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Thread: to have one foot in a grave? tricky idiom

  1. #1
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    to have one foot in a grave? tricky idiom

    when do they say 'to have one foot in a grave'?

    my teacher(she is from scotland) says we can say that only about old people

    but my dictionary(its longman) says that we can use it both way( about very ill and very old)

    whats the true?

    thanks
    my e-mail: mozhajtseva@yandex.ru
    хочу получить письмо, и все!

  2. #2
    DDT
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    You can say it about anyone who is old, sick, injured taking a risk or living a risky or dangerous lifestyle.
    Let me be a free man, free to travel, free to stop, free to work, free to trade where I choose, free to choose my own teachers, free to follow the religion of my fathers, free to talk, think and act for myself. - Chief Joseph, Nez Perce

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    And about people who have literally one of their feet in someone's grave
    Hei, rett norsken min og du er død.
    I am a notourriouse misspeller. Be easy on me.
    Пожалуйста! Исправляйте мои глупые ошибки (но оставьте умные)!
    Yo hablo español mejor que tú.
    Trusnse kal'rt eturule sikay!!! ))

  4. #4
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    It's like "Одной ногой в могиле", the same works for Russian.
    «И всё, что сейчас происходит внутре — тоже является частью вселенной».

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    They say I might as well face the truth,
    That I am just too long in the tooth,
    Oh, I’m an OAP and with needs,
    But I have not yet quite gone to seed
    I may be over the hill now that I have retired,
    Fading away but I’m not yet expired,
    Clapped out, run down, too old to save,
    One foot in the grave
    One foot in the grave
    Show yourself - destroy our fears - release your mask

  6. #6
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    thanks everybody
    my e-mail: mozhajtseva@yandex.ru
    хочу получить письмо, и все!

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by VendingMachine
    They say I might as well face the truth,
    That I am just too long in the tooth,
    Oh, I’m an OAP and with needs,
    But I have not yet quite gone to seed
    I may be over the hill now that I have retired,
    Fading away but I’m not yet expired,
    Clapped out, run down, too old to save,
    One foot in the grave
    One foot in the grave
    VendingMachine, you are so British.
    Ingenting kan stoppa mig
    In Post-Soviet Russia internet porn downloads YOU!

  8. #8
    Старший оракул
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    Is "to have one foot in the grave" the same as "дышать на ладан"?

  9. #9
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    Perfectly matching.
    «И всё, что сейчас происходит внутре — тоже является частью вселенной».

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by saibot
    Is "to have one foot in the grave" the same as "дышать на ладан"?
    Yes, but we have an even closer idiom: одной ногой на том свете.
    Show yourself - destroy our fears - release your mask

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