why it's swine, why not pig?

兰颜知己

With this customer, he felt himself, as it were, casting pearls before swine. 面对这个客商，他感到好像是在对牛弹琴。
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and from the above sentence, it even doesn't mean pig.

billzhao

swine    n.
1 : any of various stout-bodied short-legged omnivorous artiodactyl mammals (family Suidae) with a thick bristly skin and a long flexible snout especially : a domesticated one descended from the wild boar
3 D* \4 Y& f" M( P. U2 : a contemptible person
swine fever  
1 : HOG CHOLERA
1 x: b( K# \4 Z* [2 : an acute highly contagious usually fatal disease of swine that is caused by a double-stranded DNA virus (species African swine fever virus of the genus Asfivirus, family Asfarviridae), that resembles but is more severe than hog cholera, and that is indigenous to Africa
© 2005 Merriam-Webster, Incorporated
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The reason to use swine may be that it is more formal a word than pig.

兰颜知己

got u, tks a lot.

Xbfeng

Swine Flu but not Pig Flu.

yuanyuan

pig, hog, swine 都含“猪”的意思。
7 _, f: b, h5 U7 G: p  q1 z& Ipig 是常用词, 指“猪”、“小猪”、“猪肉”, 如: roast pig 烤猪肉。
hog 指“阉过供食用的公猪”, 尤指“重量超过一百二十磅的阉过的供食用的公猪”, 如: raise hogs 养猪。
swine 是文学用语, 指“猪”, 有时借喻“讨厌的人”, 如: You swine! 你这个猪猡!

  n7 p- Y* t4 V. {7 A' O/ N, l2 Q（转自金山词霸）

rainbowfish

Great! Thank you !

金币

原帖由 兰颜知己 于 2009-4-29 12:56 发表
With this customer, he felt himself, as it were, casting pearls before swine. 面对这个客商，他感到好像是在对牛弹琴。
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$ T& ?# s9 @# v' Y) G, j8 Eand from the above sentence, it even doesn't mean  ...

顺带说一句啊，要想说对牛谈琴的意思不要用这个casting pearls before swine，至少我知在加拿大他们一般不这么说。有时候这些词典真是害人。

billzhao

估计casting pearls before swine是个比较书面话的成语吧，大家都认识，但说话一般不那么说，否则被人说使用 big words.

billzhao

对牛弹琴  
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3 A2 X; |) c6 `$ c# Rto play the lute to a cow ：  offering a treat to a unappreciative audience

1 q% B1 G8 Y9 l6 b3 t5 U4 g) dto cast pearls before swine
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; s3 e' y8 w1 u/ N+ P$ Qcaviar to the general

' a2 A" d# o9 _, Q) a- Hto preach to deaf ears

! V. J1 S2 x+ W3 d+ J& b$ F  mto talk over sb's head
     

1 t! B- h& A: Y' T9 n: UThe whistle jigs to a milestone.

6 T5 l4 ?+ @5 J6 V# W: OWith this customer, he felt himself, as it were, casting pearls before swine.
7 A3 ?, e  A2 q2 m) A面对这个客商，他感到好像是在对牛弹琴。
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: Q- X) N& g& A( Y& @) ^1 }4 hShe read them Shakespeare, but it was casting pearls before swine.
5 w& x) m( g8 [+ j% h9 m6 ]2 H$ c她为他们朗诵莎士比亚著作，但那等于对牛弹琴。
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( S% q' }( j& |& A  WAn nod is as good as a wink to a Blind horse
" t! M, v2 k/ i  Z* L5 E: s( Q对牛弹琴

2 Q# z2 A; B7 z, M! s5 i+ g
, ]$ Y  y" O$ W playing a harp before a Buffalo

play the lute to a cow; preach to deaf ears
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talk to a Brick wall
& S1 p2 _  ~( o! h对牛弹琴


; ~2 P6 u& `1 k" D2 ZTheir hints about his behaviour were water off a duck's back.
他们示意他举止不当, 如同对牛弹琴.
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/ n6 b% V$ p! E3 O8 V1 O[ 本帖最后由 billzhao 于 2009-4-30 10:49 编辑 ]

金币

原帖由 billzhao 于 2009-4-30 11:41 发表
5 G' N2 p2 R2 z# Q& j估计casting pearls before swine是个比较书面话的成语吧，大家都认识，但说话一般不那么说，否则被人说使用 big words.

' e2 ]6 x- ^  u& p* D我找了个老外确认了一下，他们好像完全不知有这个说法。

billzhao

可能
' Q- K2 I) `! j$ K1 d# e3 h可能这种说法太书面语了，也可能out of date了。
" t! l: Y% ^( x1 r也有可能外国人不爱学习，学问高的不多。
还有可能是人们的知识水平参差不齐，你问的那几个人在正态分布的尾端。
不管怎么说，既然字典上有了，就是有这种说法，而且是相当的人知道这种说法，否则就不会遍到字典上去了