I was talking with a friend who mentioned “taking tea to India”. It made me wonder what the equivalents are around the world. “Taking coals to Newcastle” is the UK’s.
“Selling sand in sahara.”
In Spanish we have “llevar leña a la montaña” (take firewood to the mountain) as well as “llevar hierro a Vizcaya” which is take iron to Vizcaya, a city in Spain
We also use “taking coals to Newcastle” here in the Midwestern U.S. (Something about being descended from former British colonies…) But I’ve heard plenty of riffs on that idea, like, “bringing corn to Iowa.”
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Throwing gas on the fire
What does the phrase mean?
It means to pointlessly take something to a place that already has it in abundance.
Taking guns to America?
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Same, never heard it used here, and I can’t think of any other Australian equivalents.
Australia also has a Newcastle (in New South Wales, north of Sydney). Not sure if it has/had coal mines, though I wouldn’t be surprised if it did. Australians using the phrase may be referring to their Newcastle, and even unaware of the English one.
Australia also has a Newcastle (in New South Wales, north of Sydney)
Yes, that’s why I mentioned it. When I said “works well in Australia”, what I meant was “in theory, the same logic you used to apply it to Newcastle-upon-Tyne could be used to apply it to Newcastle, NSW”, and not that it actually is used in Australia (I know I’ve never heard it).
Not sure if it has/had coal mines
Not just does it, but it is in fact home to Australia’s largest coal-shipping port. In fact, Port of Newcastle is, according to Wikipedia, the world’s largest coal terminal.
Carrying water to the sea is the Dutch version.
Bring weed to Oregon.
Apparently “owls to Athens” is common across Europe? “Wood to the forest” is a variant in the US
It is known in Germany, “Eulen nach Athen tragen”. I’ve heard the explanation that the currency of Athens in antiquity had owl on one side.
Is “Owls to Athens” a reference to Athena?
Originally it must be, but the animal itself became associated with the city too (for example their coinage almost always had an owl on it)
I don’t know. My coworker just said that owls are a symbol of wisdom, and Athens (historically) is the center of wisdom.
Yes and no. It’s a circular relationship. The proverb is known to have already existed in Ancient Greece. The pantheon (the version that existed before Xerxes torched the place) was apparently inhabited by tons of owls, especially it’s roof construction. Since the pantheon was a temple to Athena, people assumed Athena held Owls holy and the owl became linked to Athena, and since Athena was the goddess of wisdom, Owls became a symbol of wisdom. Since the city and her patron goddess are related by name, Athens is linked to owls as well.
But for the meaning: It’s to be taken literally. There were many owls in Athens, so they’d not exactly need any more.
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Genocidal behaviour to Israel.
Brutal authoritarianism and lies to China.
Crazy fucking shit to Russia.
Edit: To anyone downvoting me: we know who you work for. Scum.
Bringing even more
flags to :estonia-cool: especially in the last 2 years. The flags and colours are bloody everywhere and not one has been removed.What does Ukraine have to do with Estonia and why is it burning?
Or is your entire meaning just fucked up by your formatting?
Kind of an odd saying, I’m 100% sure Newcastle uses gas for their grill and not a single fast food place uses charcoal grills. If you brought coal to Newcastle, they would have no use for such a thing.
It’s an archaic saying but that doesn’t mean that the meaning has been lost.
Almost the entire industrial revolution was coal powered and the most common fuel for heating homes was coal. Coal used to be an extremely popular and useful commodity.
Edit: I now see that you thought the town of Newcastle was the fast food chain White Castle lol. I did wonder why you were going on about grills!
Did you mean White Castle?
Oh shit I got confused…
In my defense, I’ve never heard of Newcastle until today.
Holy shit 😬
That is the funniest response I’ve seen all week.
What??
