1,001 essential turkish idioms - learn turkish | online

-- A sample of --

1,001 Essential Turkish

Idioms (for English Speakers)

The ‘Best of’ Learning Practical Turkish

Volume 2

Jim and Perihan Masters

2

1,001 Essential Turkish Idioms (for English speakers) The ‘Best of’ Learning Practical Turkish Vol. 2 1st Print Edition -- November 2003 1st Electronic Edition -- May 2006 Published by Habibullah Enterprises, SA P.K. 27 35480 Gümüldür İzmir, Turkey (Türkiye) WWW Website: http://learningpracticalturkish.com/ E-mail: [email protected] Non-original illustrations from public domain sources via Hürriyet TARIH and Popüler TARIH (İstanbul) ISBN – Application submitted text and cover © Habibullah Enterprises cover and inside graphics by Patricia Rawlings Printed by Taşkın Matbaası, Gümüldür-İzmir, Turkey (Türkiye) Habibullah Enterprises, the Habibullah logo and Learning Prac-tical Turkish logo are trademarks of four country computing, ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be repro-duced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except brief extracts for the purpose of review, without the written permission of the publisher and copyright owner.

3

About the Authors Jim and Perihan Masters are a husband and wife team, living on the Aegean Coast of Turkey just 50 miles south of İzmir. Jim was born in Shanghai, China -- of American military parentage. Peri was born on the Black Sea coast of Turkey near Trabzon, of Turkish military parentage… First at Brown University and then at the University of North Carolina, Jim pursued studies in Mathematics and Computer Science. Upon graduation, he worked as a computer program-mer/analyst on both US coasts before taking a position in London as Technical Director for a computer facilities man-agement firm – during the late 60’s and early 70’s. Enticed by a Financial Times advertisement, he joined a NATO sponsored enterprise in Ankara in the 70’s where he met the beautiful and brainy Perihan, a rising young Turkish banking executive. It was uninhibited love at first sight, except that neither spoke the other’s language! So they embarked on a mad language-learning scramble (which continues to this day) that culminated in their marriage -- now in its 20-something year. After spending fifteen working years Stateside (with numer-ous visitations to Turkey), the two opted to return permanent-ly to Turkey in 1992 to take up residence in Gümüldür, a sea-side resort town in the heart of what was once the ancient Ionian Empire. There they live an idyllic life by the sea -- writing, drawing and painting, teaching English, and providing computing service support to local businesses. They also sponsor the MSNBC award-winning Learning Practical Turkish (LPT) website (located at http://learningpracticalturkish.com/) that has built an enthu-siastic international following of devoted Turkophiles and inquisitive language students of all ages.

4

From the Authors The Authors wish to extend a special thanks to Taşkın Çalı, our dear pal and language-adviser (and Beşiktaş’s stoutest sup-porter south of the Golden Horn) -- whose invaluable help with the LPT website (and with this book too!) leaves us eternally in his debt. And, to Patricia Rawlings (our favorite ‘Girl of the North Country’) -- for her inspirational encouragement and in-creasingly accomplished assistance across the board -- we send the four warmest winds of our Aegean appreciation.

color bar

Visit our website soon and often… It’s dedicated to struggling Turkish language learners just like you -- and it’s loaded with

authentic voice recordings too!! The Learning Practical Turkish website is located at:

http://learningpracticalturkish.com/

5

Table of Contents

Introduction ................................................... 6 1,001 Essential Turkish Idioms ............................. 8 Acronyms, abbreviations, notations ......................... 9 The Best of the Idiom Stories ............................. 22 Sources and Acknowledgements............................. 25 Book Index ................................................... 27

Above page numbers relate to the full version of our

Volume 2 ebook -- not this sample...

Note: See the inside front and back covers for phonetic pronunciation guidance.

color bar




6

Introduction

The weird and wonderful ways of Turkish expression As we’ve stated on previous occasions, we think that Turkish is a difficult language to learn if you come from an English-speaking background -- as some of us do.

• The vocabulary is hard to remember (and can be ambigu-ous)

• The tricky use of suffixes can drive you to drink • The word order in sentences is backwards to English, and • The way of expressing actions and ideas takes a lot of

getting used to

This, the second book in our series, The Best of Learning Prac-tical Turkish, will (of necessity) address all four of those difficulties -- but with a primary focus on the ‘weird and won-derful ways’ of Turkish expression. Thus, the whole of its content is devoted to the essential Turkish idioms. If you've ever felt lost trying to follow a Turkish conversation, it may be because of these 'comprehension killers'. We know you've seen reference books written for English speakers about English and American idioms. But, although there are many fine books on Turkish idioms, they’ve all been written for Turkish speakers in Turkish. Until now. Those of you who know our WWW website may remember when our original Turkish idiom encyclopedia ‘hit the bricks’ in 1996. And you may have watched it growing over time, ever since. (As we write this Introduction, the online compilation has swelled to almost 1500 idioms.) Our online idioms encyclopedia is based on more than 12 years of personal in-country experience. And it reflects quite a wide

7

range of interests -- having been gleaned from A) conversa-tions with our Turkish friends and neighbors, B) Radio and TV broadcasts, C) Turkish movies, D) the Turkish print media, E) Turkish pop-music lyrics, F) Turkish folk tales and histories and G) Turkish novels. The specific 1,001 essential Turkish idioms found in this book (along with several of their historical-origin stories) represent the crème de la crème of our online encyclopedia. Painstakingly selected, revised, and arranged for the printed page, these ba-sic Turkish idioms are intended to meet the everyday needs of Beginners and Intermediate learners of the Turkish language. These are the idioms you’ll hear and see wherever you go, who-ever you meet, whatever you read. But enough of this palaver! It’s time to kick back and send your Turkish language-learning skills into overdrive -- as you explore LPT’s 1,001 Essential Turkish Idioms.

color bar




8

LPT’s 1,001 Essential Turkish Idioms




9

Acronyms, abbreviations, notations

AB The European Union – Turkish abbreviation ABD The United States – Turkish abbreviation AKP 'Justice and Development Party' [Turkish political

party] - the ruling governmental party when it swept national elections in November 2002 to rule for 6 years.

Br British English CHP The 'Popular Democratic Party'

[Turkish political party] coll. colloquial DEHAP Democratic People's Party [a minor Turkish

political party] DSP Democratic Left Party [Turkish political party] DYP True Path Party [Turkish political party] example Underlined words indicate a cross-reference. [example] Bracketed words supplement the original entry. (example) Parenthetical words explain the original entry. EU The European Union – English abbreviation Fig. Figuratively IMF The International Monetary Fund Lit. Literally MHP National Movement Party [Turkish political party] sb somebody/someone sth something US American English YSK Supreme Election Committee of Turkey

10

Turkish Idioms beginning with the letter A

The Turkish The Literal English Meaning

The 'Plain' English Meaning

Comments and Examples

aba altından değnek (sopa) göstermek

to show a stick (bat) under the cloak

· to speak softly but carry a big stick · to cause fear, indirectly

'Şöyle yaparım, böyle ederim' diye bize aba altından değnek göste-riyordu. He was threatening us indirectly by saying that he would do this or that.

Aba bulamaz etine, at-las yamar götüne.

This proverbial idiom is considered just a little off-color.

He can't even find coarse wool for his skin, but he patches over his ass with satin.

Even though he is poor, he likes to show off.

May be used as shown.

Abacı, kebeci; (ya) sen neci?

He makes coarse wool and felt jackets. And you, what's your line of work?

· Where do you come in?! What concern of this is yours?! · It's all right for him/her to talk about this subject, because he/she's got first-hand knowledge. But what gives you the right to butt in?

Onu ilgilendirmeyen konulardan söz etmesi-ne kızıp: ‘Abacı, kebeci; ya sen necisin?’ dedim. I got angry with her for talking about matters that didn’t concern her and I said, ‘So, who asked you?!’

abayı sermek to spread out the coarse wool coat

to make yourself at home someplace where you’re not wanted; move in on somebody

Sizinkinde onur yok, gitti, yerleşip kaldı; a-bayı serdi. Your relative has no pride, he went, then settled in and stayed (at another’s place); he just moved in.

abayı yakmak to burn the coarse wool coat

to give your heart to sb; to fall desperately in love

Yoksul bir çoban zengin adamın kızına abayı yakmış. A poor shepherd

11

boy fell desperately in love with the rich man’s daughter.

Abbas yolcu 'Abbas' traveler · "I'm taking off, and that's that!" · One cannot detain one who has to go. · "He/she's about to die."

Abbas yolcuyum! I’m outta here!

abuk sabuk konuşmak to talk nonsensi-cally

same meaning Böyle abuk sabuk konuşmayı bırak da, beni iyi dinle. Stop talk-ing nonsensically, and listen well to what I say.

abur cubur · junk food · haphazard, confused speech · ordinary, com-mon-place

same meaning Abur cubur şeylerle karnını doyurmak do-ğru değildir. It's not right to fill up your stom-ach with junk food.

acayibine gitmek to go to strange · to find (sb or sth) very strange/odd · to seem strange

Bu nasıl adam, çok acayibime gitti yaptıkları. What sort of man is this, the things he does seem very strange to me.

aceleye gelmek to come hurried · for a job not to be done carefully because of time limitations · to do a job hastily and carelessly

Aceleye geldi, yoksa daha iyi olurdu. We would have done [a] bet-ter [job], but time ran out.

aceleye getirmek to bring hurried · to do a job haphazardly -- without caring · to deceive sb while act-ing or doing sth quickly

· Zamanım var, aceleye getirmeyin. I’m not in a hurry, so don't do a quick and dirty job. · Aceleye getirip iste-diği parayı benden kopardı. He took my money while he quickly did what he wanted.

12

Acem kılıcı gibi...

...like a Persian sword (ie., a double-edged sword)

two faced, double dealing Ona güvenme, acem kılıcı gibi, bir de bakar-sın senin karşında yer almış. Don't trust her, she's two-faced and might oppose your posi-tion.

acemi çaylak

an inexperienced 'kite' (the hawk-like bird)

· a raw or clumsy or awkward or inexperi-enced person · a "rookie" in all senses of the word. An inexperi-enced (and rather gullible) per-son.

Ondan daha fazlasını beklemeyin, acemi çay-lağın biridir. He's a clumsy fellow, so don't expect too much of him.

Acemi çaylak bu ka-dar uçar.

That is how an inexperienced hawk flies.

· That's all you can ex-pect from a clumsy person (or an immature youth).

See acemi çaylak above.

acemilik çekmek to tow inexperience

to suffer from inexperi-ence

Yeni işimde ilk üç ay çok acemilik çektim. I suffered from inexpe-rience in the first three months of my new job.

acemilik etmek to do/make in-experience

· to behave in an 'inexpe-rienced' way (not necessarily thought-lessly) · to behave thoughtlessly

Acemilik edip sonunu beklemedik. We didn't act thoughtlessly and we didn't expect that result.

acı çekmek to pull or bear pain/ bitterness

· to feel long-lasting pain · to feel distress, unhap-piness, sorrow sadness

Adamın acı çektiği her halinden belliydi. It was evident that the man suf-fered pain all the time.

acından ölmek to die of hunger · to be very hungry or poor · to fall into poverty

Afrika'da binlerce insan acından ölüyor. In Af-rica thousands of people are dying of hunger.

13

acısı içine (yüreğine) çökmek (işlemek)

for pain to pene-trate inside

· for (sth) to hurt deeply, to hurt (sb's) feelings very much · to give sb cause to be distressed or grieving · to cut (sb) to the quick

O günlerin acısı içime çöktü, olup bitenleri unutacağımı sanmıy-orum. I was hurt very deeply in those days, I don't think I can forget how things ended.

acısını bağrına bas-mak

to press pain to the breast/heart

to bear sorrow without com- plaining

Acısını bağrına basmış, kimseye bundan söz etmemişti. They say he kept his sorrow to himself, and didn't talk about it with anyone.

acısını çekmek to pull the pain · to suffer the conse-quences (for bad behavior) · to pay the penalty for · to suffer for

Gençliğinde yaptık-larının yaşlılıkta acısını çekiyor. He is suffering in old age for the things he did in his youth.

aç açık kalmak hunger, to re-main open

· to be left homeless · to lose everything

Yangından sonra yüzlerce aile aç açık kalmıştı. After the fire hundreds of families were reported to be homeless.

aç doyurmak to fill up a hun-gry person

to help and nurture the poor

Açları doyur, yoksulları giydir. He feeds and clothes the poor.

aç kurt gibi hungry as a wolf with great desire, inclina-tion, appetite (related to eating, gathering to-gether, attacking)

Yemeklere aç kurt gibi saldırdılar. They at-tacked their food like hungry wolves.

-- Intentional Blank Pages Here --

14

Turkish Idioms beginning with the letter N

The Turkish The Lit-eral English Meaning

The 'Plain' Eng-lish Meaning


ne oldum de-lisi olmak

what I became to be crazy

(for sb lucky) to start to think he's/she's sth spe-cial

Zenginleşince ne oldum delisi oldu. When he be-came rich, he thought he really was something else.

ne olur ne olmaz

what it becomes, what it won't be-come

just in case Ne olur, ne olmaz; yanı-mıza fazla para alalım. Just in case, let's take extra money with us.

ne olursa olsun

what if be, let it be

come what may, whatever the con-sequences

Yüzünü bir dağıtayım sonra ne olursa olsun. Let me punch this guy, and live with the consequences af-terwards.

Ne sen sor, ne ben söyleye-yim!

What you ask, what I'll say!

Adds positive or negative emphasis to the preceding statement or ques-tion -- most often negative. But as in English, an exag-gerated negative can end up being a positive. For ex-ample, in English we might say, "Do you think Sharon Stone is attrac-tive?" and the answer might come back, "Ooo, she's bad!" (Ne sen sor, ne ben

May be used as shown.

15

söyleyeyim!)

1. neme lazım 2. neme la-zımcı

Note: also seen as the single word: nemelazımcı.

1. neces-sary to my what? 2. a 'nec-essary to my what' person

1. a. He/she/it doesn't concern me. b. What need have I of ...?; What good is ... to me? c. I still think ...; I don't care about that, I still think ... 2. sb who has an I-don't-give-a-damn attitude

· Amerika acayip bir memlekettir, bakarsınız gelecek sene seçim olur, neme lazım deyip pro-jeden vazgeçer. America is a strange country, you'll see next year there'll be an elec-tion. [America] will say, 'What good is this to me?' and drop the project. In an article questioning the USA's staying power in the Middle East. · Neme lazım, iyi çocuk-tur. I don't care about that, I still think he's a good kid.

nerede/nerde akşam ora-da/orda sabah

where he is in the evening is where he is in the morning

· Said of one who doesn't appear to have home; who just spends the night where he/ she happens to be. · one who has no known residence · one who is an idler · one who's out of work · one who's dis-tracted, confused

Çok sorumsuz bir adam, nerde akşam orda sabah. He’s an unreliable man, he has no place to call his own.

numara yapmak

Similar to ayak atmak.

to make/do number

· to pretend, fake · [-a/-e] to make a fool out of, pull a fast one on sb

Hiç kimse bana böyle nu-mara yapamaz! Nobody can pull a fast one on me!


16

Turkish Idioms beginning with the letter T

The Turkish The Literal English Meaning

The 'Plain' English Meaning


tabanları yağlamak

to oil the sole

· to get ready to hoof it a long way · to run fast, run like any-thing; to make tracks, beat it

Tabanları yağlayalım, gide-ceğimiz yer uzak, zamanımız az. Let's make tracks! Our des-tination (the place that we'll go to) is far and we don't have much time (our time is little).

[-ın, -in, -un, -ün] tadını çı-karmak

to remove the flavor from

· to make the most of · to get the utmost en-joyment out of (sth) · to luxuriate in (sth)

· Yirmi yaşındaki Cem Adler, "Başınç yok, stres yok" diyerek, boşanmanın tadını çıkardığını söyledi. Saying, "I don't have any pres-sure or stress," twenty-year-old Cem Adler [Bulent Ersoy's former toy-boy 'husband'] ex-plained that he's trying to make the most of his divorce. · See another example sen-tence at gözden kaçmak.

[-ın, -in, -un, -ün] tadını ka-çırmak

to let flavor escape

to spoil (sth), cast a damper on (sth)

Plakların birini kaldırıp bir-ini koyuyordu, sesler beynimizde zonkluyordu; dayanamayıp, "Yeter!" dedim, tadını iyice kaçırdın! Someone was removing the re-cords and someone else was putting them back on; the noise was making my brain throb with pain; I couldn't stand it anymore, so I said, "Enough, you're ruining everything."

tahsil etmek to make/do education

1. be edu-cated, get an education, to

Onbir milyar dolarlık hor-tumun sadece 235 milyon doları tahsil edilebildi... Of

17

study 2. with a pre-ceding [-ı/ -i/-u/-ü] suf-fix - study a subject 3. with a pre-ceding [-ı/ -i/-u/-ü] suf-fix -- collect or recover (money or taxes)

the eleven billion dollars-worth that was embezzled only 235 million dollars can be re-covered...

talep etmek to make/do wanting

to want, de-mand, require, re-quest

tamtakır; tamtakır ku-ru bakır; tamtakır kırmızı ba-kır

completely empty, a completely empty dry copper, completely empty red copper

completely empty

· Sandığın içi tamtakır kuru bakırdı, belli ki açmış, içindekileri alıp götür-müşlerdi. The inside of the trunk was completely empty, it was obvious that it had been opened and the contents had been taken away/removed. · Tamtakır kırmızı bakır bir yazlıkta tatil geçirmek insana zevk vermez. It's no fun to have a vacation in a com-pletely empty summer cottage.

[-a/-e] taş çıkarmak (çıkartmak)

to cause to remove stone

to be able to run rings around (sb), to be far su-perior than (sb)

Mankenlere taş çıkarttı! Törene hayli çekici bir elbi-seyle gelen Serena, sporcudan çok bir mankene benziyordu. Headline: She's better than the fashion models! (Pro Tennis star) Serena (Wil-liams) who came to the ceremony wearing a very at-tractive dress, looked very

18

much the fashion model com-pared with the other players.

taş kesilmek to cut stone to be dumb-founded

Salonun içinde kimse kımıl-dayamadı. Hepsi olduğu yerde taş kesildi. No one in the salon could make a move. Everyone in the place was dumbfounded.

tek başına to a single head

· on one's/its own, by one's self alone · apart, at a distance from other people/things

Sezer tek başına ana muhale-fet partisi gibi! Cumhurbaşkanı'nın Orman Yasası'nı ikinci defa veto et-mesi siyasi havayı iyice gerdi. (Turkish President) Sezer is like a main opposition party all by himself! The President's ve-toing of the Forests Bill for the second time has caused the po-litical air to be rather tense.

tekeden süt çıkarmak

to remove milk from a billy goat

to do the [seemingly] impossible, to be very skillful in getting what one wants

Ustam, tekeden bile süt çı-karır. My master-craftsman can do the impossible. (...even get milk from a billy goat.)

tepeden in-me

don't send from a hill or sending from a hill

1. an order that comes from a high official -- one of the 'big guns' 2. very sud-den and unexpected

Tepeden inme bir emirle müdürün tayini durduruldu. His appointment to manager was stopped by an order from on high.


19

Turkish Idioms beginning with the letter Z

The Turkish The Literal English Mean-ing

The 'Plain' English Mean-ing


zam gelmek (yapmak)

(for a) price in-crease to occur (be made)

· for a price increase to oc-cur (be made)... · for a salary increase to be earned (given)

Ekmeğe zam geldi! There's been an increase in the price of bread!

zaman bırakmak to leave time to set time aside (for sb/sth)

Konuşmaya zaman bı-raksaydın seni suçla-madığımı görürdün. If you'd given me time to speak, you'd have seen that I didn't accuse you.

zaman kazan-mak

to earn time to save time, to gain time

Kısa yoldan giderek zaman kazanabiliriz. We can save time by go-ing the shorter way.

zaman kollamak to watch out for time

to be on the lookout for a suitable oppor-tunity, to bide one's time.

Zaman kollayıp uygun ortamın doğmasını bekleyeceksin. You should bide your time and wait for a better op-portunity.

zaman öldürmek

Also see vakit öl-dürmek.

to kill time to spend time on inconse-quential things

· Seni bilmem ama benim zaman öldürecek duru-mum yok. I don't know about you, but I'm in no posi-tion to just kill time. · Benimkisi zaman öldür-mek, iş değil. This isn't work, I'm killing time.

(birisine) zaman vermek

to give time to set time aside for sb

· Eğer zaman verir-seniz başaracaktır.

20

(for some pur-pose).

He'll succeed if you'll give him time. · Sana burayı terket-men için bir dakikalık zaman veriyorum! I'm giving you one minute's time to get outta here!

zaman zaman time time from time to time, occasion-ally

· Ünlü İnternet sitesi DeansPlanet zaman zaman düzenlediği ilginç anketler ve yayınladığı fotoğra-flarla ilgi çekiyor. Famous Internet website DeansPlanet attracts at-tention with the photos that it publishes and the interesting polls that it arranges from time to time. · Bize gelir zaman zaman, eski günleri anarız. He visits us now and then, we remind him of the old days.

zamana uymak to fit to time to conform to the age one lives in, keep in step with the times

Eskiler: Zaman sana uymazsa sen zamana uy, demişler. The old ones say: If the times don't fit you, fit the times.

zamanı geçmek to pass time to be out of date, (for sth) to expire, be-come void (due to time pas-sage), (for a fruit of vegeta-ble) to no longer be in

Bu ilacı kullanmama-lısın. Zamanı geçmiş. You mustn't use this medicine. It has expired. (The expiry date has passed.)

21

season.

zamanlı zaman-sız

with time without time

(doing sth) without con-sidering whether it's suitable

Zamanlı zamansız bana uğrar. He drops in to see me, any old time he feels like it.

zan altında bul-mak/ bırakmak

to find/be left un-der supposition

to be under suspicion

· Televizyonda adımı o hırsızın adıyla birlikte andınız ve beni zan altında bıraktınız. You mentioned my name to-gether with that thief's name and you left me under suspicion. · Sözlerinizden dolayı zan altındayım. I am under suspicion because of what (the things) you said.

zangır zangır (titremek)

(shaking) with a rattle, shak-ing/trembling

same meaning Zavallı kız! Kocaman köpeği aniden bahçede gördü ve şimdi korku-dan zangır zangır titriyor. Poor girl! She saw the huge dog in the garden suddenly and she is trembling violently with fear now.

zar atmak to throw mem-brane, to throw a die

to gamble

zar zor unwillingly, reluc-tantly, with difficulty, forcibly, at the last minute

same Otobüse zar zor yetiştik. We made the bus (departure) with dif-ficulty (at the last minute).

22

The Best of the Idiom Stories Historical origins of selected Turkish idioms




23

The Best of the Turkish Idiom Stories -- beginning with the letter A

Ağaca çıksa pabucu yerde kalmaz. Literal meaning: If he/she goes up in a tree, his shoes don't remain on the ground Idiomatic meaning: She/He's crafty, not easily fooled.

The story… One day, Nasreddin Hoca went out walking in his pair of brand new shoes. A gang of youthful pranksters saw him and set out to trick him and steal the new shoes. As they approached him on the foot-path, they pretended to enter into a deep discussion among themselves -- about the Hoca's ability in the 'art' of tree climbing…But the Hoca was suspicious of their behavior and sensed that they meant to trick him. So when the leader of the gang asked the Hoca slyly whether or not the old fellow was still capable of climbing a nearby tree, the Hoca replied, "Of course, I am." And, with that, he jumped up on it and began climbing -- but not before tucking his new shoes safely in his breast coat. The gang members all shouted out at once, "Wait Hoca, leave the shoes down here on the ground. What use will they be in the tree?" By now the Hoca un-derstood the gang's intention very well, and with a glint in his eye, replied, "Oh, who knows…Perhaps from the tree, I'll have to journey to the next village by yonder road." And so, the idiom has become associated with people who are intelligent and alert in the face of tricky dealings.

color bar

Altından çapanoğlu çıkmak Literal meaning: for Çapanoğlu to pop up Idiomatic meaning: for an 'activity' or 'job' to meet with an undesired or unexpected difficulty, problem, or danger

The story… For a time, Çapanoğlu Ahmet Pasha and his two sons, Mustafa and Süleyman, ruled like feudal lords over wide territories en-compassing the city/towns of Amasya, Yozgat, Ankara, Niğde, and Kaysarı (until 1808 when Sultan Mahmut II had all three executed).

But although the Çapanoğlu's were tough rulers during their reign, they

24

also listened carefully to the problems of their people, and, where possi-ble, they tried to ease the lot of the underdog.

According to one account, at the time of Çapanoğlu Süleyman Bey, in Yozgat, there lived a pretty widow woman…And, a married man with a large family kept after her for sexual favours. The woman, who grew tired of the aggravating man, applied to Çapanoğlu Süleyman Bey for help. At the Bey's command, she went one night to the married man's house and confronted him.

When she declared, "I am a woman of honor, don't bother me anymore," the man attacked her, and Çapanoğlu (who had witnessed the entire event from a nearby hiding place) had the man hanged the same night -- in the Yozgat town center!

But the episode that actually gave birth to the idiom has a rather humble old donkey to thank.

It seems that said old donkey was seen nibbling from hunger on the bell-rope in front of a grand mansion. When citizens reported to Çapanoğlu that the donkey was weak and in poor condition, he initiated a search for the donkey's owner. And when the owner was found, justice was swift and harsh.

For failing to care for the donkey, Çapanoğlu gave the owner 100 lashes of the long whip -- at a public flogging! On top of that, the man was or-dered to feed the donkey five bushels of barley a day, to give it a daily washing and grooming, and to report in person once a week with the don-key for inspection by Çapanoğlu.

The old donkey (because of all this special treatment) gained quite a bit of weight in very short order, apparently. And when citizens questioned the owner about the reason behind the old donkey's vigorous new appear-ance, the owner (remembering well the sting of the long whip) replied, "Semirir elbet; arkasında Çapanoğlu var." (Well, of course he's gained weight; Çapanoğlu is behind it.)

And, over the years, the idiom has gradually evolved from 'arkasında Çapanoğlu var' to 'altından çapanoğlu çıkmak' -- as a sort of warning to those who think no one is watching…


25

Sources and Acknowledgements




26

Sources

Source of idiom, idiom-origin,

or sentence example; or of significant

help in understanding same

Source title Publication details

Aksoy, Ömer Asım Atasöz ve Deyimler Sözlüğü

İnkilap Kitabevi (İstanbul), 1995

Ali, A. Yusuf The Holy Qura'an - Text, Translation and Commentary

Printing by Amana Corp. (Maryland USA, 1983) -- from the original 1934 Lahore Edition

Arsel, Semahat, Project Director

Timeless Tastes, Turkish Culinary Culture

Vehbi Koç Vakfı, (İstanbul), 1996 [ISBN 975-94957-1-6]

Aslandaş, Alper Sedat and Bıçakçı, Baskın

Popüler Siyası Deyimler Sözlüğü

İletişim Yayınları (İstanbul), 2002

Bardakçi, Murat Various articles Hürriyet Gazetesi Belachemi, Jean-Louis (Nihal Önol, translator)

Barbaros Kardeşler

Doğan Yayın Holding A.Ş. (İstanbul -- October 1995)

Bilkent University University archives

Bilkent University, Ankara

Çizmeciler, Osman Ünlü Deyimler ve Öyküleri

Kastaş A.Ş. Yayınları (İstanbul), 1989


27

Book Index

28

Index

Lovers of book indexes may find this one useful as an aid in identifying Turkish-English idiom (and common

expression) ‘equivalents’ -- and in helping to establish ’memory hooks’ for the Turkish idioms and expressions.

Special Note: Page numbers below refer to the beginning of an idiom entry. So, in a few cases the named item (eg. DEHAP, 36) may actually appear on the page following. That is, although

the named item DEHAP is actually found on page 37 – the beginning of its associated

idiom entry (arapsaçına dönmek) is on page 36. Page numbers relate to the full version of

our Volume 2 ebook -- not this sample. Missing Index Entries Below Are Intentional

Page numbers relate to the 40 days and nights, 255 a 'certain sth', 205 a lot of money, 98 a lot of pressing work, 96 a rather small number, 218 a significant amount, 44 a small difference, 218 AB, 10, 60, 148 abandon hope, 216 ABD, 10, 52, 85, 93, 120, 199,

201, 219 able to, 163, 173 able to do, 105 about to, 174 about to die, 13, 70 about to happen, 105 above one’s station, 197 Absolutely!, 134

abundantly, 61 accept, 147 accept a bribe, 185 accept help from anyone, 215 accident(s), 31, 113, 238 according to Hoyle, 232 account(s), 29 achieve desired results, 90 acquiesce, 147 acquire sth very valuable, 213 act flirtatiously, 132 act like that, 160 act thoughtlessly, 15 Adam, 22 add 'salt to the wound', 220 addicted to gambling, 173 Adnan Şenses, 38 adorn with care, 202

29

advance one's situation, 29 afraid, 42, 219 after a fashion, 158 after a patient wait, 97 after a short time, 70 after careful consideration, 135 after today, 203 age on a pillow, 59 aged but still good-looking, 69 agenda, 125 agree, 147 agreement between rivals, 170 Ahh. That's better, 98 aid from a flying bird, 215 AKP, 10, 26, 36, 41, 83, 114,

128, 136, 152, 196, 212, 230 Aleppo, 264 All is OK, 135 All right, 187 all the time, 15, 127, 141 Allah idioms, 29 allow for, 227 allow sth to happen, 167, 227 almost, 44 along with, 224 Am I so innocent looking?, 53 Amasya, 252 amend, 122 American women, 128 amusement, 119 anchor, 90 And how!, 134 Andabalis, 260 Anger is sweeter than honey, 178 angry at a Christian, 115 Ankara, 252, 262 annoy, 47, 75 Antalya, 153, 201, 227, 262 Antalya Fluted-minaret

Theological School, 227 anticipate correctly, 163 anxiously awaiting, 144, 158 any old people, 175

any old reason, 175 any old things, 198 any old time, 236 any old whatever, 175 apologize, 182 apparent, 17, 201 appear, 177 appear in, 227 appear unmoved, 155 appearance(s), 93, 96 apprehensive, 184 approximately, 218 apricot in Damascus, 63 Arab-hair, 36 Arabic alphabet, 80 Arabic idiom, 249 Arabic language, 166 Arabic word, 60 Are you depressed?, 149 Are you upset about sth?, 149 arithmetic book, 135 around the corner, 105 arouse (a group), 41 arrogant, 102 arsenic, 244 as a favor, 131 as for me, the weather's fine, 48 as mentioned, 199 as old as the hills, 212 as soon as requested, 144 as you wish/like, 195 Aslan, 222 at ease, 49 Intentional Missing Entries with regard to style, 219 with respect to, 232 with scrupulous care, 196 withdraw from, 100 within an ace of, 105 within one's power, 45 without a hitch, 46 without bulgur at home, 94, 259 without ever stopping, 127

30

word is all over town, 169 work behind the scenes, 159 works by itself, 104 world's money, 98 worried, 184 worry, 217, 248 worse than, 181 worst possible thing, 55 worthless, 79, 139 worthwhile, 21 Wouldn't you know it?, 27 wrap around the tongue, 94

wreck, 231 wreck altogether, 229 wretched and poor, 184 write on ice, 67 write one's signature, 142

Page numbers above relate to the full version of

our Volume 2 ebook -- not this sample. Missing Index Entries Above Are Intentional.

-- End of Sample --

1,001 essential turkish idioms - learn turkish | online

Documents