From: mdhangton@gmail.com   
      
   On Tuesday, September 23, 2014 10:09:47 AM UTC-4, John W Kennedy wrote:   
   > On 2014-09-23 13:05:07 +0000, William Vetter said:   
   >   
   >   
   >   
   > > Is there a book that cross-references equivalent idioms between   
   >   
   > > different languages?   
   >   
   > >   
   >   
   > > for example   
   >   
   > > like a fish out of water   
   >   
   > > is in French   
   >   
   > > like a fish upon the straw   
   >   
   > >   
   >   
   > > and   
   >   
   > > a knife in the back   
   >   
   > > is in Chinese languages   
   >   
   > > wounded by a sniper's arrow   
   >   
   >   
   >   
   > I wouldn't regard either one of those as equivalent. One means "lost   
   >   
   > and confused", the other means "dying";   
      
   As far as I can tell   
   comme un poisson dans l'eau   
   means in one's element (being the opposite of like a fish out of water)   
   while   
   comme un poisson sur la paille   
   would mean depressed, since   
   heureux comme un poisson sur la paille   
   is a saying in their army, and   
   sur la paille   
   generally means depressed or poor.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)