Bird brain (досл. птичий мозг; о глупом человеке; куриные мозги)
To have a bird's eye view (досл. видеть с высоты птичьего полета; видеть общую картину)
A little bird told me (досл. маленькая птичка сказала; сорока на хвосте принесла)
Hello, I’m a very interesting and intelligent man.
And today I’m getting together with some of my feathered friends to teach you a thing or two
about English idioms.
I bet you’ve never been never been taught by a bird before.
You might think that birds are not very clever and so not very good teachers – and you’re
right! I mean look at them.
Their heads are tiny. And a tiny head means a tiny brain. So in English we call someone isn't
very bright ‘birdbrain’.
‘Birdbrain’ – something I’ve never been called.
Another thing you may have noticed about birds is that they can fly, which is very clever
considering they are birdbrains.
Now imagine the view a bird can get when it’s flying.
Here’s a bird high in the sky and here’s the ground.
Marvellous. They can see everything.
So, come on, what do you think the idiom ‘to have a bird’s eye view’ means?
That’s right, it means to be able to see very clearly from a high place.
What's that you say? Ah, really, is that right, hmm...
I’ve got some very interesting information.
Would you like to know who told me? Well didn’t you see? A little bird told me.
I can use this idiom when I want to give you some information but I don't want you to know
who told me.
A... little... bird... told... me... some very interesting information about... You!