[Idiom] "Success kissed his feet" and "Success came knocking at/on his door".

[Aamir Tariq]

"Success kissed his feet" and "Success came knocking at/on his door".

There is an idiom in Urdu.

"کامیابی نے اس کے قدم چومے ۔"

If I transliterate it in Roman Urdu it would be pronounced something like this.

"Kamyabi nay os kay qadam choomay."

It's literal translation in is "Success kissed his/her feet.

And it means he was very successful (in whatever he did).

We use it for people like Captains of different sports, warriors, emperors and kings in historical backgrounds like Alexander the Great, and blah blah blah. Like wherever he went, success kissed his feet. Whatever war he fought, success kissed his feet.

Secondly, "success kissed his feet" is also used in Indian English very frequently.

Now as I have explained this idiom, will it be correct to use it in the same way we use it in our version of English? Will British, Americans, Australians, Canadians will understand what we mean to say when we use this phrase?

And would you like to suggest an equivalent idiom or phrase that conveys the same meanings? Like

Success came knocking at/on his door.
We also use it in Urdu and I guess this one is common in the English speaking world too. But I am not sure.
Also tell me if it is at or on.

Regards
Aamir the Global Citizen?

 

[GoesStation]

Re: "Success kissed his feet" and "Success came knocking at/on his door".

Success kissed his feet sounds "foreign" to me. I had never heard it till your post, but I guessed its meaning correctly. The similar idiom, to kiss his/her feet, means to express profuse, obsequious thanks, so it's a little confusing to read about "success" kissing someone's feet.

A reasonably common idiom with a similar meaning is he/she had a golden touch, suggesting that everything the person touched turned to gold.

 

[Aamir Tariq]

Re: "Success kissed his feet" and "Success came knocking at/on his door".

Success kissed his feet sounds "foreign" to me. I had never heard it till your post, but I guessed its meaning correctly. The similar idiom, to kiss his/her feet, means to express profuse, obsequious thanks, so it's a little confusing to read about "success" kissing someone's feet.

A reasonably common idiom with a similar meaning is he/she had a golden touch, suggesting that everything the person touched turned to gold.

Thanks GoesStation, in fact in Urdu if success kisses somebody's feet, it means that the person is so successful that success has become so common for him that it is in his feet. He has never experienced failures so being successful is not a big deal for him rather it is very normal for him. Like Alexander the Great stayed undefeated in all his military campaigns, so success kissed his feet. Wherever he lunched his military campaigns he conquered the land and expanded his empire.

And the sense you talked about that it means "to express profuse, obsequious thanks" yes for this one we also have a very common phrase in Urdu we call it.

"Talway Chatna" in Urdu it means to lick somebody's feet in order to show obsequious thanks to him. "Talwa" is the bottom side of the foot, Chatna means to lick, and it conveys the same meaning that you expressed.

As far as "Qadam Chomna" is concerned 'Qadam" is the step you take, "Chomna" means to kiss (not lick) and it always comes with "success" that is "Kamiyabi" in Urdu. So when a successful person who has never experienced failures and who has never been defeated like Alexander the Great, when he takes steps to get to some point or to reach somewhere the success kisses his feet. He is destined to be successful he is very lucky.

So they are two difference phrases that convey different meanings.

1. Licking somebody's feet. ("Talway Chatna",)

When someone acts in servile way to gain somebody's approval or the sense you mentioned "to express profuse, obsequious thanks". I think we also have it's equivalent in English "to lick somebody's boots".

2. Success kissed his feet, Kamiyabi nay os kay qadam chomay.
When somebody is addicted to success, and success is so common for him, He is extra lucky, He is more likely to succeed every time he competes.