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It's not over till the fat lady sings
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Definition:
c) The situation can change right up until the very last minute
German translation:
It's not over till the fat lady sings = es ist noch nicht aller Tage Abend
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GOOGLE INDEX
it's not over till the fat lady sings: approximately 10,000 hits
it ain't over till the fat lady sings: approximately 45,000 hits (grammatically incorrect, but more often-quoted version)
Sample text:
IT'S NOT OVER TILL THE FAT LADY SINGS, and in this case the super delegates might be the fat lady. But there is no denying that Hillary Clinton, who started out as the presumptive nominee, is now being overtaken.
(The Crackpot Chronicles)
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"The bears have been 100% right on the fundamentals, 100% wrong on the stock price," Mr. Holmes complains. But, he adds: "IT AIN'T OVER TILL THE FAT LADY SINGS."
(The Wall Street Journal)
Did you know?
It's not over till the fat lady sings
idiom
- there is still time for a situation to change
(Compact Oxford English Dictionary)
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WORD ORIGIN
Much has been written and discussed about the true origin of this phrase and whom it should be attributed to. Most sources agree that the "fat lady" is a reference to opera, likely Wagner's four-part Ring des Nibelungen, which ends with an aria by the full-figured Brunhild as she rides onto Siegfried's funeral pyre.
San Antonio News-Express sportswriter Dan Cook first used the phrase "It's not over till the fat lady sings" in a 1976 column. Cook, who was also a San Antonio, Texas television sportscaster, repeated the line while broadcasting a basketball game in April 1978. He was trying to encourage the local basketball fans who were dejected because the San Antonio Spurs were losing a five-game series during the NBA playoffs. The opposing team's coach, Dick Motta of the Washington Bullets, heard the broadcast and used the expression himself to caution his own fans against over-confidence after his team finished off the Spurs and eventually won the championship.
It should also be noted that the phrase is often mistakenly attributed to American baseball legend Yogi Berra, who actually said "it ain't over till it's over." Entire books have been written about so-called "Yogi-isms," but perhaps the most famous is his oft-quoted line, "It's like déjà vu all over again."
(sources: Infoplease, Wikipedia, The Straight Dope)
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SMUGGLE OWAD INTO TODAY'S CONVERSATION:
"Let's make a counter-offer. It's not over till the fat lady sings."
Thanks to Volker for suggesting today's word!
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And now...
Today's Learning Tip (17):
MAKE A “DONKEY BRIDGE”
The phrase “donkey bridge” does not exist in English. We use the Greek word “mnemonic” or “memory aid”. By creating a visual bridge with something you know in German you can often remember the word - example: the phrase “donkey bridge” is a mnemonic to help ME remember your German Eselsbrücke!
more learning tips
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