Coals to Newcastle in other languages
Hi everybody, this is just for a bit of linguaphile fun. So, as wiki tells us (carrying) Coals to Newcastle is about
a pointless venture, in the sense of sending something to a place where it's made, or where they already have it in abundance.
I wonder what similar proverbs in other languages we can unearth. I know of two others:
a Classical Greek one
glauka Athenadze - (bringing an) Owl to Athens
in Classical Antiquity owl was a symbol of both Athena and Athena, there was a big colony of owls living in the Athenian Acropolis and Athenian coins were minted with an owl symbol
and a Russian one
v Tulu so svoim samovarom - (going) to Tula with one's own Samovar
Tula is a Russian town that was famous for its metalwork and smiths, and in the 19th century the most appreciated samovars for tea http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samovar came from there.
More examples in your languages? TIA
a pointless venture, in the sense of sending something to a place where it's made, or where they already have it in abundance.
I wonder what similar proverbs in other languages we can unearth. I know of two others:
a Classical Greek one
glauka Athenadze - (bringing an) Owl to Athens
in Classical Antiquity owl was a symbol of both Athena and Athena, there was a big colony of owls living in the Athenian Acropolis and Athenian coins were minted with an owl symbol
and a Russian one
v Tulu so svoim samovarom - (going) to Tula with one's own Samovar
Tula is a Russian town that was famous for its metalwork and smiths, and in the 19th century the most appreciated samovars for tea http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samovar came from there.
More examples in your languages? TIA