I can confirm is being pretty hard for a non-native, but it's a great challenge though. In addition to several I knew, I maanged to get a couple more by virtue of trying synonyms, even though I didn't know the original idiom.
It is really tough for a non-english speaker yea, some idioms I had never heard of and some words in the clues are quite uncommon, like skillet and callowness and samovar. But I did manage to get all but two. (which in hindsight I hád heard of... so maybe with a bit more time.. I was allready halfway there with one)
Could you accept "touch wood" for "knocking on wood", since this is the English and Australian version? I know it's not exactly a synonym to the clue but it's still referring to the same thing.
I've never heard the Perspiring ammunition, Ingesting Raven, and Content as a mollusc, idioms before. Are they American phrases that didn't make it across the pond?
Yeah, I tried happy as a slug/snail/octopus before giving up on that one! And even though eating crow was kind of obvious in hindsight, didn't even make a guess at anything as nothing seemed sensible. At least they accepted our "storm in a teacup" as a type-in
Well they must have crossed the pond, and then another bit of water, cause I have heard of them here in the netherlands :P I mean the sweating bullets and happy as a clamb one.
I think both people from the US aswell as people from the UK do not get exposed much to "the other" english. I have noticed it a lot. That one or the other group havent heard of things which even for me as a non-english speaker feel like common knowledge. I guess your own cultures produce enough that you don't need to see stuff from other people :P Plus maybe a bit of pride? We dont need UK/US stuff, we allready got our US/UK stuff.
Over here we sort of get exposed equally to UK and US stuff. Movies are more from the US quizshows and murder mysteries are from the UK , (ow and antique and nature, ow wait that is the on BBC itself, we cant get any american channels though) There arent too many on, but I think sitcoms were more from the US aswell (though that was more the case in the 90s)
You could save about 30% and buy a synthetic diamond. It's often hard to tell the difference between a lab-generated diamond and a natural one, but both are "real" diamonds. (My nephew sells jewelry and he said he has been fooled a few times by synthetics - normally they lack as many flaws as natural diamonds.) They are also making synthetic emeralds and rubies, so I wonder why they all remain so "valuable".
Because gems -- diamonds in particular -- are monopolized by a few large companies who hoard them to create an artificial scarcity. For a long time, De Beers controlled around 90% of the world's rough diamond trade, so they could charge whatever they want. De Beers isn't the only powerful company around now, but they all still stockpile diamonds and sell them off slowly, because they realize that if any of them start selling diamonds at a rate similar to the rate they're actually mined at, the market would be flooded and the whole thing would fall apart.
And of course then there's their marketing, which wholesale created the idea that a diamond is a symbol of love and marriage. Hell, "A diamond is forever" isn't even an idiom, not really. It's a slogan De Beers created in the 1940s.
Perhaps better synonym would be naïve or, unaware or oblivious? But well, if you lack experience, you usually lack knowledge aswell.
Btw I looked up the etymology of callowness, and apparently it is related to the dutch kaal, meaning bald, and callowness refers to be as naked as a babybird, new to life.
Only missed two, but man that was tough, much tougher than the other ones (synonyms and antonyms of bands songs, books etc). A lot of idioms really do not make a lot of sense (ever, in any language not just these), and if it is in another language it is even weirder. Eating crow, what?? I typed it but thought surely that cant be it, but it was haha.
In case anyone was wondering just how it is that clams became the ultimate gauge for happiness, the original (and complete) phrase was, "Happy as a clam at high tide."
I think 100% of people are going to get the point, so it doesn't need to be changed, but Cubic Zirconia is not a synonym for diamond, it's a different thing altogether. It is made of zirconium dioxide, a diamond is pure carbon.
Hardest quiz ever tried. Can't believe that the average score is 13 (over 20). The players must have read through the hints before deciding to take the quiz.
I like these quizzes! Only issue is a lot of them are not technically synonyms, and since I tend to take things literally, that IS a little annoying. Probably just me though, keep having fun!
I think both people from the US aswell as people from the UK do not get exposed much to "the other" english. I have noticed it a lot. That one or the other group havent heard of things which even for me as a non-english speaker feel like common knowledge. I guess your own cultures produce enough that you don't need to see stuff from other people :P Plus maybe a bit of pride? We dont need UK/US stuff, we allready got our US/UK stuff.
Over here we sort of get exposed equally to UK and US stuff. Movies are more from the US quizshows and murder mysteries are from the UK , (ow and antique and nature, ow wait that is the on BBC itself, we cant get any american channels though) There arent too many on, but I think sitcoms were more from the US aswell (though that was more the case in the 90s)
And of course then there's their marketing, which wholesale created the idea that a diamond is a symbol of love and marriage. Hell, "A diamond is forever" isn't even an idiom, not really. It's a slogan De Beers created in the 1940s.
Btw I looked up the etymology of callowness, and apparently it is related to the dutch kaal, meaning bald, and callowness refers to be as naked as a babybird, new to life.