The Sorcerer's Apprentice. Meaning, origin, examples of the use of phraseological units

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Winged words, phraseological units. Meaning, history of origin, examples of use

Winged words, phraseological units

Directory / Winged words, phraseological units

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The Sorcerer's Apprentice

Johann Wolfgang Goethe

Phraseologism: The Sorcerer's Apprentice.

Meaning: About a half-educated specialist who can start a certain process, bring to life certain forces, but is unable to cope with them, direct them to the desired goal (ironic, disapproved).

Origin: From German: "Der Zauberlehrling". The name of the ballad of the German poet and scientist Johann Wolfgang Goethe (1749-1832), the plot of which the writer borrowed from the ancient Greek philosopher and satirist Lucian (II century). In both cases, the plot is similar: a magician's apprentice, having spied on some of the rites of his teacher, but not understanding their essence, brings to life some dark forces. But this is the only thing he can do: he does not know how to send them back, nor how to deal with them, and eventually dies.

Random phraseology:

Up the stairs leading down.

Meaning:

About actions that at first glance contribute to something, changing the situation for the better, but in fact only worsen the situation.

Origin:

The title of the novel (1961) is about a school written by the American writer Bel Kaufman (b. 1911), granddaughter of the famous Jewish writer Sholom Aleichem (pseudonym of Sholom Nokhumovich Rabinovich, 1859-1916). B. Kaufman lived in Odessa until the revolution of 1917, after which she moved to the USA with her family. The idea to name her novel exactly like that was born in her thanks to the following episode: once the administrator of the school where B. Kaufman taught at that time made a memorandum about the behavior of one of the students: "I was detained for violating the rules: I went up the stairs leading down" . Although at first glance this phrase sounds absurd, it is based on one, quite practical consideration. In American schools, in order to avoid crowds and, accordingly, childhood injuries, one staircase was only allowed to go up, while others were only allowed to go down.

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