Is there an idiom in English

There are a host of words which describe the character of such an individual--that he displays honesty, probity, integrity; for the life of me, i can't recall a single expression which covers it. There is a biblical reference, Good Samaritan, but that is usually applied to helping someone in immediate need.

For your second sentence above, which by the way displays your increasing ability with the language:

John picked up $1000 in the street, but he did not pocket it; rather, he managed to find the person who had lost it, and give back his money.

I suspect that you simply forgot to put the word "not" in the first clause, which is letter perfect. Seek and find are not synonymous, seeking is the action which leads to finding. You're doing very well, and i congratulate you.

I'll try to think more about what you're asking, and see if i can come up with an expression such as you are seeking. Maybe i can find it.

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Maybe something about Boy Scouts? They are generally synonymous with doing the good, helpful thing. Like:

"John picked up $1000 in the street, but he did not pocket it; rather, he was a good little Boy Scout and managed to find the person who had lost it, and give back his money."

Hmmm, that lends an arch, somewhat sarcastic tone that probably isn't what you're going for.

Setanta's revision of your sentence is very clear, is there a reason you need an idiom?

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There are some idioms which one might use, but they are rather specific in their application. One would be "honest to a fault"--which is rather cynical, though, as it implies that the act of honesty weren't really necessary. Another would be "as honest as old Abe," which refers the U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, who used "Honest Abe" in his election campaign. There is a popular story, which i cannot say for certain is true, that Lincoln once walked several miles to return a nickel (five cents, 1/20th of a dollar) to a man he had mistakenly short-changed.

I should also note that i changed your clause "he managed to seek the loser" to "he managed to find the person who had lost it" because the word loser is mostly commonly used in idiomatic American to mean someone who is not a worthwhile companion, someone who is unsuccessful, and therefore a "loser" in the game of life. You should probably avoid using that word, it has negative connotations.

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"As honest as the day is long"

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I asked my teen-aged son if he knew any and he said -"Is it cash or in an envelope?"

"A wad of cash sitting on the ground... criminal activities... not bad 'to liberate it.'"

He continued: "If it were in a wallet then it would have ID and you'd use it to find the owner." He didn't have any good slang terms though, sorry to say.

Using "loser," as you did, Oristar, to describe the person who lost the money, was "kicking him while he was down" -- another idiom. It was a good joke, really, but hard on the fella.

Most likely you could be called a good Samaritan or a Boy Scout or a good scout, yep.

You could be said to be a Boy (or a Girl) Scout "earning his patch" or "got my Brownie Patch" in reference to scouting achievement awards. There's also "I did my good deed today." A Catholic might say "I earned a jewel in my heavenly crown," but I don't think Protestants would say that. Wink

"She Did a Good Deed" might be in a newspaper lead line but here's another... "tug-of-war".

Quote:

2/4/2004 6:49 PM
By: Capital News 9 web staff

A coffee pot in a hotel room turned out to be a pot of gold for one traveler -- who found $3,100 stashed in the filter basket. But now Joan Kubricky is finding herself in a tug-of-war with a national hotel chain over the money.

The Queensbury woman found the cash in her room at the Holiday Inn in Missoula, Montana, in September. She immediately turned it over to the hotel's general manager, who said the money would be kept in escrow until its rightful owner came forward.

Kubricky said she was told that if no one claimed the money within 90 days, it would be hers.

That deadline has passed, but now the company has decided to keep the money. Officials said it's company property, since it was found in a room.

Kubricky is contemplating legal action.

Quote:

Edward McLaughlin, who recently made headlines after he found $4,095 on a West Broadway sidewalk and returned it to its owner, has adopted the nickname "One Honest Man" and is embarking on a campaign evoking the images of Abe Lincoln.

A man might be called "Honest Abe" or compared to him if he found & returned money. A girl, even a woman, might be called a "Pollyanna in reference to a very good girl of children's literature and a Disney movie."

Check the Pollyanna book on Amazon and you'll find that somebody refers to "a jewel in her crown of heaven." LOL (I tried to make an URL link but it wouldn't work which seemed odd.)

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I'd call him a Good Samaritan. It's after a story in the Bible about a man from Samaria who helped a stranger who had been beaten and robbed. The point was, he didn't have to help, but he did so, out of the goodness of his heart.

"Pollyanna" connotates someone who is TOO good, who sugarcoats everything and can't see the downside of anything. This would be someone who not only returned the money but added some of their own to the amount!

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"Japanese"

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Or Canajun . . . or Swiss . . .

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Information:

The BBC last year did an experiment with hidden cameras, and made a TV programme about it.

They had some people pretend to drop and "lose" a wallet with money in it, in different places, and filmed what happened next, to see whether the actors would have their money given or sent back to them. They did this in several cities in the UK, and the top place for honesty was.... Glasgow, in Scotland!

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The same experiment was done here in the States. Seattle was Most Honest - 100% of the people "finding" wallets made a good effort to return them...

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Where I grew up; we would call John a "do-gooder"... which is not good English, but I believed recognized by all. "He did his good deed for the day" might be more appropriate.

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I think I was too tired to proofread the thread before posting. Thanks Setanta for adding the missing "not" there. And of course, your rewriting might probably inspire me to think that the word "loser" should be carefully used, because of the possibly negative meaning buried in it.

(Okay, Setanta and Piffka have proved my surmise. Thanks)

Good Samaritan is one of the best expressions for such a behavior, esp. for Christians.

(Piffka recommended Good Samaritan, but she didn't pointed out this should be used particularly for Christians, including Protestants and Catholics. As for boy/girl scout, "increasing Brownie points" is also a choice?)

Sozobe, because there is a famous idiom in Chinese language, so I suspect there is also one in English.

Wy, would an atheist accept the word "Samaritan"?

Craven's Japanese is absolutely sarcasm. And come on Setanta.

McTag, and Wy, go Glasgow and Seattle!

OCCOM, I'd like to accept "do-gooder" as a slang.

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Oristar, can you give a literal translation of the Chinese idiom? Maybe it'll give us ideas.

Many phrases from the Bible have entered the vernacular -- "turn the other cheek" comes to mind. One doesn't need to be Christian to "accept" the phrase or word, it has become part of the language and conveys meaning independent of the religious origin.

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The original Chinese idiom is:

拾金不昧

Okay, now I translate this idiom word for word (but not translate it to a fluent commendatory)

The first Chinese character means: Pick up;
The second: money;
The third: not;
The fourth: hide or secrete.

********************************************
Thanks sozobe, "Samaritan" has also been independent of Bible origin?

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Hmm. The only one that comes to mind immediately has the opposite meaning; "Finders keepers." (Sometimes "finders keepers, losers weepers.")

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So your mind has played a trick with you. Very Happy

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oristarA wrote:

Thanks sozobe, "Samaritan" has also been independent of Bible origin?

Good Samaritan will be recognized by all. Less scholarly people will not even know its origin... but will understand its meaning anyway. I don't believe its use would offend anyone.

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Be careful about the phrase "do-gooder". This has, at least in my mind, pejorative connotations.
It can be classed with "busybody"- which is, someone who involves themselves in the affairs of others.
"Do-gooder" can be a negative description.

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Oristar wrote:

(Okay, Setanta and Piffka have proved my surmise. Thanks)

Good Samaritan is one of the best expressions for such a behavior, esp. for Christians.

(Piffka recommended Good Samaritan, but she didn't pointed out this should be used particularly for Christians, including Protestants and Catholics. As for boy/girl scout, "increasing Brownie points" is also a choice?)

Increasing Brownie points? A Brownie used to need a certain number of points in order to graduate to Girl Scout and begin earning independent badges. All of these are awards.

Was your surmise, Oristar, that there was no specific idiomatic phrase for finding & returning money or that "Good Samaritan" was the most likely? I think, we don't do have idiomatic phrases as often in English as we have metaphoric titles....a different kind of short-hand.

It is interesting that so many who start out good end up being annoying. As Wy said about Pollyanna... she would have added to the money. The Good Samaritan was said to have not only helped the stranger by the side of the road, but to have also given him two coins.

The Samaritan was a pagan, btw, in the Christian parable which may explain how the word has grown beyond its roots. There is a popular RV (recreational vehicle) group called The Good Sam's Club... I don't believe it has any Christian ties at all. Good Sam Club

A Science Fair project from -Bad Samaritan- a blogsite.

Quote:

So we placed pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, fifty cent pieces and dollars on a bank envelope inscribed with the words "Not Yours." We then counted passersby with camera in hand. Each trial must have a minimum of 100 subjects who'd either pass up the found money or pick it up. I took pictures of the latter while Ian recorded the results.

We (had) a three hour stretch spent crouched in my wife's car. First of all, the vast majority of folks didn't even notice the money there in plain sight. They were too caught up with talking on cell phones or looking at lottery papers. Secondly, kids were far more likely to notice than adults. And the most joyous recipient was this guy who snagged a penny. Go figure. Lastly, those who did pick up the cash invariably rifled threw the envelope and then threw it on the ground in disgust when they found only paperclips inside.

Here's what we found: Of 17 people who noticed the money, 1 picked up the penny. Two picked up the nickel but nobody went for the dime. Four snagged the quarters but just two the fifty cent piece. Nobody went for the dollar coin. Yet, when we switched it to a dollar bill, traffic picked up. Six out of seventeen people grabbed it, all with ****-eating grins on their faces.

So we did show a correlation between denomination and the likelihood that someone would bend down and pick it up---albeit a tenuous one. One could easily postulate that the dime was too small to register in anyone's mind and that they were too unfamiliar with the 50 cent piece or dollar coin.

It's no leap to conclude that for all our faults and folly, people are basically honest. They saw the sign and took it at face value: this doesn't belong to me. Like Sally in A Charlie Brown Christmas, they just want their fair share. They just want what's coming to them. Now for those who believe in the inherent goodness of mankind, this is most encouraging. For a cynic like me, it's downright dumbfounding.

Bad science, funny story.

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Is there an idiom in English

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