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Ия Вишнева

March 24, 2023 17:00
Word story – as cool as a cucumber

Word story – as cool as a cucumber

as cool as a cucumber (idiom) – very calm and relaxed, especially in a difficult situation
Definition – Macmillan Dictionary

Когда речь заходит о людях, которые сохраняют спокойствие и не теряют самообладание даже в самых сложных ситуациях, в английском языке может быть использована идиома as cool as a cucumber. Фразеологизм as cool as a cucumber описывает человека, способного ясно мыслить, не нервничать и не сбиваться с толку под давлением стресса.

История происхождения идиомы as cool as a cucumber

Происхождение идиомы связано с удивительным свойством огурцов. Даже в жаркую погоду температура внутри огурца примерно на 11 градусов ниже, чем температура воздуха вокруг! Звучит невероятно, но данный факт был научно доказан в ходе исследования, проведенного в 1970 году в Австралии.

Первоначальный вариант фразы as cold as cucumbers впервые встречается в пьесе английских драматургов Фрэнсиса Бомонта и Джона Флетчера «Месть Купидона», 1608: «young maids were as cold as cucumbers».

Современный вариант as cool as a cucumber впервые встречается в книге стихов английского поэта, драматурга и баснописца Джона Гея ‘Poems on Several Occasions’.

My passion is as mustard strong;
I sit all sober, sad;
Drunk as a piper all day long,
Or like a March-hare mad.
Round as a hoop, the bumpers flow;
I drink, yet can't forget her;
For, though as drunk as David's sow,
I love her still the better.
Pert as a pear-monger I'd be,
If Molly were but kind;
Cool as a cucumber could see
The rest of the womankind.
John Gay, New Song on New Similies, 1732

Кстати, слово cool в идиоме as cool as a cucumber означает «невозмутимый, уверенный в себе, спокойный», а не «прохладный», как это могло бы показаться.

Варианты перевода идиомы as cool as a cucumber

невозмутимый,
совершенно невозмутимый, 
спокойный,
собранный,
не теряющий хладнокровия,
демонстрирующий невозмутимость хладнокровие;
и в ус не дует, и глазом не моргнет

Примеры употребления идиомы as cool as a cucumber

She walked in as cool as a cucumber, as if nothing had happened.
Cambridge Dictionary
You can hardly be held responsible for Darrow waltzing in, cool as a cucumber, and demanding thousands of pounds.
Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s Dictionary
John: "...I wouldn't for a moment suggest that there'll be anything between you, but it's inevitable that ordinary persons should think there was." Constance (as cool as a cucumber): "I've always thought that ordinary... persons had more sense than the clever ones are ready to credit them with."
W. Somerset Maugham, The Constant Wife, act 3, 1926
‘...I saw the Monster's head.’ ‘Weren't you terribly thrilled?’ ‘Not a bit. I was as cool as a cucumber.’
Compton Mackenzie, Hunting the Fairies, chapter 3, 1949
Тема: Grammar & Vocabulary       Теги: Wordstory, Etymology

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