It seems that only Russian babushkas have the guts to say what they think.
It seems that only Russian babushkas have the guts to say what they think.
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"He lies like a rug" is an amazing phrase.
Alas, "lies like a rug" is entirely an English idiom, and is not what she said.
She used "lies like a grey gelding," which is tantamount to calling him "too old and incompetent to be trusted to do the work required of him."
Thanks. I appreciate the extra context and learning. I did wonder about it translating so well but I'd never heard "lies like a rug" before either.
There are lots of phrases in Ukrainian meaning the same:
'Lies as a moskal', 'to carry a moskal', 'He lies, until he grinds his teeth' etc.
Yeah, it's one of those difficulties with translating things. Do you pick a similar idiom in the translated language, or do you translate literally and leave your audience guessing there was an idiom, but not necessarily sure what was meant.