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  3. General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters

"Take the tide, ere it turns!"

English translation: seize an opportunity before it disappears

12:27 Aug 7, 2012
English language (monolingual) [PRO]
General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
English term or phrase: "Take the tide, ere it turns!"
Mardi

Thank you!
Michael Kislov
Russian Federation
Local time: 13:49
Selected answer:seize an opportunity before it disappears
Explanation:
Originally it referred to a ship leaving a river or port when the tide was high. With a low tide, it wouldn't be able to leave. More generally, it could refer to any opportunity - take it before it disappears.
Selected response from:

Martin Riordan
Brazil
Local time: 07:49
Grading comment
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
4 +6seize an opportunity before it disappears
Martin Riordan


  

Answers


6 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +6
"take the tide, ere it turns!"
seize an opportunity before it disappears


Explanation:
Originally it referred to a ship leaving a river or port when the tide was high. With a low tide, it wouldn't be able to leave. More generally, it could refer to any opportunity - take it before it disappears.

Martin Riordan
Brazil
Local time: 07:49
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 275

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Jack Doughty: Shakespeare uses this metaophor. "There is a tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries." (Julius Caesar)
19 mins
  -> Thanks, Jack!
agree  Oliver Lawrence: ere = before (archaic/literary)
19 mins
  -> Thanks, Oliver!
agree  Diana Alsobrook
1 hr
  -> Thanks, Diana!
agree  B D Finch
1 hr
  -> Thanks, BD!
agree  Kate Collyer: carpe diem
4 hrs
  -> Indeed! Thanks, Kate.
agree  Peter Skipp
1 day 18 hrs
  -> Thanks, Peter!
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