests of a trade union, esp by refusing to join a strike.

2. One who cheats at cards; a cardsharp; a swindler.


Not color derived.

blackly Hais: 1. zlostně, rozzlobeně; 2. smutně; nepřívětivě; 3. kniž. podle.


1. Darkly; gloomily.

2. Wickedly.

3. Angrily.

Color aspects: anger, negativity, sadness.

Not color derived.

78

blackmail, blackmailer.

Fronek: 1. vydírání, vyděračství; 2. vydírat; 3. přinutit koho k čemu

vydíráním; 4. (blackmailer) vyděrač.

Hais, Hodek: 1. vydírání, vyděračství; 2. vydírat koho/na kom. 3. (blackmailer) vyděrač.


1. (Blackmail) extortion of money or something else of value from a person by

the threat of exposing a criminal act or discreditable information.

2. (Blackmailer) a criminal who extorts money from someone by threatening to

expose embarrassing information about them.

Color aspects: negativity, fraud.

Not color derived.

blackness Fronek: 1. čerň, černost, černá barva; 2. tma, temnota; 3. (- of mood) melancholičnost.

Hais, Hodek: 1. černost, čerň, tma, temnota; 2. přen. zkaženost, ohavnost.

The Free Dictionary: no definition was found. The dictionary provides a great deal

of definitions of “black”, but “blackness” is not mentioned.

Only Fronek’s “melancholičnost” and Hais and Hodek’s “zkaženost” and

“ohavnost” are taken into consideration.

79


Not color derived.

blackwater fever Hais, Hodek: med. těžká forma malárie (charakterizovaná černou močí).

The Free Dictionary: A serious, often fatal complication of chronic malaria,

characterized by the passage of bloody, dark red or black urine.

Color derived.

look black, things are looking black

Fronek: Vypadá to špatně. Hais, Hodek:

1. dívat se ponuře, mračit se 2. (-at) podívat se zle na

Kroulík: vypadat ošklivě.

The Free Dictionary: Appear threatening or unfavorable.

Kroulík’s equivalent does not match the English definition of the idiom or the

equivalents provided by Hais and Hodek.


Not color derived.

put the black on a person Hais: (slang) vydírat koho Hrách: (put the black on sb) S vydírat koho.



Not color derived.

80

say black in white in one’s eye Kroulík: (he cannot say black in white in my eye) nemůže říct proti mému charakteru to nejmenší.


Not color derived.

81

WHITE

in the white Hais, Hodek: tech.: dřevo/kov nenatřený, bez ochranného nátěru.


Not color derived.

white alert Hais, Hodek: signál pro konec (leteckého) poplachu.



white area Hais: do plánu nepojatá oblast.

The Free Dictionary: an area of land for which no specific planning proposal has

been adopted.

Color derived.

white coat Hais, Hodek: stav. poslední vrstva omítky.



82

white gold Fronek: 1. bílé zlato; 2. fig. bílé zlato, cukr.

Hais, Hodek: 1. bílé zlato (slitina zlata s

platinou, paladiem a niklem); 2. pře. cukr, bavlna.

The Free Dictionary provides only a definition for the literal meaning of the

phrase: Any of various white lustrous hard-wearing alloys containing gold

together with platinum and palladium and sometimes smaller amounts of silver,

nickel, or copper.

Both Fronek’s and Hais and Hodek’s dictionaries provide equivalents to (apart

from the literal meaning) figurative meaning of the expression.

Color derived.

white-handed, white hands

Hais, Hodek: (white-handed) 1. Mající bílé ruce, 2. Mající čisté ruce, nevinný,

poctivý, čestný. (white hands)

1. bílé ruce, bílé ručičky (které nekonají špinavou práci);

2. mající čisté ruce, nevinný, poctivý, čestný


Color aspects: honesty, innocence, positivity, purity.

Color derived.

83

white hat Hrách: AM slang. řádný člověk, klaďas.

The Free Dictionary: n. A good guy; a hero. (From Western movies where you

could tell the good guys from the bad guys by the color of their hats: white for

good, black for bad.)


Color derived.

white heat Fronek: 1. bílý žár; 2. fig. vášeň.

Hais, Hodek: 1. hut. bílý žár; 2. přen. vášeň, vroucnost.


1. The temperature or physical condition of a white-hot substance.

2. Intense emotion or excitement.

Color derived.


white-headed Fronek: 1. bělovlasý (person); 2. bělohlavý (animals).

Hais, Hodek: 1. bělovlasý 2. velmi oblíbený (př.).

84


1. Having white hair, fur, or plumage on the head.

2. Irish Favorite; darling.

Only Hais and Hodek’s equivalent “velmi oblíbený” is taken into consideration.


Not color derived.

white hope, a (great) white hope

Hais, Hodek: (a great –) přen. člověk, v kterého se vkládají příliš velké naděje.

Cowie: (A great –) a talented person who is thought likely to bring success or

victory.

The Free Dictionary: (Great –) something or someone that is expected to

succeed.

Not color derived.


white knight Fronek: zachránce, rytíř.

The Free Dictionary: (A –) someone who gives money to a company in order to

prevent it from being bought by another company.


Not color derived.

85

white knuckle, white-knuckle, white-knuckler

Hrách: (white-knuckle) AM slang. vypjatý, plný napětí a obav.


1. (White knuckle) to survive something threatening through strained

endurance, that is to say, holding on tight.

2. (White-knuckle) mod. of a person who is made tense by something such

as flying or sailing.

3. (White knuckler) a tense and nervous person

4. (White knuckler) a suspenseful event, such as an exciting movie or a rough

airplane flight.

Not color derived.

white label Hais: 1. bílá nálepka; 2. první výlisek gramofonové

desky (např. pro autora, recenzenta).



white lie, little white lie

Bočánková: lež z nouze/soucitu, milosrdná lež. Fronek: nevinná lež, milosrdná lež. Hais: nevinná nebo dobře míněná lež, pia fraus. Hrách: milosrdná lež. Kroulík: milosrdná lež.

86

Cowie: A lie that does no harm and is merely more convenient, or polite, than

telling the truth.

McCaig, Manser: A lie that does no harm and is merely more convenient or polite

than telling the truth.


1. A lie that you tell in order not to upset someone.

2. An untruth told to spare feelings or from politeness.

3. (Little –) Fig. a small, usually harmless lie; a fib.

Color aspects: innocence, positivity.

Not color derived.

white-livered Fronek: zbabělý, ustrašený (arch). Hais: zbabělý.

The Free Dictionary: Lacking in spirit or courage.


Not color derived.

white man Hais, Hodek:

1. Běloch 2. Poctivý člověk, čestný muž.


“Běloch” is not taken as an idiom.

Color aspects: goodness, honesty, positivity.

Color derived.

87

white meat Fronek: bílé maso. Hais, Hodek: bílé maso; AM slang. herečka.

The Free Dictionary: Light-colored meat, especially of poultry.

This idiom is listed in this category because of Hais and Hodek’s equivalent

“herečka (actress)”, because “bílé maso” is a translation of the phrase that is not

taken as an idiom.

Color derived.

white plague Fronek: plicní tuberkulóza.

The Free Dictionary. Tuberculosis, especially of the lungs. Plague for any higly

infectious disease, white for the person’s pale face.

Color derived.

white space Hrách: slang. volno (př.)



white spirit Fronek: lakový benzín. Hais, Hodek: tech. lakový benzín (ředidlo na barvy a laky).

The Free Dictionary: A colorless liquid obtained from petroleum and used as a

substitute for turpentine.

Not color derived.

88

white Sunday Hais, Hodek: svatodušní neděle


Not color derived.

white tie, white tie dinner

Fronek: 1. společenský oděv; 2. večeře, při které je povinné

společenské oblečení. Hais, Hodek: bílý motýlek (vázanka), frak.


1. White bow tie worn as a part of men's formal evening dress.

2. Men's formal evening dress.

Hais and Hodek’s equivalent “bílý motýlek (vázanka)” was not taken into

consideration.

Color derived.

white wash, whitewash, whitewasher

Bočánková (whitewash): lakovat na růžovo, dělat lepším než je, idealizovat. Fronek (whitewash): 4. ututlání, zatušování; 5. ututlat, zatušovat; 6. (whitewash sb) dělat koho

lepším, než je. Hais, Hodek (white wash):

1. přen. natření na bílo, omlouvání, přikrašlování, krytí (nepořádků, přehmatů apod.).

2. v. přen. lakovat na bílo (nepořádky, přehmaty), lakovat na růžovo, omlouvat,

89

přikrášlovat, krýt (koho/co), stavět Potěmkinovy vesnice;

3. 3 hl. AM hovor. sport. porazit s čistým skóre (neztratit jediný bod).

4. (whitewasher) přen. lakýrník na bílo/růžovo, přikrašlovač.


1. n. A mixture of lime and water, often with whiting, size, or glue added, that is

used to whiten walls, fences, or other structures.

2. n. Concealment or palliation of flaws or failures.

3. n. A defeat in a game in which the loser scores no points.

4. v. To paint or coat with whitewash.

5. v. To conceal or gloss over (wrongdoing, for example).

6. v. Sports To defeat (an opponent) in a game in which the opponent does not

score.

Aspects: fraud, illegality.

Color derived.

Whitehall Fronek: Br (site of main governmental offices) britská vláda Hais, Hodek:

1. (ulice v Londýně, sídlo vládních úřadů) britská vláda;

2. přen. byrokracie.


1. (Placename) a street in London stretching from Trafalgar Square to the Houses

of Parliament: site of the main government offices.

90

2. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) the British Government or its central

administration.

Color derived.

whiteness Fronek: 1. bělost; 2. bdělost.

Hais: 1. bělost; jasnost (pigmentu),

bledost (pleti); 2. přen. nevinnost, čistota,

poctivost; 3. bílá hmota.


1. The quality or state of being white.

2. Paleness.

3. Purity.

4. A white substance.

Color aspects: honesty, innocence, positivity, purity.

Not color derived.

whiter than white Fronek: pokrytecký, svatouškovský. Hrách: příliš krásný, aby byl skutečný; pokrytecký, svatouškovský.

The Free Dictionary: someone who is whiter than white is completely good and

honest and never does anything bad.


Not color derived.

91

Non correspondence – no equivalent

No Czech equivalent to the English idioms was found in any of the dictionaries

that were studied.

BLACK

(as) black as one is painted; devil is not so black as he is painted; paint black

McCaig, Manser: (Not as black as one is painted.) Not as bad as people say or

seem to believe.


1. (As black as one is painted) As evil as described. (Usually negative.)

2. Devil is not so black as he is painted. Prov. No one is as bad as people say he

is. (Implies that people are saying too many bad things about someone.)

3. (Paint black) Represent someone or something as evil or harmful.

This idiom was listed in Hais and Hodek, no equivalent was provided.


Not color derived.

black collar worker,

black-collar workers

The free Dictionary:

1. (Black collar worker) A term which formerly referred to those whose collars

were often black by the nature of their jobs—e.g., miners (coal) and oilworkers.

92

It has morphed and now refers to creative types (artists, graphic designers, video

producers) who have made black attire their unofficial uniform.

2. (Black-collar workers) people, usually affected, who wear black all the time.

Color derived.

little black book

The Free Dictionary: A personal telephone directory listing girlfriends, or, less

often, boyfriends. n. a book containing the names and addresses of

acquaintances who are potential dates, usually put together by men.

Color derived.

(the) pot calling the kettle black

The Free Dictionary: A situation in which someone accusing another person of a

fault is also guilty of the same fault.

Color derived.

put/set (something) down in black and white

The Free Dictionary: Fig. to write down the terms of an agreement; to draw up

a written contract; to put the details of something down on paper. (Alludes to

black ink and white paper.)

See “black and white”.

Color derived.

93

swear black and blue

The Free Dictionary: (Australian) to say that something is completely true,

especially when someone does not believe you.

Not color derived.

the new black

The Free Dictionary: Used to say that something is the most popular or

fashionable colour or thing at the moment.

Color derived.

94

WHITE

blue and white

The Free Dictionary: A police car; the police. (Patterned on black and white and

used in cities where the police cars are painted blue and white.)

Color derived.

like the white on rice

The Free Dictionary: As close as anything can be. (also “as the white on rice”.)

Color derived.

lily-white


1. (British, American & Australian) completely white in colour;

2. (American & Australian) completely honest (often negative);

3. (American & Australian) having only white people near, often because of a

wish to keep black people away.

Color aspects: honesty, negativity.

Color derived.

95

put/set (something) down in black and white

The Free Dictionary: Fig. to write down the terms of an agreement; to draw up

a written contract; to put the details of something down on paper. (Alludes to

black ink and white paper.)

See “black and white”.

Color derived.

talk on the big white phone

The Free Dictionary: in. To vomit into a toilet.

Color derived.

the men in the white coats

The Free Dictionary: (Humorous) doctors who look after people who are mentally

ill.

Color derived.

white man’s disease

The Free Dictionary: n. The inability to jump in basketball.

Color derived.

the white man’s grave

The Free Dictionary: no definition.

96

Oxford: The name formerly given to various (tropical) regions with climates

and/or endemic diseases to which white men could not easily adjust.

The idiom was found in Oxford dictionary only.

Color derived.

97

3.5. Results of the analysis

Table 1. Correspondence – idioms with “black”.

Idioms in total 77 (100%)

Full correspondence 17 (22%)

Key lexeme correspondence 3 (4%)

Partial correspondence 9 12%

Non correspondence With a non-idiomatic equivalent

41 (53%)

Non correspondence No equivalent

7 (9%)

As can be observed in Table 1, the corpus consisted of 77 idiomatic

phrases with the lexeme “black”. As was already explained, the real number of

the phrases was higher, but lexically similar phrases with similar semantic

meaning (usually different parts of speech) were dealt with as one idiom.

More than half of the idioms (41 idioms, 53%) belong to non

correspondence with a non-idiomatic equivalent, which means that Czech

language has an equivalent for each idiom from this category, but this equivalent

is not idiomatic.

The second biggest group is full correspondence with 17 idioms (22%)

with “black”. This means that to almost one quarter of the idioms there is a Czech

idioms which can be labeled as the “the same”.

The rest categories contain significantly lower number of idioms. 9 idioms

(12%) belong to partial correspondence category, which contains idioms with the

98

same semantic meaning but with a difference on formal and lexical level in

English and Czech.

7 English idioms with “black” (9%) were listed in non correspondence with

no equivalent category, which shows that there are only few color idiomatic

expressions with no Czech equivalent.

Only 3 idioms (4%) belong to key lexeme correspondence (the same

semantic meaning, difference on formal and/or lexical level, but the key lexeme

“černý” is present in the Czech version).

Table 2. Correspondence – idioms with “white”.

Idoms in total 54 (100%)

Full correspondence 13 (24%)

Key lexeme correspondence 5 (9%)

Partial correspondence 2 (4%)

Non correspondence With a non-idiomatic equivalent

26 (48%)

Non correspondence No equivalent

8 (15%)

26 idioms (48%) with “white” are listed in non correspondence with a non-

idiomatic equivalent, so almost one half of the idioms have only non-idiomatic

equivalents.

The second biggest category is full correspondence with 13 idioms (24%).

The rest categories have significantly less entries – non correspondence

with no equivalent (8 idioms, 15%), key lexeme correspondence (5 idioms, 9%)

and partial correspondence (2 idioms, 4%).

99

Color derivation of color idioms

The idioms are also divided into three groups according to the meaning of

the color in them. Some idioms are “color derived” (the color is used in the

dictionary meaning), some are “not color derived” (the color is used in an

absolutely figurative sense) and there are several idioms where it was impossible

to define whether the idiom is color derived or not.

Table 3. Color derivation. Idioms with “black”.

Category Total number

Color derived

Not color derived

Color derivation uncertain

Full correspondence 17 6 11 0


3 2 1 0

Partial correspondence 9 6 3 0

Non correspondence with a non-idiomatic

equivalent

41 17 23 1

Non correspondence with no equivalent

7 5 2 0

Table 4. Color derivation. Idioms with “white”.

Category Total number

Color derived

Not color derived


Full correspondence 13 9 4 0


5 5 0 0

Partial correspondence 2 1 1

Non correspondence with a non-idiomatic

equivalent

26 11 11 4

Non correspondence with no equivalent

8 8 0 0

100

These tables sum up the results of the findings about the color derivation

of the idioms. The tables show that color derivation is not directly connected to

the correspondence of the idiom in English and Czech language. For example

among idioms belonging to non correspondence with a non-idiomatic equivalent

about half of the idioms are color derived and the other half are not.

101

Aspects of color in color idioms The assumption was that there is a set of qualities typical of each color in

idiomatic expressions. The analysis lists these qualities as “aspects”, the findings

are presented below.

Table 5. Aspects of color in idioms with “black”

Color aspect Number of occurrences

Negativity 32

Evil 9

Illegality/fraud 9

Sadness 6

Tragedy/disaster 5

Death/morbidity 4

Anger 1

Humiliation 1

Table 6. Aspects of color in idioms with “white”

Color aspect Number of occurrences

Positivity 14

Honesty 4

Goodness 3

Innocence 3

Rareness 3

Illegality/fraud 2

Negativity 2

Cowardice 1

Fear 1

Purity 1

There was no clear distinction between illegality vs fraud (both idioms with

“black” and “white”), tragedy vs disaster and death vs morbidity (idioms with

“black”) in many expressions, so these aspects are listed together as one aspect.

102

As can be observed from Table 5 and table 6, the by far the most frequent

aspects of idioms are “negativity” (in idioms with “black”) and “positivity” (in

idioms with “white”).

There is one more aspect (that was not listed in Table 5 and Table 6) which

needs a special attention and that is “oppositeness”. This aspect is typical of

idiomatic expressions that contain both “black” and “white”.

Idioms that contain oppositeness:

black and white

pretend/say that black is white

In these idioms “black” and “white” are in direct contrast.

There are also another occurrences of oppositeness, not in single idioms but

in pairs of idioms with contrastive meanings.

black list vs white list

black magic vs white magic

black sheep vs white sheep

This proves that black and white are often perceived as opposite in idiomatic

expressions.

103

4. Conclusion

The aim of the thesis was to create a corpus of English idioms that contain

“black” and “white”, to compare the idioms to their Czech equivalents and to find

color aspects in color idiomatic expressions.

The corpus of idioms that contain “black” and “white” in their English

variations consisted of 131 expressions. The real number of the expressions was

higher, because lexically similar idioms with the same semantic meaning (typically

different parts of speech) were, for the purpose of the analysis, considered to be

one idiom (see the theoretical background).

Idiom correspondence

The idioms were divided into categories according to the correspondence

between the English idioms and their Czech equivalents. Four categories were

used, one of them with two subcategories: full correspondence, key lexeme

correspondence, partial correspondence and non correspondence (with two

subcategories – non correspondence with a non-idiomatic equivalent and non

correspondence with no equivalent).

Many English idioms have multiple Czech equivalents. If that is the case,

the idiom is listed in a category that has the highest correspondence.

The results of the comparison can be observed in Table 1 and Table 2 (in

previous chapter). Table 7 brings an overview of the results and comments on

them.

104

Table 7. Correspondence – all analyzed idioms.

Idioms in total BLACK (77)

WHITE (54)

BLACK and WHITE

(131)

Full correspondence

17 (22%)

13 (24%)

30 (23%)


3 (4%)

5 (9%)

8 (6%)

Partial correspondence

9 (12%)

2 (4%)

11 (8%)

Non correspondence

with a non-idiomatic equivalent

41

(53%)

26

(48%)

67

(51%)

Non correspondence

with no equivalent

7

(9%)

8

(15%)

15

(11%)

Table 7 provides an overview of the results of the comparison. The table

shows that (based on the studied dictionaries) there are no major differences

between English idioms with “black” and “white” as far as the correspondence to

their Czech equivalents is concerned.

Full correspondence, the category with the highest correspondence,

contains 30 English idioms. This means that at least one Czech equivalent with

the same semantic meaning and the same formal and lexical level was found to

almost one quarter (23%) of English idioms with “black” and “white”.

Key lexeme correspondence, the second highest correspondence in the

analysis, contains 8 English idioms with “black” and “white”. This number is not

very high and it show that only 6% of English idioms have Czech equivalents that

use the same key lexeme (English “black” = Czech “černý”, English “white” =

105

Czech “bílý”), but use different lexemes and/or differ on formal level. Together

with full correspondence category, 29% of English idioms with “black” and

“white” have at least one Czech idiomatic equivalent that uses the key lexeme.

67 idioms belong to non correspondence with a non-idiomatic equivalent

category, which means that more than a half (51%) English idioms have only a

non-idiomatic equivalent in Czech language.

11 English idioms (8%) belong to partial category, which contains idioms

that do have at least one idiomatic equivalent in Czech language, but this

equivalent does not contain the main lexeme “černý” and “bílý”.

The last category, non correspondence with no equivalent, contains

English idioms that – according to studied dictionaries – have no Czech

equivalent. Only 15 idioms (11%) are listed in this category.

The differences between the results of English idioms with “black” and

“white” are inconclusive. The biggest difference is between the results in partial

correspondence: 12% of English idioms with “black” and only 4% of English

idioms with “white” are listed in this category. However, these results are based

on a very low number of idioms, 9 and 2, respectively.

This comparison shows that a great majority (89%) of English idioms with

“black” and “white” have at least one equivalent in the Czech language, although

a completely different structure and/or lexemes must be used in many cases.

106

Color derivation

Another analyzed issue was “color derivation” of the idioms. The idioms

were divided into two groups according to the use of color.

Among color derived idioms the role of the color in the expression is

derived from its original meaning (but the expression must be idiomatic). In not

color derived idioms the color is used completely figuratively.

Table 8 – color derivation of color idioms.

Category Total number (100%)

Color derived

Not color derived


FC: black

FC: white

17

13

6 (35%)

9 (69%)

11 (65%)

4 (31%)

0 0

KLC: black

KLC: white

3 5

2 (66%)

5 (100%)

1 (33%) 0

0 0

PC: black

PC: white

9 2

6 (66%)

1 (50%)

3 (33%)

1 (50%)

0 0

NCE: black

NCE: white

41

26

17 (41%)

11 (42%)

23 (56%)

11 (42%)

1 (2%)

4 (2%)

NCN: black

NCN: white

7 8

5 (71%)

8 (100%)

2 (29%) 0

0 0

FC= full correspondence; KLC=key lexeme correspondence; PC=partial correspondence, NCE=non correspondence with a non-idiomatic equivalent; NCN=non correspondence with no equivalent.

107

As can be observed from Table 8, the results of the two groups of the

idioms are quite different. Especially the idioms from full correspondence

category differ to a great deal – while 9 out of 13 idioms with “white” are color

derived (69%), the number among idioms with “black” is only 6 out of 17 (35%).

These results show that as far as color derivation of color idioms is

concerned, it cannot be assumed whether there exists or there does not exist a

Czech equivalent to the English idiom (or how correspondent the equivalent is).

Color aspects in color idioms

The attempt was to find qualities (or “aspects” as they are called in this

thesis) that the colors typically keep in idiomatic expressions.

As far as idioms with black are concerned, the unambiguously most

frequent aspect is “negativity” with 32 occurrences in 77 collected idioms. This

means that 42% of idioms with “black” are negative. The second most frequent

aspects are “evil” and “illegality/fraud”, both with 9 occurrences (12%). Than

there is “sadness” (6 occurrences, 8%), “tragedy/disaster” (5 occurrences, 6%),

“death/morbidity” (4 occurrences, 5%) and “anger” with “humiliation” (both 1

occurrence, 1%).

The most frequent color aspect of idioms with white is “positivity” with 14

occurrences in 54 idioms (26%). The second most frequent (with its frequency

remarkably lower) is “honesty” (4 occurrences, 7%) followed by “goodness”,

108

“innocence” and “rareness” (all 3 occurrences, 5%). “Illegality/fraud” and

“negativity” have 2 occurrences each (4% each) and “cowardice”, “fear” and

“purity” 1 occurrence each (2%).

The very last matter that was analyzed was oppositeness that was found

in idioms with “black” and “white”. It was proved that “white” and “black” are

often perceived as opposite in idiomatic expressions.

Interesting is that although both “negativity” (idioms with “black”) and

“positivity” (idioms with “white”) are by far the most frequent aspects, there is a

significant difference in the numbers – while 42% of idioms with “black” are

“negative”, only 26% of idioms with “white” are “positive”.

The results of the analysis proved that there are some color aspects typical

of each color in idiomatic expressions. Above all it is “negativity” among idioms

with “black” and “positivity” among idioms with “white”.

It is more probable for an idiom with “black” to be “negative” than

“positive” and vice versa. On the other hand, one must not rely on that when

they come across a new, unknown idiom. Regardless of this probability, the

meanings of idioms remain unpredictable.

109

Sources of idioms

Bočánková, M., and Kalina M. (2004). Česko-anglický frazeologický slovník.

Praha: Ekopress.

Cowie, A. P. et al. (1993). Oxford dictionary of current English idioms. Volume 2,

Phrase, clause & sentence idioms. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Čermák, F. et al. (2009). Slovník české frazeologie a idiomatiky. 2, Výrazy

neslovesné. Praha: Leda.

Čermák, F. et al. (2009). Slovník české frazeologie a idiomatiky. 3, Výrazy

slovesné. Praha: Leda.

Dictionary, Encyclopedia and Thesaurus – The Free Dictionary. Farlex, Inc. Web.

20 Sept. 2015. http://thefreedictionary.com

Fronek, J. (2000). Comprehensive Czech-English dictionary. Praha: Leda.

Fronek, J. (2006). Comprehensive English-Czech Dictionary. Praha: Leda.

Hais, K. and Hodek, B. (1991). Velký anglicko-český slovník. I. A-E. Praha:

Academia.

Hais, K. and Hodek, B. (1993). Velký anglicko-český slovník. IV. T-Z. Praha:

Academia.

Hrách, T. (1998). Sbírka anglických idiomů & slangu. Praha: Argo.

Chromečka, J. (2004). Stručný česko-anglický slovník frází a idiomů. Ostrava:

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Kroulík, B., and Kroulíková, B. (1993). Anglicko-český slovník idiomů [a

ustálených rčení metaforických, obrazných a lidových]. Praha: Svoboda

– Libertas.

http://thefreedictionary.com/

110

McCaig, I. R., and Manser, M. H. (1986). A Learner’s dictionary of English idioms.

Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Wood, F. T. (1979). Dictionary of English colloquial idioms. London: Macmillan

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Summary

This thesis is an analysis of English idioms and their Czech equivalents.

The thesis works with a corpus of English idioms that contain “black” and “white”

and it compares these idioms to their Czech equivalents as they were collected

from various monolingual and bilingual dictionaries. The aim of the thesis is to

find the differences and similarities between the English idioms and their

idiomatic and non-idiomatic equivalents in Czech language. The thesis focuses

on colors used in the expressions and it tries to find whether there are any

aspects typical of the use of a particular color in idiomatic expressions.

The first part of the thesis is the theoretical background that provides an

overview of idiomaticity as it is described and discussed in dictionaries, general

and specialized sources. Based on the findings one definition of an idiom, suitable

for the purpose of the thesis, was created. Then the methodology of creating the

corpus of the idioms is described and the methods of the analysis are explained.

The second part of this thesis is the analysis. Collected idioms are

categorized according to the correspondence between their English and Czech

variations. Each idiom is also labeled as “color derived” or “not color derived”

based on the function the color has in it and color aspects in the idiom are listed.

The conclusion, which is the third part of the thesis, provides the results

of the analysis and comments on them.

This thesis shows the similarities and differences between English and

Czech color idiomatic expressions and presents aspects and qualities typical of

black and white in idioms.

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Resumé

Tato magisterská diplomová práce je srovnáním anglických idiomů a jejich

českých ekvivalentů. Práce pracuje s idiomy, které v angličtině obsahují “black”

a “white”, a porovnává je s jejich českými ekvivalenty, které byly sesbírány z

mnoha výkladových i překladových slovníků. Cílem práce je nalézt podobnosti a

rozdíly mezi anglickými idiomy a jejich ekvivalenty v češtině. Tato práce se

zaměřuje na úlohu, kterou v idiomech hrají obsažené barvy a snaží se zjistit, zdali

je možné obecně říct, že určitá barva se v idiomech chová určitým způsobem.

První částí této diplomové práce je přehled problematiky ve slovnících a

obecných a specializovaných dílech z oblasti jazykovědy. Na základě tohoto

přehledu byla vytvořena definice idiomu, která je použitelná pro účely této práce.

Poté byla popsána metodika vytváření korpusu idiomů a jejich následné řazení

do kategorií. Nakonec byl představen způsob hledání rolí, které v idiomech hrají

samotné barvy.

Druhou částí práce je samotná analýza. Sesbírané idiomy byly rozřazeny

do kategorií podle toho, jak k sobě mají blízko v angličtině a češtině. Každý idiom

byl také označen jako „color derived“ (odvozený od barvy) nebo „not color

derived“ (neodvozený od barvy) podle toho, jakou roli v něm ona barva zastává.

Dále je u každého idiomu uveden význam, který v něm barva má.

V závěru, který je třetí částí této práce, jsou přehledně seřazeny a

okomentovány výsledky analýzy.

Tato diplomová práce ukazuje podobnosti a rozdíly mezi anglickými a

českými idiomy a popisuje, jak se bílá a černá v idiomatických výrazech chovají.

Colors in Idiomatic Expressions - IS MUNI

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