Say what you mean!

At a mission study some friends and I led for a church last year, we performed a skit using various idioms commonly used in our part of the country. The character played by my friend was a mission worker visiting a foreign country (we used Guatemala since this country was the focus of our mission study). My character was a translator, interpreting for the audience as the mission worker told the story of her adventure getting to the country. I spoke in English, of course, but in a Hispanic accent, as if the audience couldn’t understand the mission worker, but could understand me. We had so much fun coming up with various phrases to use and deciding how the translator would interpret their literal meanings. Probably had to be there, but here were some of my favorites…

Mission worker: The plane ride here was a little rough, and for a while, I was scared to death.
Translator: The plane didn’t feel very soft, and someone died and she was scared. I would be scared, too!

Mission worker: I have been in church most of my life, and God has forgiven me of my sins over and over.
Translator: She has been going to church all of her life, and she keeps doing bad things over and over again. But it’s okay.

Mission worker: The wind was blowing and it started raining cats and dogs.
Translator: The wind was blowing and all of a sudden little animals fell out of the sky... I don’t know why.

Mission worker: A little birdie told me that you have prepared dinner for us after the service.
Translator: Apparently she talks to animals because a “BIRD TOLD HER” we had dinner.

Again, it’s better when you can see and hear it, but we sure had fun with the English language that night!