Cockroaches in the head - about oddities with a smile

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-07 19:44

For most of our compatriots, the forced neighborhood with cockroaches has lasted for many decades. In the kitchens of communal apartments, they were permanent residents, and no one could get rid of them. Yes, and on the territory of one's own, separate living space, it is quite difficult to completely drive off small illegal tenants. This close relationship has led to the little brown insects "settling down" in a number of common vernacular expressions. The funniest and most expressive of them: "cockroaches in the head".

What does that mean?

This phraseological unit is used so often that not everyone can fully characterize it. Everyone understands the meaning perfectly, they use it almost every day, and they simply don’t know other words to express its meaning.

Let's try to figure it out. "Cockroaches in the head" is primarily a characteristic of an original personality, with extraordinary behavior. So they say about an eccentric man, with his troubles, very strange withthe point of view of a layman. The phrase itself is very ironic and allows you to note someone's unusual behavior without offending him, since later the conversation can always be turned into a joke.

Why do they say that?

There are three main assumptions that explain the origin of the phrase "cockroaches in the head".

According to the first version, the phrase originated from observations of the behavior of a person in whose ear a cockroach (or other insect) was stuck. As a rule, in such a situation, people behave very funny and, frankly, non-standard: they twist their fingers in the auricle, shake their heads, stomp and jump. At the same time, a stuck cockroach completely absorbs all their attention.

The second assumption is based on the ability of cockroaches to disable any, even the most reliable, device in a matter of hours. Everyone knows that once these little rogues settle inside the housing of household appliances, it will be almost impossible to repair it.

And the legend at number three was born of memories of an incident from the life of the great Russian poet A. S. Pushkin. They say that once he was told a funny story: supposedly cockroaches are able to get into a person’s head during his sleep, settle there and start eating the brain. To which Alexander Sergeevich said: “How interesting, now I will say about fools that they are offended by cockroaches.”

Foreign cockroaches

Phraseologisms about oddities, unique and unusual behavior of people are present inmany languages. All of them are rightfully considered analogues of our expression "cockroaches in the head", although they do not speak about the insects themselves.

Of course, listing all the world's analogues is quite difficult. Let's address only the most common European languages:

• Spanish people say cada loco con su tema, which literally means "everyone has their own theme";
• Germans will say einen Vogel im Kopf haben, which means "to have a bird in your head";
• the British have an expression a bee in one's bonnet (a bee in a hat), perhaps this phrase is closest to our "cockroaches in my head".

It is very useful and interesting to study similar expressions in different languages. With their help, you can learn more about the mentality of the nation, and using it in a conversation with a native speaker will show a high level of erudition.

Humor and insects

It's hard to argue with the fact that the phrase about cockroaches is capacious, interesting and very funny. And irony has always been inherent in our compatriots. Therefore, Russian folk art could not confine itself to just one sentence "cockroaches in the head." Statuses on social networks are full of various phrases about insects. Sometimes they slightly distort or expand the original meaning of the expression. But that makes it even funnier.

Here are just a few of them:

• there are decisions that make the cockroaches in my head give a standing ovation;
• bad when cockroaches settled in my head, but stillworse if they are stupid;
• I'll contradict myself, it's strange how my cockroaches still haven't gnawed each other;
• cockroaches in my head, butterflies in my stomach - yes, I'm just some kind of terrarium;
• there are no cockroaches in my head, they were eaten by larger and more dangerous creatures;
• it's good when you and your loved one have the same kind of cockroaches in your head.

And finally, the shortest and funniest joke about cockroaches in my head.

X: I think there is a mysterious spark in her eyes!

XX: No, it’s more likely that cockroaches are celebrating a holiday in her head, and you see fireworks…