In public transport, you can often hear one person complaining to another about his failures. And to embellish his speech a little, he can use the phraseology “beat like a fish on ice”. The meaning of this statement is quite interesting, and we’ll talk about it today.
Value
Many people, using winged expressions in their speech, do not quite know their interpretation. In order not to fall into an absurd situation, let's look at the meaning of phraseology “to beat like a fish on ice”. Many believe that fish attempts will succeed. But this is not so. The fish that has fallen under the ice will no longer be able to get out of there, at least without assistance. Independent efforts are futile and more useless. Actually, the same meaning applies to life. All useless actions, which are accompanied by strenuous efforts and do not lead to any result, well explain the winged expression.
In many dictionaries, the meaning “to beat like a fish on ice” is interpreted as misery. A family or a single person who is aground can describe their situation with this idiom.
Examples of using
Usually people use their phraseology to describe their work. If the boss is not a great mind man, he can force his subordinates, as in the tale "Alice in Wonderland", paint white roses in red. The stupidity of such an occupation is astounding. A person will make unthinkable efforts, but after the first rain it will be clear that the efforts and time were wasted in vain.
The misuse of phraseology - this will be the case when a person, winning about his incredible efforts, wins. Even if the first attempts were unsuccessful, and the final actions led to a positive result, this still cannot be interpreted as “to beat like a fish on ice”.
Synonymous Expressions
Speaking of futile efforts, it is possible to replace the catch phrase “to beat like a fish on ice” with phraseological units close to it in meaning. Here is a short list to help you diversify your speech:
- like peas against a wall;
- Sisyphus labor;
- Monkey labor.
All these phraseological units indicate that a person is engaged in absolutely useless things. Moreover, unlike our analogue under consideration, in the above list, a person is not obliged to act under someone else's guidance. Stupid deeds are the result of his own decisions.
Parsing folk wisdom, one wonders more than once, why are they so relevant to this day? After all, if a person suspected some kind of stupidity, it must be eradicated. And making fun of it is not very productive. Therefore, it is necessary, if possible, not to engage in Sisyphus or Monkey labor, and certainly, not to bang your head on the ice.