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The Third Bank of the River" is a short story written by João Guimarães Rosa, published in his book Primeiras Estórias (First Stories), in 1962. It is narrated in first person by the son of a man who decides to leave the family and the whole society to live within a small [canoe] in a huge river .
An idiom is a common word or phrase with a figurative, non-literal meaning that is understood culturally and differs from what its composite words' denotations would suggest; i.e. the words together have a meaning that is different from the dictionary definitions of the individual words (although some idioms do retain their literal meanings – see the example "kick the bucket" below).
Its first usage was the punch line of an 1855 Indiana comedic short story titled "The Judge's Big Shirt". [2] The earliest known idiomatic use of the phrase is from 1907 in Southern Indiana. [3] The phrase is related to the expression the whole six yards, used around the same time in Kentucky and South Carolina.
A proverbial phrase or expression is a type of conventional saying similar to a proverb and transmitted by oral tradition. The difference is that a proverb is a fixed expression, while a proverbial phrase permits alterations to fit the grammar of the context. [1] [2] In 1768, John Ray defined a proverbial phrase as:
An idiom is a phrase or expression that largely or exclusively carries a figurative or non-literal meaning, rather than making any literal sense.Categorized as formulaic language, an idiomatic expression's meaning is different from the literal meanings of each word inside it. [1]
The gray catbird, Dumetella carolinensis, atop a fir tree "The catbird seat" is an idiomatic phrase used to describe an enviable position, often in terms of having the upper hand or greater advantage in any type of dealing among parties.
Cock and bull story" is an English-language idiom for a far-fetched and fanciful story or tale of highly dubious validity. It is often used to describe a description of events told by someone who is being deceitful or giving an excuse, perhaps unconvincingly.
There is a third one: majd ha fagy ("When it freezes"), the short version of majd ha a pokol befagy ("When hell freezes over"), which is not used much anymore. A couple of other expressions are holnapután kiskedden ("on the less holy [21] Tuesday after tomorrow") and soha napján (on the day of never).