borrow trouble
Meaning: To worry about problems that may never happen.
Language: English
Literally: (Already vivid in English)
Example: “The test isn't until next month; don't borrow trouble.”
Category: Daily Life
Origin: Taking on trouble before it is due, like a loan. The phrase is American, common from the 19th century, often as "don't borrow trouble."
Equivalents in other languages
- Japanese: 杞憂 (Kiyū) — literally: Worry of Qi - fear that the sky might fall
- Afrikaans: Bobbejaan agter die bult — literally: A baboon behind the hill
More idioms — Daily Life
- act like one owns the place — To behave with arrogant disregard for others.
- once in a lifetime — So rare that it will probably happen only once.
- out of one's league — Too good, attractive or expensive for someone to have a chance with.
- a stroke of luck — A sudden, unexpected piece of good fortune.
- if at first you don't succeed, try, try again — Keep trying after failure.
- look before you leap — Think carefully before acting.
More English idioms
- cook the books — To falsify figures, especially accounts.
- no room to swing a cat — A very small or cramped space.
- a snake in the grass — A treacherous person who pretends to be a friend.
- give one's eyeteeth for something — To want something very badly.
- like chalk and cheese — Completely different, though perhaps similar at first glance.
- blush to the roots of one's hair — To go very red with embarrassment.
From our tongue twisters
- How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? — A 'w/ch/ck' drill that accelerates comically — and nobody really knows the answer.
- The sixth sick sheikh's sixth sheep's sick. — Believed by Guinness to be among the hardest in English — 'six/sick/sheikh/sheep' blur in…
- Betty Botter bought some butter, but she said the butter's bitter. — A 'b / t / tt' plosive drill that bounces between Betty, butter, and bitter.