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2.3 Factors Contributing to the Differences
The factors that result in the above meaning differences between animal-related idioms with a same key word, in another word, the relation of non-correspondence, can be found in fields like social culture, religions and myths, working and living styles, etc.
2.3.1 Differences in Traditional Culture
In a quite long term, traditional culture has had invisible but significant influence on the creation and formation of language, therefore, differences in the meaning of idioms from different countries can also reflect unique characteristics of their traditional culture. Take ox as an example. Ox, “牛” in Chinese, has its typical image as being docile, hardworking and tough, as indicated in the idioms like “老黄牛(a person who serves the people wholeheartedly)”, “孺子牛(a person who serves the children like a willing ox)”. Meanwhile, it can also represent stubbornness in idioms like “牛脾气(stubbornness)”, “牛劲(obstinacy)”, “钻牛角(to split hairs)”. However, ox in English idioms cannot be so positive, and most bear the negative meaning more or less. “Ox is stupid and inflexible in ‘bull- headed’. ‘Irish bull’ is ridiculous and illogical expression. ‘A bull in a china shop’ refers to one who is obtrusive and clumsy (Zhang Juwu, 2008: 82).”
2.3.2 Differences in Religions and Myths
As the collection of unique civilization of each nation, religions and myths affect the meaning of idioms given by people. Still take “dragon” as an example. Chinese “dragon”——“龙”, is a Son of Heaven. In the Heaven, “龙” governs the whole world; in human world, “龙” embodies itself as the emperor who has infinite power. Then, it is no wonder that almost all idioms concerning “龙” in Chinese are positive. However, “‘dragon’ is some kind ferocious and multi-headed monster in English-speaking countries. It is said that a king in the history named Cadmus sowed the teeth of one dragon which he just had killed, afterwards the teeth rose from the earth, then grew into full-armed soldiers who intended to kill the king in turn. For this reason, ‘to sow dragon’s teeth（埋下祸根）’ is used to mean to sow the seeds of misfortune(Zhang Ruolan, 2003: 92).” Nowadays, “dragon” in the sentence “The woman in charge of the accounts department is an absolute dragon(母夜叉)” refers to a woman who behaves in an aggressive and frightening way.来~自^751论+文.网www.751com.cn/
2.3.3 Differences in Working and Living Styles
To a certain extent, human’s history is the history of working and producing. In such a process, the role that animals can play has a say in the meaning given to them by human. In ancient China, people often turned to ox when they did some laborious work for ox was regarded as being strong, as reflected in the idiom “身壮如牛(as strong as an ox)”. While in English speaking countries, ox’s part of helping people with laborious work was taken by horse. Therefore, according to the relation of half-correspondence, “as strong as a horse” has the same meaning as “身壮如牛”. This case is also an example for relation of half-correspondence.
Idioms with “dog” as the key word can illustrate the relation of non-correspondence reflected by working and living styles. As a matter of fact, “狗”, Chinese “dog”, has little function in people’s daily working, so “狗(dog)” often takes on the image of idling about all day long and being deplorable. Chinese idioms like “狐朋狗友 (disreputable gang)” and “丧家之犬(stray dogs)” are cases to the point. On the contrary, “dog” plays an important role as a pet in people’s daily life in English-speaking countries, where “people tended to highly appreciate the living attitude of striking a balance between work and rest. Hence, people could feel safe and entertained with the company of adorable pets like ‘dog’. In turn, ‘dog’ shows up in English idioms in a pretty positive figure such as that in ‘love me, love my dog(爱屋及乌)’, ‘top dog（身居要职之人）’(Tang Youjun, 2012: 48).”