More fish in the sea :D

[lookforuu]

Right now I could just think of one, which is 'more fish in the sea', not sure if it's an idiom though, but it surely exists in English, hehe.

[linguaholic]

hehe sounds funny. What is it supposed to mean? Could you make an example please 

[Ersatz]

The usual phrase is, "There's plenty more fish in the sea."  It's usually used to cheer up people who are having a hard time dating/have recently ended a relationship, so they're consoled.  It means something like, "You found one person, you'll find another one -- there's lots of people out there to meet."

Why, exactly, we describe romance in terms of fish is beyond me.

[lookforuu]

Yea, it's quite often used to cheer up someone who breaks up from a relationship, hehe.

[linguaholic]

oh I got that now...but why fish are used metaphorically to describe this...I also don't know to be honest :=)

[xara]

Sure, there's plenty of fish in the sea. But there's also sharks, seaweed & toxic waste! :grin:

[BWL]

This one uses the metaphor of there being plenty of fishes in the sea (good and bad ones) but what it means it that for one who has lost a chance at finding love, there is no need to worry because the world is a big place with lots of potential partners out there.

[Believeinsomething]

Yes, and if you can visualize how many fish are in the sea... it's easier to accept there are a lot more potential partners out there.

Along the same line, we often say "better throw that one back", meaning it is not a good match or there is something wrong with that person and it is time to move on.

There are a lot of sayings we use when it comes to relationships and fish. "He's a good catch." "That one got away." and "I'm hooked." are some others which come to mind.

Wow, I'll stop here, but there are a lot more out there. People and fish... I guess dating is a lot like fishing.

[writestuff13]

Good point about the other fishing-related expressions... I never realized that before!

[Czarownica]

Yes, and if you can visualize how many fish are in the sea... it's easier to accept there are a lot more potential partners out there.

Along the same line, we often say "better throw that one back", meaning it is not a good match or there is something wrong with that person and it is time to move on.

There are a lot of sayings we use when it comes to relationships and fish. "He's a good catch." "That one got away." and "I'm hooked." are some others which come to mind.

Wow, I'll stop here, but there are a lot more out there. People and fish... I guess dating is a lot like fishing.

That's actually something linguists call the conceptual metaphor. A conceptual metaphor is when you understand one idea in terms of another. You have two domains, source domain and target domain. In this case, the metaphor would be "relationships are fishing" (the conceptual metaphor is presented as a sentence "X is Y") - relationships is target domain, while fishing is the source domain.

Hopefully I'm not going too offtopic, but I think it's pretty interesting Wikipedia has a pretty decent article on it, if anybody's interested in that - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conceptual_metaphor

[linguaholic]

and the conceptual metatphor brings us to the incredible work of George Lakoff & Mark Johnson: "Metaphors we live by". If you have a deep interest in metaphors, you will need to read this. It is like the holy grail in literature about metaphors.

[pcgamer]

When my  GF broke up with me, my cousion said, there is more  fish in the sea. She was just being a bitc*. This is the perfect example of it

[kitkat0124]

It just mean that you ex bf/gf is not the only one, and you have a huge selection of better people around. Usually people use it to comfort someone after losing a gf/bf.

[cinderr]

"More fish in the sea" means there are other lovers/girlfriends/whatever  out there for you--this will not be your only love affair.

[Trellum]

I always say the same thing when a friend of mine or relative breaks up with someone or is having a hard time finding someone. My mom used to tell me that when I was single   It worked, I must admit, I felt a bit better after hearing that.  All that is in the past now, because I really think I've found the man I might spend the rest of my days with (I hope so, but you never really know!).

I'm glad I'm not longer on the dating scene anymore... there are plenty of fish, but many of those fishies are not for me 

[ashwinr1]

The reason for comparison with fish is generally fishes are found in large groups and are used to denote large numbers. My friend used to comically say "For a person committed to a relationship, there is just one fish in the sea whereas for a non-committed person there are lot more fishes in the sea"

[ghanashyam]

Right now I could just think of one, which is 'more fish in the sea', not sure if it's an idiom though, but it surely exists in English, hehe.

It is here in India said like this, " There are plenty fish in pond.", a perfect idiom to quote to a person who has lost his love bird.

[pftsusan]

This means that if you breakup your relationship that there is more people out there for you to choose from. You can still find Mister or Misses right.

[yellowbird]

This is the opposite situation and not completely related, but it makes me laugh. ^^

http://quicklol.com/plenty-more-fish-in-the-sea/

[writeletters]

"There are plenty more fish in the sea," is a phrase which is told to people who face breakups. It means there will always be someone else you can date, so to speak. There are always more people to meet, more places to go, that sort of thing.

[scottman]

More fish in the sea addresses the hurt of a relationship not working out with one person. While it feels like they're the only ones that matter, you'll realize over time there are many others just as good and important as that one person.

[Dame6089]

Does anyone know the origin of this? Is it recent aka 1900s or is it something that has been around for centuries.

[pandandesign]

I have heard this phrase often, which I have heard from my customers at my workplace. I think the definition would be someone who has undergone a major breakup, which is told by other people me aning there are more than one girl in the world.

[LauraM]

Does anyone know the origin of this? Is it recent aka 1900s or is it something that has been around for centuries.

It's actually quite old.  There are examples of the phrase and similar phrases echoing the same basic concept dating back to the 1800s in literature.  In recent years, the use of the phrase has been more focused on romance and finding romance and being without a partner and realizing -- or more likely being reassured by others -- that despite the sudden loss there are other opportunities and other people i.e. "more fish in the sea."

[lizbeth19hph]

The usual phrase is, "There's plenty more fish in the sea."  It's usually used to cheer up people who are having a hard time dating/have recently ended a relationship, so they're consoled.  It means something like, "You found one person, you'll find another one -- there's lots of people out there to meet."

Why, exactly, we describe romance in terms of fish is beyond me.

The proper idiomatic phrase should be "There's plenty of fish in the sea." connoting a lot of better ones out there for you if you have failed in a relationship or was rejected by someone.