set the Thames on fire创造奇迹

【使用地区】：英国

【释义】：

To set the Thames on fire is an old expression，said of the Rhine and other rivers as well，meaning to do something marvelous，to work wonders，to almost set the world on fire．However，one persistent story claims that the Thames in the phrase is not the famous river，but a misspelling of temse，a word for a corn sieve in the eighteenth century．According to this theory，a ioke about a farm laborer who worked his ternse so hard that it caught fire probably led to this expression for“to do something remarkable．”As with so many word derivations，the truth will probably never be known．

此短语的字面意思是“焚烧泰晤士河，点燃泰晤士河”，意为“创造奇迹”或“几乎让全世界都燃烧起来”。这是一个古老的说法，也可说“焚烧莱茵河(Rhine)或其他河流”。然而，有个流传已久的说法，Thames在这个词组中不是那条著名的河流，而是temse的误拼，这个词的意思是一种18世纪的谷物筛子。按照这个理论，有个关于农夫的笑话，这名体力劳动者不停晃动谷筛，以至谷筛燃烧起来，也许由此产生了“做些不同寻常的事情”的说法。众所周知，许多词和表达方式的语源都难以说清。