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.
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Taking sand to the beach.
I feel like the closest in the deep south is just “preaching to the choir”. A redundant task which ignores a probably better path or explaining something to someone who doesn’t need it explained to them.
Carrying water to the sea is the Dutch version.
Of course the Dutch version is about water
Seems like that should actually be quite a useful task in the Netherlands considering all the polders!
Apparently “owls to Athens” is common across Europe? “Wood to the forest” is a variant in the US
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)
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.
I don’t know. My coworker just said that owls are a symbol of wisdom, and Athens (historically) is the center of wisdom.
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.
Bring weed to Oregon.
Coals to Newcastle works well in Australia too. (I don’t think I’ve ever actually heard that in practice though.)
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.
Same, never heard it used here, and I can’t think of any other Australian equivalents.
Bauxite is the obvious one. Bringing bauxite to Australia. How could you forget about bauxite?
Throwing gas on the fire
I don’t think that’s what that’s supposed to mean.
I’m in the midlands and never heard that phrase but I have heard taking ice to the eskimos, which might be offensive now.
I had to look it up and apparently it’s “mencurahkan garam ke laut” a.k.a. “bringing salt to the sea” (Indonesian)
Taking weed to BC (Canada)
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
What does the phrase mean?
It means to pointlessly take something to a place that already has it in abundance.
Taking guns to America?
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.
What??
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.
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.
Ice to Eskimos in the eastern us. Yes, I know Eskimo isn’t preferred but that didn’t stop Nana.
Same, or “he could sell igloos to eskimos” to describe an especially skilled salesman.
Yeah, I’ve only ever heard it in the “he could sell…” formulation.
I’ve heard “It’s like selling ice to Eskimos” used in the context of the OP
Guess we’re getting pretty far from the “things to place” idea, but there’s always “preaching to the choir”
