I couldn't write without frequently looking for alternative words in my thesaurus. I'm vocabulary challenged. That bleeds over into sayings because I'm writing a sci-fi future scenario and current sayings don't always seamlessly apply. At the moment I'm looking for a synonym for "run for your money". My character lives in a village where there is no need for currency. So what would be an equivalent saying? Thanks in advance.
fought a good fight lasted the course I reckon it'd be a good idea to 'have an app for that'; one where you could look up idioms, adages and the like and see closely related ones. It'd take a big effort mind as I think all the compiling would have to be manually done.
give a good show fight the good fight southernisms because I can't resist: show them what-for paint their little red wagon
This is difficult without understanding what the villagers consider important and are you asking for a saying that doesn't currently exist since this is a future setting? "Bet your data-block quota" is all I got.
Thanks for all your suggestions. I was actually looking for a source of idioms that meant similar things. Though I do still need an option for 'a run for your money' in a society that doesn't have money. In context it's the protag who has a love interest already, telling a guy who likes her and who she likes that, "In a different life, you’d have given Mark a run for his money."
Kind of hard to blend in the flavor without context of your world here. Are you looking for like a actually saying or just clever words for your character? For clever words. I would say something like, .... I got nothing. I think the best blend is going to require some of your worlds culture. Like if they like running a more direct translation would be pretty clever, like. "A chance to run." A easier one is to replace it with something they have. "A run for your food." But that just feels awkward. I would say your world has culture, and that you need to run the saying through the culture's filter. This reminds me of something I once did similar. Except I made the expression up off the top of my head. I figured I would share just to see if it inspires you. "A reinforced blade has no value." The culture that said this meant that if a blade had to be reinforced, than the original blade was not good enough. Thus a blade that had to be reinforced originally had no value. Or that anything that needs help is bad, because otherwise it wouldn't need help.
I'm toying with this: "In a different life, we’d have had a chance to run.” Not sure the reader would get it, but I think they might. Something about it sticks with me.
I think that works just fine. The words are more clear than the original expression which while I understood I found it useful to look up its actual meaning. Yours is closer to the real meaning that what most people mean anyhow and even if they don't know the original express the words above make sense all by themselves.
