Sunday, January 2, 2011

Something smells fishy 鱼腥味(事情怪怪的) ...


Something smells fishy 
鱼腥味(事情怪怪的) ...



Just How did the phrase "Something smells fishy" come to mean ?
Well, we know that it spells "suspicious" or "doubt factor" ...



A quick search in google found 323,000 results ...



There is even a joke about it 
What is the difference between the Atlantic salmon and the Pacific salmon?
The Pacific Salmon says "later dude" and wears Hawaiian shirts. 
The Atlantic Salmon says "yo!" and wears shoes (sometimes) ...
But I am not sure if there is anything to do with the topic today ! 



And there is one definition that stands out which I like and
does not "smell too fishy" about it ...

A book of expression origins. 
Published by Simon and Schuster ...

The term something smells fishy has its roots in the Boer Wars. 
The Boers were using the new smokeless cartridges in their German Mauser rifles 
which greatly concealed their positions, causing great consternation amongst the British.

But although the cartridges were smokeless, an inexplicable after effect of
 a freshly loaded round was the lingering smell of fish which hung in the 
air heavily for several minutes, then vanished.

As the British moved furtively through the brush they would on occasion catch 
a whiff of fish and exclaim "Something smells fishy."

At that point they would duck and cover because they knew the enemy was in the area.