Session 6
The Experiment is a collection of short series that are a little different to our usual programmes - but still help you improve your English.
Our first series, We Say - You Say, shows how YOUR language can help you remember English expressions.
Session 6 score
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- 0 / 4Activity 1
Activity 1
We Say - You Say
We say...
'Once bitten, twice shy' to mean, because you have a bad and unpleasant experience doing something the first time, you are more cautious and worried about doing it a second time.
Examples:
After Harry was sick on the rollercoaster, I don't think he'll go on one again – once bitten, twice shy!
Since Debbie broke up with her boyfriend, she's become very cautious about starting a new relationship. It's a case of once bitten, twice shy.
Watch the video and complete the activity
Kee
In English we say 'once bitten, twice shy' to mean, because you have a bad and unpleasant experience doing something the first time, you are more cautious and worried about doing it a second time.
Examples:
After Harry was sick on the rollercoaster, I don't think he'll go on one again – once bitten, twice shy!
Since Debbie broke up with her boyfriend, she's become very cautious about starting a new relationship. It's a case of once bitten, twice shy.
You say…
Manoshi
In English you have an idiom 'once bitten, twice shy' – now in Bengali we have something similar we call ন্যাড়া একবারই বেল তলায় যায় – now nera is a bald headed man and bel tolai is a tree which bears a fruit called bel which is very very hard, as big as a grapefruit, as hard as a duce ball, so you can imagine if it lands on your head you will have a very very painful experience - so if you have that experience once you will never go under the bel tree (again).
Myint Swe
In English you say 'once bitten, twice shy' in Burmese we say တခါေသဘူးပ်ဥ္ဖိုးနားလည္။ - which means once you experience somebody dying in your surroundings, you will know the value of wood to make a coffin.
Graciela
In English you say 'once bitten, twice shy', in Portuguese we say: Gato escaldado tem medo de água fria – a cat that has been scalded with hot water is even afraid of cold water. Poor cat!
Kee
So, there are a few examples of 'one bitten, twice shy' in other languages, what do you say?
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You say...
In Bangali - ন্যাড়া একবারই বেল তলায় যায় – if you get hit by a bel fruit, you will never stand under a bel tree again.
In Burmese - တခါေသဘူးပ်ဥ္ဖိုးနားလည္။ - which means once you experience somebody dying in your surroundings, you will know the value of wood to make a coffin.
In Portuguese - Gato escaldado tem medo de água fria – a cat that has been scalded with hot water is even afraid of cold water. Poor cat!
To do
Try our quiz to see what you've learnt about the meaning of today's expression:
How well do you know this phrase?
4 Questions
Decide if these examples correctly use the phrase 'once bitten, twice shy'
Help
Activity
Decide if these examples correctly use the phrase 'once bitten, twice shy'
Hint
Is he more reluctant to play football after hurting his foot?Question 1 of 4
Help
Activity
Decide if these examples correctly use the phrase 'once bitten, twice shy'
Hint
Is she more reluctant to do something after a bad experience?Question 2 of 4
Help
Activity
Decide if these examples correctly use the phrase 'once bitten, twice shy'
Hint
Has a bad experience made him more cautious about repeating the experience?Question 3 of 4
Help
Activity
Decide if these examples correctly use the phrase 'once bitten, twice shy'
Hint
Has the experience made this person more reluctant to do it again?Question 4 of 4
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