BY THE SKIN OF MY TEETH

• BY THE SKIN OF MY THEET.

Curiously In Spain we have a similar one: By the hairs, or by miracle.

That person salved his live by the skin of his theeth because he barely did.

AS QUIET AS A MOUSE

• AS QUIET AS A MOUSE.

I think that we are talking about house mice. That nobody can see them but ...

AS SICK AS A DOG. - - Black pudding for you. (Spanish)

• AS SICK AS A DOG.

As a Shih Tzu owner I can't understand this idiom, but I've found on the web that the dogs are supposed to eat all they find in the street, so that's why the get sick many times.

Here in Spain we have another idiom related with that. "Que te den morcilla" (Black pudding for you).

It's nearly like "Fuck you" but not so hard. And it has an explanation too. During the blackdeath (the peste), in the streets of some Spanish cities, street dogs get the illness too. The problem was that if they bite someone they could take the illness too. So they decided to kill all of them. How? With full poisoned black puddings along the streets. And it worked.

AS SLOW AS A SNAIL

• AS SLOW AS A SNAIL.

I love snail. The snail is not an insect. It is a gastropod. That is a latin word to say that they walk (pod) with the tummy (gastro).

But here in Spain, (I know that in many other countries too), they have a problem. We like eatting snails.

Here the recipe:

1. Put snails in a hanging bagnet for 2 or 3 week. In a not sunny place, please.


2. Then you have to wash them with water, salt and vinegar, so the slime will be removed.


3. Boil water and the put them into.


4. You have to move many times with a wooden spoon.


5. Without the water, mix them with tomate juice, Spanish chorizo and add the pepper you want.

AS BRAVE AS A LION (SPECIAL EDITION FOR BIOLOGYWATCHER)

• AS BRAVE AS A LION.

It was supposed to be the King but nowadays we know how he really is.

He spent all the day under a tree, in the warm shadow.

The lioness runs to hunt since the male is resting.

The mane of the lion is to look bigger when he is fighting with another lion.

Although I'm speaking with funny sentences, I have to become serious to explain that those lovely mammals' population is particularly endangered, so please let's look after them.

AS WISE AS AN OWL.(SPECIAL EDITION FOR BIOLOGYWATCHER)

• AS WISE AS AN OWL.

Even in the ancient Greek mithology, the owl appears as an important animal, a very special one, it is clever and wise indeed.

I think it is all about its behaviour. The owl spents nearly all the day without moving, just watching what in the ground is happening. When the sensitive eyes of the owl discovers a bug, a big insect or even a mouse, it will be killed in a sec.