Thanks for your message Elisa. Yes, it is a very useful site. And that chapter is very interesting. Enjoy

Lovely links Cyrano, thank you! I enjoyed listening to them very much. I enjoyed the Turkish marches, and on the second link there were also some other wonderful pieces I hadn't heard for a while, such as Gymnopedie No. 1 by Eric Satie. I used to love this. I used to play the piano... and I remember the days of playing the Turkish march from your first link, particularly Rondo Alla Turca.... it makes me pine to have a piano.. (One day..!)

Oh Cyrano, I haven’t used these for a while. I love “ikilemeler” in the Turkish language! I think it makes every day speech sound so much more poetic. In English ‘ikilemeler’ can be translated as ‘assonant hendiadyses’ (or assonant doublets as G.L. Lewis referred to them) – but sadly we don’t use them very often. This is also the case in the French language.

Here is a web link about them, although I fear it will be much more useful to Turkish learners, than to you.

http://www.geocities.com/ResearchTriangle/Facility/3484/doubles-troubles--part-1.html

But maybe it will give you some answer to your question, and I am sure it will explain things much better than I am able to. As far as a rule is concerned – there is not really a similar pattern in the English language as there is in the Turkish language in this instance. However, I shall think about it further, and if it comes to me, I’ll let you know! Sorry I can’t be more help to you! Erdinc can you think what the answer to this can be? Or is anyone else able to help? :-S

Thank you Salukvadze. Your questions were useful, as they got my mind thinking again

Yes Elisa - sorry, I missed that bit off my sentence (the most important word of all- story of my life!)

It seems to be a day for us to learn idioms... And to think, this thread started with a request by Abbie for sexy messages! haha!

Yes it is hard to translate it exactly. I suppose I would translate it as, He wanted an eye, but God gave him two. So in other words he was blessed with more than he could have hoped for.

I like that phrase

You have taught me something new. Teşekkürler

Cyrano - anytime Also, I like the Turkish phrase you used just then very much, I had never heard it before.

Yes Cyrano - it can mean this. But really it is an English idiom about love. It can be used in a negative or a positive way. For example, someone in love may say:

"My boyfriend is being lovey-dovey with me, and this is wonderful" - this could mean that he is being romantic, buying flowers etc.

Or, one could say for example

"Valentine's Day is too lovey-dovey" -i.e. it is almost sickly.

If two people in a romantic relationship are "lovey-dovey" with each other, they too often show their affection for each other in public by touching each other and saying loving things to each other. This can be seen as a negative thing to onlookers, as this behaviour can be seen as inappropriate

I hope this makes some sense?

With regard to why I used "lovey-dovey" to refer to the phrases in the weblink I gave - it is because they are very romantic and all about love. To those in love these seem wonderful, to those not in love, they may seem a little sickly(!)