Hi all of you,
I was wondering if any of have ever heard of the expression ‘Shards bring luck’, if you have is it a correct one and is it used often in English?
Detlef
i think you just need to know what shards are. Though i’m not quite sure, i think it’s an idiom and as you know idioms in english are very picturesque so just sketch it in a paper by images.
Hi Vietanhpham Winter,
Thank you for trying to help me, but I have the feeling that it is not really an English idiom, but rather a Dutch proverb, which some non-native speakers translate literally into English. I haven’t found the expression in any of my English dictionaries. By the way a shard is a piece of broken pottery, glass, metal or even shrapnel. Did you know what shards were? Well, if you didn’t, you know now.
There’s also a proverb: ‘to cry over spilled/spilt milk’. For example, someone breaks a beautiful vase and starts to lament on what has happened, in that case you could say: ‘Oh, please, don’t cry over spilled/ spilt milk.’ or ‘It’s no use to cry over spilled/spilt milk’ since the situation cannot be changed.
Thanks again
Detlef
Oh yeah shards bring luck. People usually expect that shards are useless and not worth keeping but maybe they’re very useful. I think this expression implies that dont be hurry to decide to do something before assessing, looking over it carefully though it may seem useless at first.
why are you so polite like that? You’re making me ashamed as i must confess that i’ve never said thanks to any person more than twice or even twice at a time. Thank you so much for the politeness to such a stupid teenage student like me.
HI VM,
This time I think you’re wrong. The implication here is that someone broke a vase and the shards or the broken pieces bring luck, but I’m still convinced that it is a Dutch proverb which non-native speakers translate it literally!!
Detlef
Hi Detlef, I googled the phrase and came up with a wiki page about the German wedding custom of Polterabend. The phrase is mentioned there. I have never heard this expression in English.
Well, what I haven´t known was that in ancient times shard was another expression for pottery. In this sense it´s obvious that people who own full shards are lucky.
But there is another colloquial meaning I know. Often when people (mainly little children) have broken a glas or a mirror and are sad it´s used to comfort them by predicting them good luck because they have had their daily bad luck yet.
Please, VM, don’t humiliate yourself like that! By the way, simply because you consider yourself as a stupid teenage student, there’s no need for me to be uncivil. Moreover, not a single member on this forum has ever said that you are stupid, only you have! VM, nobody is stupid, neither are you! So, I wish you’d pull yourself together and go on with your life!
Thanks Foah!