"Be a dog in the manger" nghĩa là gì?

Đăng bởi lovebird21c - 02 Mar, 2018

Photo courtesy wikipedia.

'Be a dog in the manger' có từ manger = máng ăn (ngựa, trâu, bò)

= a person who has no need of, or ability to use, a possession that would be of use or value to others, but who prevents others from having it.

(late 16th century: alluding to the fable of the dog that lay in a manger to prevent the ox and horse from eating the hay)

(cuối thế kỷ 16) ngụ ngôn -> chó nằm trong cũi để ngăn không cho bò và ngựa ăn cỏ khô,

-> ích kỷ, không muốn ai dùng đến cái gì mình không dùng đến;

= chó già giữ xương.

Ví dụ

Usually, those people had nothing to gain from the proposed changes, but had a dog in the manger attitude towards those who would benefit most.

The dog-in-the-manger crowd is increasing. These people feel helpless and depressed and figure if they can’t have a decent life anymore, then nobody else should, either.

“There have been problems of people drug-taking in the building a while back,” adds Bickington resident Robert Wakeling. “Heavitree Brewery are taking a dog-in-the-manger view of this pub. They don’t want anyone else to have it and they won’t sort it out themselves.”

The foreign secretary said the UK was not bent on the destruction of the EU, and would not adopt a “dog in the manger” manager to disrupt member state cooperation if they continued to meet the goal of spending at least 2% of their GDP on defence.

Phạm Hạnh

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Tags: phrase