A comparative analysis of Polish and English idioms containing words from bird class

Abstract

The principle aim of the article is to shed light on the differences between Polish and English idioms containing words from BIRD class. Among the illustrated examples some of the Polish instances include “mieć kaczy chód”, “głupia gęś” or “ptasi móżdżek” in comparison to their English equivalents. Additionally, the English cases concerning idioms outlined in the article involve “to take to something like a duck to water, to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs” or “to count one’s chickens”, etc. The article consists of three main parts. The first one presents a brief description of the phraseological unit in general as well as it constitutes an attempt to classify different types of the units and an abundance of the terminology connected with the phenomenon. Moreover, the next section explains in detail what exactly the term “idiom” denotes according to diverse authors, i.e. Seidl, Weinreich, etc. Furthermore, in the last part of the article the idioms with words from the class BIRD are analysed. Not only particular examples of the idioms are compared with their equivalents in another language but also the origin of the presented idioms is clarified. Finally, all the conclusions are listed in the summary.