Spotlight - 01.2020

LANGUAGE 1/2020 Spotlight 45

2.

Which surname

?

A.

Riley

B.

Joneses

C.

parker

D.

McCoy

E.^

Hobson

’s

3.^

Old name

s

A.

A

chillesferse

B.

A

damsapfel

C.

so r

eich wie

Krösus

D.

so alt wie Me

thusalem

Answers

2. Which surname?

Choose the right surname to complete the following

sentences.

A. He’s staying in a big villa in Spain, living the life of

Parker / Riley.

B. I don’t care what my neighbours think of me. I have

no interest in keeping up with the Joneses / Smiths.

C. My colleague asks a lot of personal questions. She’s

such a nosy murphy / parker!

D. He bought a Rolex for £50 at a market. It can’t possibly

be the real McCoy / Riley.

E. My wife gave me a choice: either an open marriage or

divorce. That’s Hobson’s / Parker’s choice, isn’t it?

3. Old names

How would you translate the following idioms into

German? Are they the same in any other language you

know?

A. Achilles heel

B. Adam’s apple

C. as rich as Croesus

D. as old as Methuselah

Parker

A “nosy parker” is someone who sticks their nose into your

business and always wants to know everything about you.

The informal British expression originated in a cartoon in the

early 20th century, referring to a peeping Tom (see “Tom”).

Riley

“The life of Riley” means “an easy and comfortable life, full of

pleasure and without stress or worries”. Riley (or Reilly) is an

Irish surname, and the idiom probably comes from a 19th-

century Irish song about a man called Willy Reilly. These days,

Riley is a popular first name for baby boys. Perhaps the parents

hope their little boy will live an easy life.

Smith

In the old days, when sex was supposed to happen only within

marriage, a couple who were not married (or who were married,

but not to each other) might sign into a respectable hotel as

“Mr & Mrs Smith”. The 2005 movie of that name brought the

actors Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie together. A website for luxury

romantic breaks now uses the same name.

Did you notice that nearly all the phrases on these pages use male names?

Perhaps the time has come to invent some female equivalents — or, as most

of the phrases are negative, perhaps not.