Sentence: He was too much of a chicken to fight.

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

“He was too much of a chicken to fight.”

what does this sentence mean? thanks.

2

Hi Vaok,

chicken: as an adjective means coward / to act in a cowardly manner. So I suppose that your guy was afraid to fight in something…But If you need more accurate answer, you need to provide context. Where is it from and what’s going on…

Best Regards

PeaceMaker

3

Thank you very much, PeaceMaker.

4

Hi everybody,

Are there any other set expressions resembling the expression given by Vaok? May I say, for example, “He was too little of a lion to fight.”?

5

Hello!!

surly it mean that some one is afraid to fight!!!

6

Dear Abir,

Please, mind the Third Person Singular and capital letters - you should have written “Surely, it means that someone is afraid to fight”.

Good luck.

Yuri :slight_smile:

7

Hi Yuri,

Your idea of the ‘lion’ as an image doesn’t work, I’m afraid.

Alan

8

Thanks, Alan,

Nice to meet you again. Sorry, I have written the First Person Singular instead of the Third P. S. I was not too attentive.

Yuri :oops:

9

Well, I suppose you could call somebody a cowardly lion, in reference to the Cowardly Lion from the Wizard of Oz.

But as Alan said, lions in general are stereotyped as courageous or brave.

10

Hi Skrej,

Nice to meet you too. Surely I’ve given not too good example. In Russian proverbs the lion is stereotyped as the most brave and respectful of animals. But there are some similies in English which I am confused about, for example, they say “as clever as a monkey” but in Russian a monkey is not considered to be clever. Some Russian stereotypes differ from English ones.

11

Hi, Yuri,

It’s fairly well documented that different animals are perceived differently in various cultures. I actually find it quite interesting to read how the same animal is perceived in different cultures. English does look at the monkey as clever, but also mischievous or a trickster, so there is a slightly negative angle to the monkey.

The Lion in the Wizard of Oz is something on an anomaly; as I stated English tends to perceive the lion as brave, strong, or courageous, but in the story the Lion is looking for his courage. He’s atypical of the stereotype. If you’re not familiar with the story, it revolves around a lost girl, and some strange traveling companions she meets. Each member of the group is looking for something - Dorthy seeks a way home, The Tin Man wants a heart, the Scarecrow needs a brain, and the Cowardly Lion is looking for courage.

12

Thank you, Skrej,

The Lion, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and Toto are familiar to me. As for my daughter, she reads and re-reads the books of Lynam Frank Baum - they are her favourites. As for difference in mentality of different nations and great variety of cultures - the more they differ the more interesting to study them. For example, many of my friends are the Buryats and we respect and share our traditions and cultures. It is not too bad to have more holidays, isn’t it?

See you on the Forum.