[Idiom] "Don't hide your light under a bushel!"

Mehrgan · Dec 22, 2010

Hi everybody,

Can this idiom be used in daily speech? Any other idiom or phrasel verb meaning the same?
(I suppose this is when people want to be polite, and not express their skills because they think it might be interpreted as bragging about them.)

5jj · Dec 22, 2010

Your interpretation is correct.

I have the feeling that the expression is still quite widely used.

ps. please write 'because' rather than 'cos' - Please don't use 'chatlish'; this is a forum, not a chatroom

Mehrgan · Dec 22, 2010

fivejedjon said:
Your interpretation is correct.

I have the feeling that the expression is still quite widely used.

ps. please write 'because' rather than 'cos' - Please don't use 'chatlish'; this is a forum, not a chatroom

I'm sorry about that!

Besides, could you please tell me how unnatural my written language is? Especially in the first post. Would there be a great difference if a native wanted to express the same thing?

Thanks in advance.

BobK · Dec 22, 2010

fivejedjon said:
Your interpretation is correct.

I have the feeling that the expression is still quite widely used.

...

:up: ...especially when 'bushel' is spelt correctly!

b

Rover_KE · Dec 22, 2010

Like 5jj I agree that this biblical expression is widely used today, though I doubt that many understand the literal meaning of it, even after looking up the meaning of bushel.

Regarding your final point, your written language is fine. The only thing a native speaker might have said differently is 'Is there any other idiom that means the same?'

Rover

BobK · Dec 23, 2010

BobK said:
:up: ...especially when 'bushel' is spelt correctly!

b

I misread the exclamation mark. Apologies. And I agree with Rover about your written language; I even thought 'Any other phrasAl verb meaning the same?' was OK, if a little informal. The one expression that bothered me was 'express their skills'; I don't think you can use 'express' like that; what you express is usually an opinion/point of view/idea/thought... - something that involves words. What these people are doing is 'showing off' or 'making a show/display' of their talents (I guess that word came to mind because, like 'hide your light under a bushel' it is biblical in origin - a parable based on this coin: Attic talent - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ).

b

PS Here's a more direct link to that parable: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_talents_or_minas

Mehrgan · Dec 23, 2010

BobK said:
I misread the exclamation mark. Apologies. And I agree with Rover about your written language; I even thought 'Any other phrasAl verb meaning the same?' was OK, if a little informal. The one expression that bothered me was 'express their skills'; I don't think you can use 'express' like that; what you express is usually an opinion/point of view/idea/thought... - something that involves words. What these people are doing is 'showing off' or 'making a show/display' of their talents (I guess that word came to mind because, like 'hide your light under a bushel' it is biblical in origin - a parable based on this coin: Attic talent - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ).

b

PS Here's a more direct link to that parable: Parable of the talents or minas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

So many thanks for the great tips dear Bobk. yours.

anhtu91 · Dec 28, 2010

Why ? I don't understand :roll:

BobK · Dec 28, 2010

anhtu91 said:
Why ? I don't understand :roll:

And I don't understand what you don't understand. ;-) Could you say a bit more about what exactly you don't understand?

b

[Idiom] "Don't hide your light under a bushel!"

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