Lived from Virginia to Ohio, Indiana Illinois and Michigan, also heard “can’t see the forest FOR the trees” which I always figures was a more colloquial change.
I haven’t heard that exact phrasing before, and as a native English speaker born and raised in California, that wording sounds a little awkward to me. It does kind of sound like something my mom, who is from the east coast, would say. 😆
She also says “quarter of 8” when it is 7:45, which never made sense to me either. I usually hear quarter til 8 or quarter after 8 (for 8:15). Never quarter of. And whenever I point out that the phrase doesn’t really make much sense, she does this whole hand motion to explain it, which just confuses me even more.
It’s those Bostonians, man. Gotta watch out for them. They say weird stuff.
The English phrase is “missing the forest for the trees”
Not quite the same as chess blindness. Possibly the opposite. It basically means: being unable to see (or ignoring) the bigger picture because you’re too focused on minor individual details
How can you see your house if you are inside of it?
Fun fact, in german there’s a saying that goes “to not see the forest because all of the trees” (which in english would be probably called “chess blindness”)
That’s a common saying in the US as well. Never heard of chess blindness, though.
Didn’t know that. TIL, thanks
Edit: how do you say it? “I can’t see the forest because of all the trees”? That would be the literal word by word translation coming from german
“you can’t see the forest for the trees.”
Or sometimes “you can’t see the woods for the trees”
I have heard it with that exact wording many times. Or maybe, “can’t see the forest through the trees”
Lived from Virginia to Ohio, Indiana Illinois and Michigan, also heard “can’t see the forest FOR the trees” which I always figures was a more colloquial change.
I haven’t heard that exact phrasing before, and as a native English speaker born and raised in California, that wording sounds a little awkward to me. It does kind of sound like something my mom, who is from the east coast, would say. 😆
Don’t get me started on pop vs soda…
I say soda, wife says pop. We have a little exchange of “correcting” each other a couple times a month.
You’re both wrong. The generic word for a sweet, carbonated beverage is “coke”.
My mom grew up saying “tonic”…
She also says “quarter of 8” when it is 7:45, which never made sense to me either. I usually hear quarter til 8 or quarter after 8 (for 8:15). Never quarter of. And whenever I point out that the phrase doesn’t really make much sense, she does this whole hand motion to explain it, which just confuses me even more.
It’s those Bostonians, man. Gotta watch out for them. They say weird stuff.
The English phrase is “missing the forest for the trees”
Not quite the same as chess blindness. Possibly the opposite. It basically means: being unable to see (or ignoring) the bigger picture because you’re too focused on minor individual details
You can’t really. At least not well enough to know for certain what it looks like from the street.