The expression "grandmother in two said": the interpretation and etymology

Our speech is enriched by various stable combinations of words. They are formed from folk sayings or are created by one author. Proverbs and sayings can be mentioned among them. Some of them become phraseological. For example, my grandmother said in two.

In this article, we will consider this stable expression. Define the interpretation, the history of the origin of the phrase.

"Grandma in two said": the value of phraseology. Appeal to phraseological and explanatory dictionaries

Sometimes it is not clear how life will turn out, what will come out of this or that action. In such cases, the expression "grandmother in two said" is used. What does it mean?

For the answer, let us turn to the phraseological dictionary compiled by Stepanova MI . It gives the following definition: "It is not known whether something will happen or not." This means that to say in two is to say in a streamlined way, to say yes or no.

SI Ozhegov also gives the definition of expression in his explanatory dictionary. It states that this is a proverb (it was recorded by Dahl in his work) and it means "it is still unknown what will happen, maybe so, and otherwise."

Thus, the stable combination of words we are considering can be replaced by such words as "not clear", "not defined".

"Grandmother said in two:" the origin of the expression

This phrase is a saying. So, this is the popular saying. It appeared not accidentally. Previously, people were pagans. To find out their fate, the future, they went to fortune-teller fortune-tellers.

In fact, the saying we are talking about is longer. In part, it is an expression of "grandmother's fortune teller, let's say it in two." It feels ironic. It was not always true what my grandmother guessed. Many understood that the prediction can not be completely reliable. Therefore, when they did not know whether the alleged would come true or not, they said "my grandmother said in two". This expression was popular and became winged.

The use of the phrase in question

The expression was used by various Russian writers: Turgenev in Fathers and Children, Saltykov-Shchedrin in "In the Environment of Moderation and Accuracy," Shishkov in "Emelian Pugachev," Mstislavsky in "Grach-Bird of Spring", Sedykh in Dauria, Pisemsky in "Meshchan", Reshetnikov in "The Protagonist", Uspensky in the "Unprecedented Event" and other writers in their works.

Directors also used this proverb. For example, in 1979, the Soviet film "Grandmothers in two said".

Politicians and journalists are still actively using this phrase. For example, if they do not believe in any messages, promises, they question them.

Conclusion

We considered a stable combination of the words "my grandmother said in two". With the help of dictionaries, we learned that expression is part of the saying. It means an indefinite answer, an unclear situation: neither yes nor no; anyway.

We found the roots of the proverbial origin. It turned out that it is connected with divination babok. Believe in their authenticity and be confident in the results of such a pagan way to know the future is hardly worth it. Therefore, this saying casts doubt on what can supposedly be.

Due to its importance, this winged phrase has been actively used and used in various fields: in literature, media, cinema, politics. It is used in cases when something is exposed to doubt, when it is not known what will happen and how everything will turn out.

So there are stable combinations. Our ancestors knew how to portray various vital phenomena in capacious words. Thanks to them our speech became rich and bright. We can express a deep thought, express our point of view and show our attitude only by a combination of words.