Feelings and emotions are a complicated process taking place in human so idioms and proverbs expressing feelings and emotions is so plentiful that I only give some typical study on idioms and proverbs expressing feelings and emotions as followings.
2.2.1.Love:
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Love is an emotion that affects to human life as well as their action. As we know, there are many idioms and proverbs express love between person and person, love in couples, family and community. They all make human life better because they contain advice, lessons from generation to generation.
Therefore, when studying on idioms and proverbs expressing emotions and feeling, we cannot pass a typical human emotion that is love.
a. ‘ Love makes the world go round’
Love not only makes a person have a good relationship with other, but it also helps the world become peaceful if everybody loves together like as the proverb ‟love makes the world go round‟. When people show respect and consideration for one another, the world is a better place. Thus, love plays an important role in our life and dominates thinking and acts with other person.The proverb shows the truth in life that is an advice.
Eg:
John:What‟s wrong , Kumi?why are you so upset?
Jane: It‟s those new neighbors of ours. They play their stereo so loud at nigh that I can‟t sleep.I‟ve had it. I‟m going to go over there and give them a piece of my mind.
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John:Hold it. You won‟t accomplish anything by hollering at them.
You‟re all worked up now. Why not wait until you cool down a bit?
Don‟t you know that love makes the world go round?
Jane:I agree that the world would be a better place to live if people respected and loved each other, but right now….
John: Not another word! Let‟s try it my way. I‟ll bake some cookies, and later on we‟ll take them next door and introduce ourselves. We can casually mention the problem after we get to know our new neighbors.
I‟m sure they‟ll cooperate.
(Harry Collis,2001:111) In general, the proverbs give advice to people living in a world, a community and a society who have no blood relationship needing to love and help together .
b.’ Absence makes the heart grow fonder’:
Idioms and proverbs expressing love not only show advices or lessons, but they also mention truths or rules. They not only show love in community like
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as the above mentioned proverbs , but they also express love in couples. For example, the proverb “ Absence makes the heart grow fonder”. We can see that there is any word expressing love in the proverb but we can understand the proverb to show love. Thus, metaphor is used in the proverb when people use the word “ heart” to show “ love” so the proverb is extremely meaningful.
Therefore, we may say absence makes the heart grow fonder when couples or people are apart they often feel more affectionate toward each other.In general, the proverb can apply for couples, members in family or people in community
Eg:
Linda:Say, Peter. I haven‟t seen you with Lillian these days. Where has she been hiding out?
Peter: She‟s been traveling overseas for the past two months. To tell you the truth, I never thought I‟d miss her so much.
Linda:They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder.
Peter: It‟s true in my case, anyway. I guess I was taking Lillian or granted. I didin‟t realize how much she means to me until she was gone.
Linda: I think most people react the same way. When two people are separated, they often feel more affectionate toward each other. Tell me.
When is Lillian due back?
Peter: In a couple of weeks. I can hardly wait.
(Harry Collis,2001:110) In general, the proverbs give an affective rule between people and people, family or friends in love when people donot meet each other for a long time, their sentiment for each other are extremely deep.
c.’Out of sight, out of mind’:
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Like as the above mentioned proverb, the proverb ‟out of sight, out of mind‟
also is about couple love; However, its meaning is contrast with the above mentioned proverbs. Thus, when a person says that out of sight, out of mind, it means that he usually misses his partner‟s image and memory. It means that people usually have no deep sentiment with each other when they live far from other. Therefore, if the above proverbs 'absence makes the heart grow fonder' shows the deep love, this proverb shows the superficial love.
Futhermore, the proverb give an experience that we should not live far away if we have no good condition to live nearby each other, that makes our partner feel lack of sentiment ; as a result, out of side out of mind. Moreover, the short of sentiment makes people feel out of sight out of mind.
Eg:
-Ever since I moved, none of my old friends have gotten in touch with me. It's out of sight, out of mind with them, evidently.
-My electric bill somehow got moved to the bottom of the stack on my desk, and I forgot all about paying it. out of sight, out of mind.
(http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com)
In general, the proverb contains the truth in life that people feel out of sight out of mind when they have to live far away in many situation. Therefore, the proverb can apply only for couple love; it realizes that the proverb is above
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love or human sentiment although the proverb does not contain the word expressing love.
d.’Love is blind’:
Although love is a holy emotion in human life, human will experience bitter,sweet, romantic, sacrifice and ect in love. Besides, human love their partner so much that they becomes blind and foolish in many situations . Therefore, older people give many idioms and proverbs expressing love emotion to advise the person who fall in love. One of them is that love is blind. When anyone falls in love deeply, he or she can not realize the right as well as the wrong and they usually do something foolishly. Besides, people see no faults in the person they love. As a result, they can not know whether their partner is good or bad person and they met unluck in their marriage.
Therefore, the proverb is a valuable lesson for couples.
Eg:
Margot: I just don‟t know how Carolyn has stuck it out with Matt for so many years
Jane: They‟re been married for over thirty years, haven‟t they?
Margot: True, in spite of the fact that he „s such a rude and selfish person.
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Jane:He has been far from the ideal husband, and yet she puts up with him and completely ignores his shortcomings
Margot: No doubt about it, love is blind
Jane: You‟re right. Appearently she loves him so much that she doesn’t see his faults
Margot: Well, I can‟t say the same about my husband. I‟m not blind to his faults, and he‟s not blind to mine! But I think we have a good marriage anyway.
(Harry Collis,2001:102) Thus, as for the above proverbs, the old people gives advice to the youth that couples should not love is blind but should criticize blind love because blind love makes people do something stupidly.
e.’Blood is thicker than water’:
Idioms and proverbs expressing love emotion not only show love in couples but it also mentions the family love. They bring the deep meaning and valuable advice. They advise that members in family have to help and love each other when others have some difficulties, up and down in lifetime.It realizes that people usually use mentaphor like as blood, hands and feet to show the members' sentiment in family or people having native relationship;
especially, affection of brothers, natives always give prominence.For
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example, members of the same family share stronger ties with each other than they do with others , we may say blood is thicker than water.
Eg:
Leo: Hi, Gina. I‟m here to pick up your struck. Remember? You promised to let me horrow it for the day.
Gina:That I did, but I‟m going to have to disappoint you. My brother took the truck this morning to pick up some furniture at a warehouse.
He needed it right away, so I gave it to him.
Leo: Boy, that really leaves me high and dry, but I guess blood thicker than water.
Gina: Don‟t take it personality. This was a very pressing matter.
Besides, he should be back in a couple of hours. Then the truck‟s yours. By the way, I gave my brother the truck because he needed it right away, not because family members share stronger ties with each other than they do with others. I would have done the same for you if you had been in his position.
(Harry Collis,2003:97) f.‘Brothers are like hands and feet’
As we know, idioms and proverbs expressing love usually use mentaphor to show love such as blood, water, hands, feet and so on. Specifically,in some situations, brother or sister has some difficulties in their lifetime, and they need to be shared by others in family , particularly other in family share
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difficulties with his brother or sister, we may say brothers are like hands and feet.
In general, love idioms and proverbs give truth, advice, lessons in life which were handed from generation to generation and it helps the youth have good experience in love. Besides, love idioms and proverbs help people have good behaviour with each other in family as well as community. Therefore, love is a holy emotion that helps human life become more plentiful and beautiful ,we realize that people use metaphor to express love so love idioms and proverbs are attractive and interesting to study.
2.2.2.Happiness:
Happiness is a complicated and abstract emotion that is only found in higher animal like as human but we cannot find the state of happiness in lower animals like as dog, cat, birds and so on. Therefore, when talking about happiness , people have many ways to express their happiness, but not only using the word “ happiness”. For example, they can say they are delighted, enthusiastic, excited about something as well as there are many idioms and proverbs to express degrees of happiness; moreover, there are also many different idioms and proverbs to express the word ”happiness” in many different situations.
a.’Like a dog with two tails’:
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We have many idioms and proverbs to replace the word ”happiness” and to express different degrees of happiness. For example,when we feel excited, delighted, fun, etc and it has different degrees of happiness, we not only say Iam happy because the word happy is a general word. To solve the problem in conversation, I will give some study then. Especially,we may say Iam like a dog with two tails. It means that Iam very happy or extremely happy and the idiom shows the strong emotion in human feeling.For example, when Paul won the first prize, he was like a dog with two tails. It means that Paul was extremely happy because he won the first prize.Therefore, when we translate the phrase‟s meaning, we cannot translate it literally because it brings idiomatic meaning so we cannot separate the proverb‟s individual words to understand the whole‟s meaning.
Eg:
Ben's team won the match. Their manager was like a dog with two tails.
(http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com) In general, the phrase‟like a dog with two tails‟ acts a prepositional phrase and means extremely happy , it also functions as complement in sentence. As we know, although it does not contain the word happy to show human being emotion , we may say its meaning to be happy and it is considered an idiom according to the definition of idiom.
b.‟Walk on air‟:
Great pleasure is denoted by idioms like as „ walk on air‟,‟in seventh heaven‟,‟on cloud nine‟,‟ on top of the world‟,‟over the moon‟ and „thrilled to bits‟. The idiom „walk on air‟ acts an instransitive verb,‟thrilled to bits‟ is an adjective phrase, and the others are prepositional phrases which can function as complement or adverbial in sentences. They are all pure idioms informally used.‟Walk on air‟ decribes the euphoric behaviour of someone who is very happy or related usually because something great but totally unexpected has
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happened to them as in the sentence „She‟s been walking on air ever since she met Julia‟.
Eg:
Sophie has been walking on air since her painting won the first prize (http://www.learn-english-today.com) c. ’In seventh heaven’:
„In seventh heaven‟ denotes the property of feeling very happy about something or enjoying oneself immensely as in the sentence „Gloria was in senventh heaven as she wandered around the shops knowing she could buy whatever she liked‟.
Eg:
Since they got married they've been in seventh heaven.
(http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com) As the above example, the sentence means that they are very happy about their marriage. They are happy as they are in senventh heaven so the idiom uses mentapher to show happy that is similar to be in senventh heaven.
d. ’On cloud nine’:
„On cloud nine‟, synonymous with „euphoric‟, denotes the property of feeling extremely happy, usually for those who are in love or have just got a promotion, etc.,as in example‟He was on cloud nine after winning the competition‟
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Eg:
For a few days after I heard I'd got the job, I was on cloud nine.
(http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com) e.’On top of the world’:
„On top of the world‟ denotes the property of feeling extremely happy and proud, especially because of success, good fortune or something good and material that has happened like as a promotion, winning a lottery.Everything is going well for the one who is on top of the world.Besides, When you are
"on top of the world," you are feeling great. Sometimes you are "on top of the world" because a great thing happened to you; other times it is just because you are feeling great
Eg :
-What a beautiful day, today. I am on top of the world!:
-If you climbed the highest mountain and looked out to see a beautiful view, you would feel great and be on top of the world.
(http://www.goenglish.com) f. ’Over the moon’ :
„Over the moon‟ means „ delighted about something‟.It is informally used in England, but not much in Canada. When someone is over the moon, he/she is euphoric to a greater degree than the degree „ on cloud nine‟ expresses, as in example‟The whole team were over the moon at winning the competition‟
Eg:
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Sheila: Jane, I‟ve got some good news to tell you.
Jane: Really? I can‟t wait.
Sheila: I‟ve just been promoted! I‟m now the head of the Sales Department at our headquarters.
Jane: Congratulations! I‟m so happy for you. You must be over the moon!
Sheila: Thanks. Yes. I guess I am over the moon. You know, I‟ve waited for this to happen for so long. I still can‟t believe that it‟s finally happened.
(http://www.betterspokenenglish.com) g. ’Thrilled to bits’:
„Thrilled to bits‟ mean „ very surprised and very happy about something‟. It refers to a kind of physical feeling of happiness. Something good and unexpected has happened to those who are thrilled to bits. It is used informally and more common than other idioms, exemplified in sentence‟ I was thrilled to bits with the gift from my family/when I received her marks from the research paper‟. In general, all these idioms have the same descriptive meaning with the adjectives denoting the property of feeling extremely happy such as delighted, elated, ecstatic and jubilant.They can be used informally and in literature.
Eg:
So what did your parents say when they heard you were pregnant?' 'Oh, they were thrilled to bits
(http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com) In summary, the above mentioned idioms are popular idioms so people usually use them to express their emotion happiness. They all express
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happiness but their degrees are different each other. Besides, every idiom have different expression from each other.
h.’Happy-go-lucky’ & ‘Tobe in stithches’:
As the above mentions, we can express our happiness by many ways and there are many degrees of happiness,which are used by idioms and make us easier as well as exactter to express our emotion. However, to show a happy person, older people also use idiom when expressing a person always in good humour, we may say happy-go-lucky person. If a person is happy-go-lucky , he is cheerful and carefree all the time.To translate the idiom, we have to use the idiomatic theory of translation because we cannot the idiom‟s meaning basing on individual words.As for the idiom, we can realize the opinon about a happy person that always have laughs a lot in his life, he has not worried about anything and he has always been cheerful, delight, relax, carefull all the time. Therefore, the idiom shows how the happy person is. Besides, a person is considered happy if he laughs a lot in his life-time, he is in stitches.
Eg:
Charlie had us in stitches with all his jokes.
The movie sure was funny. I was in stitches!
(http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com) He's a happy-go-lucky sort of guy - always in good humour.
(http://www.learn-english-today.com)
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As for the above examples, the idiom ‟to be in stitches‟ expresses laughing so much that it is difficult to control oneself. Although the idiom does not include the word showing happiness, we realize that the whole‟s meaning is happiness because a person who is carefree all things in life can laugh easily.
Therefore, laugh is happiness‟s manifestation and a person who is happy and funny he may laugh so between the laugh and the happiness have close relationship.
i.’Stars in our eyes’:
As for the above mentions, happiness not only is expressed by color on face but people also experience their happiness by senses like as ears, eyes and etc.Besides, people realize other people‟s happiness by manifestions on face.
Therefore, old people created idioms and proverbs expressing human feelings and emotions by face‟s color and senses. Happiness is shown by the idiom
‟stars in our eyes‟. As we know, people may say „stars in one‟s eyes‟ to show bright eyes because of happiness. Besides, the idiom „star in one‟s eyes‟
expresses happy because he always sees everything opstimistically. This is the expression that shows anyone‟s happiness from signs on his face, especially eyes so metaphor is used in the idioms
Eg:
She had stars in her eyes when she saw the car she had won
(http://www.learn-english-today.com) Therefore, the idiom „the stars in one‟s eyes‟ shows happiness like as stars in one‟s eyes. Specifically, in the above example, the sentence means that she is very happy when she saw the car she had won and happiness is compared