For years I have been trying to translate an idiom from my native tongue, meaning when you have a lot of something of a good thing. We came up with "the puzzlement of plenty", but I knew that wasn't a really good one. A few days ago finally I have found the correct English equivalent, although it is not very well used nor understood in America. The original is French: "An embarrassment of riches is an idiom that means an overabundance of something, or too much of a good thing, that originated in 1738 as John Ozell's translation of a French play...." Recently I felt the embarrassment of riches when I went online trying to find a new big screen TV. First world's problems would be today's expresson I guess. But if you go to the supermarket and want to buy a cereal, you will have the same feeling among the 1-200 different choices. Now here comes the question: This idiom is well used in Europe (in at least 2 countries I guess) or at least understood when used, but not in America. My wife says that is probably because this "problem" isn't an issue in America, but a desire. Americans want to have the embarrassment of riches, the plenty of choices of a good thing, so it is not an embarrassment at all. I guess she might be intu something. Also, if there is an English (non-American) poster here, is it a well known/used idiom in England???
I am a little puzzled by the assertion. I have lived in the U.S. all my life and have encountered the expression "embarrassment of riches" many times. Where did you get the idea that it is not used in America?
I haven't heard it until now, and I asked 2 of my dogwalker friends and they don't use it either, and I don't think they heard it very often either.
Same here. I've lived in four different states for 70 years and I have heard this phrase many times. It's not something that the average American is likely to utter, but we all understand it and it's common enough in writing. Our people have used it as the name of a play, a song, a novel and a history book.
You mean like 12 times in 70 years? I wouldn't count that as very many times. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! But I have a challenge/test. Ask the next 10 people you meet in the next few days if they know the meaning of the idiom and see what we get.... And as an evidence for its very rare usage, if you google the expression the most you get is dictionaries and such, but no blogs or newspaper articles... Among the 10-20 hits there are 3 such mentions, 2 of them from 2004 and 1987...
Really? Just for kicks, I Googled "embarrassment of riches blog".... An Embarrassment of Riches | Multnomah County Library https://multcolib.org/blog/embarrassment-riches 7 days ago - An Embarrassment of Riches is a blog about the best the library has to offer. From audio books to movies, from novels to zines, library staff and ... Blogs | Multnomah County Library https://multcolib.org/blogs 2 days ago - adults, an embarrassment of riches ... You wouldn't be reading this blog if not for the work of Grace Hopper, who advanced computers beyond ... An Embarrassment of Riches - Blogger embarrassment-of-riches.blogspot.com/ To access your blogs, sign in with your Google Account. The new Blogger requires a Google Account to access your blogs. Haven't switched yet? Sign in using ... Embarrassment of Riches: ABOUT ME - embarrassmentofriches.net www.embarrassmentofriches.net/p/about-me.html This blog is about the life we built in the city we always dreamed of moving to. Blogging Mission I maintain Embarrassment of Riches for myself. I'm thrilled to ... An Embarrassment of Riches – By Common Consent, a Mormon Blog bycommonconsent.com/2013/03/13/an-embarrassment-of-riches/ An Embarrassment of Riches. March 13, 2013 By Kristine. This weekend promises lots and lots of geeky Mormon goodness. If you're in Provo, join the Mormon ... DelCor Blog: Does your site offer an “embarrassment of riches ... www.delcor.com/Blog.aspx?id=910&blogid=154 Oct 10, 2013 - We finally signed up for Netflix streaming service, and at first were disappointed at the lack of items they had available. Of course, that was ... akhmatova - Blogger dachaakhmatova.blogspot.com/ 6 days ago - Cookies! Shayna texted me about these yesterday and Stella and I promptly set to work making them. We put in half the curry recommended ... Embarrassment of riches | Planet Blog planetblog.co/2013/04/06/embarrassment-of-riches/ by Peter Mill Apr 6, 2013 - I like them all but I particularly like No.1 I've liked it from the start – it's a very strong graphic image and works really well on the Twitter crop too. Cards, Rangers, and an Embarrassment of Riches - The Triangle ... www.grantland.com/blog/.../cards-rangers-and-an-embarrassment-of-ric... Apr 17, 2013 - The St. Louis Cardinals have a problem, one that nearly any other team would envy. They start an above-average center fielder, one of the best ... Hmmmm.... Actually, I would agree with you though. Most people don't have a clue as to the meaning of the idiom. Of course, most people don't have a clue in general...
