Does this sound native? If not, make it one please

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His wife said:"If a man's word is credible, a pig will be able to climb up a tree."

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Type: Question • Score: 4 • Views: 1,329 • Replies: 11

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@oristarA,

There are many colloquial expressions covering this, as you may well imagine, and the choice of an appropriate one may be more a matter of register.

Some suggestions:

"If he's telling the truth, I'm a monkey's uncle."

A man tells the truth once in a blue moon. (very infrequently)

"It'll be a cold day in hell when he speaks the truth"

and so on.

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@McTag,

Thanks

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Another common expression is "when pigs fly".

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@Ceili,

Ceili wrote:

Another common expression is "when pigs fly".

I love this.

His wife claimed: "A man will tell truth when pigs fly."

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@oristarA,

It would be much better if she said "That man will tell the truth when pigs fly. The way it's written, it sounds like it applies to all men.

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@roger,

roger wrote:

It would be much better if she said "That man will tell the truth when pigs fly. The way it's written, it sounds like it applies to all men.

That's it! The wife is a virago who attacks any man's character.

Woman is an animal of sentiment; man is an animal of reason.

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@oristarA,

oristarA wrote:

Woman is an animal of sentiment; man is an animal of reason.

Do you really believe this?

1 Reply

@contrex,

contrex wrote:

oristarA wrote:
Woman is an animal of sentiment; man is an animal of reason.

Do you really believe this?

Not always. At least Madame Curie was a woman of reason.

BTW: Can we rewrite "Woman is an animal of sentiment; man is an animal of reason" as "Woman is an animal of sentiment, and man of reason"?

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@oristarA,

oristarA wrote:

BTW: Can we rewrite "Woman is an animal of sentiment; man is an animal of reason" as "Woman is an animal of sentiment, and man of reason"?

I would prefer (grammatically, I consider the idea expressed an absurd generalisation) "Woman is an animal of sentiment, and man one of reason"

Sometimes "creature" is better than "animal" if we are talking about humans in this way.

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@contrex,

contrex wrote:

oristarA wrote:
BTW: Can we rewrite "Woman is an animal of sentiment; man is an animal of reason" as "Woman is an animal of sentiment, and man of reason"?

I would prefer (grammatically, I consider the idea expressed an absurd generalisation) "Woman is an animal of sentiment, and man one of reason"

Sometimes "creature" is better than "animal" if we are talking about humans in this way.

Yeah, I should have used creature.

Thank you.

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@oristarA,

oristarA wrote:

roger wrote:

It would be much better if she said "That man will tell the truth when pigs fly. The way it's written, it sounds like it applies to all men.

That's it! The wife is a virago who attacks any man's character.

If that's so, it would be better expressed

Quote:

Men will tell the truth when pigs fly

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Does this sound native? If not, make it one please

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