{"id":5270,"date":"2014-07-24T19:21:57","date_gmt":"2014-07-24T19:21:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/?p=5270"},"modified":"2017-11-15T14:50:30","modified_gmt":"2017-11-15T14:50:30","slug":"sayings-expressions-3-the-winner-and-the-oil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/sayings-expressions-3-the-winner-and-the-oil\/","title":{"rendered":"Sayings + Expressions 3 – The Winner and the Oil"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi there!<\/p>\n

Today, I will go over one saying and one expression again. Both are related to actions – if you dare, what can happen? That connects both the saying and the expression. As always, let’s\u00a0start off with the saying!<\/p>\n

Wer nicht wagt, der nicht gewinnt<\/strong><\/p>\n

Who doesn’t dare, doesn’t win (i.e. no guts, no glory)<\/i><\/p>\n

Its origin is not really known, and this saying probably just started by use. The premise that you have to do something to achieve something is logic. That this often also involves exposing oneself to harm also makes sense. From this,\u00a0wer nicht wagt, der nicht gewinnt\u00a0<\/em>is quickly made.<\/p>\n

Use<\/strong><\/p>\n

This widely known saying has a clear meaning – take a risk if you want to achieve something, otherwise you will never\u00a0be successful! So the next time you have to advise a good German friend that is too scared to talk to someone he or she likes, say this. The use is exactly the same as in English. Example:<\/p>\n

Markus traut sich nicht Lisa anzusprechen, obwohl er sie wirklich mag. Daraufhin ermutigt sein Freund Lars ihn: Wer nicht wagt, der nicht gewinnt!<\/em><\/p>\n

(<\/em>Markus doesn’t dare to talk to Lisa, even though he really likes her. Thereupon his friend Lars encouraged him: Who doesn’t dare, doesn’t win!)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00d6l ins Feuer gie\u00dfen\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pour\u00a0oil into the\u00a0fire (i.e. Add fuel to the fire)\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\u00d6l<\/a>

\u00d6l ins Feuer gie\u00dfen – this is what happens! (Image by Al404 at Flickr.com)<\/p><\/div>\n

This expression already existed in Roman times. Back in those days, they had figured out the flammability of oil already. The Roman poet Horace already used this expression (oleum addere camino)<\/em>\u00a0in his Sermones.<\/em>\u00a0When you pour oil into fire, it burns even stronger. As in the English expression, it describes an act that makes a situation even more severe. In one word:\u00a0provozieren\u00a0<\/em>(provoke).<\/p>\n

Use<\/strong><\/p>\n

The use of this expression is basically the same as in English. For example:<\/p>\n

Die Vereinigten Staaten schicken weiter Waffen in Krisengebieten und lindern die K\u00e4mpfe dort damit nicht. Das Land gie\u00dft damit nur \u00d6l ins Feuer.<\/i><\/p>\n

(The United States continue to send weapons to crisis areas and do not soothen the fights there that way. \u00a0With this, the country only adds fuel to the fire.)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As always, if you have any suggestions for sayings or expressions – also English ones – that you want to see translated and broken down a bit, please write a comment below!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Hi there! Today, I will go over one saying and one expression again. Both are related to actions – if you dare, what can happen? That connects both the saying and the expression. As always, let’s\u00a0start off with the saying! Wer nicht wagt, der nicht gewinnt Who doesn’t dare, doesn’t win (i.e. no guts, no…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":5271,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3,8],"tags":[358422],"class_list":["post-5270","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-language","tag-sayings-expressions"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/110"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5270"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5270\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9083,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5270\/revisions\/9083"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}