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Lesson 13

Putting your ideas across through fables

Do you know the etymology of the expression “sour grapes”?
Where did this expression come from, for instance in this

dialogue:
A: What’s the score (what’s the update) with that chick (a slang for a

young, attractive girl) your were hitting on (to hit on somebody is to try to
attract somebody)?

B: She gave me the cold shoulders (an idiom that means to ignore) and told me to beat it (to go

away).
A: I’m sorry to hear that dude. That must have been devastating.

B: She isn’t good enough for me anyway. I deserve so much more than just some pretty face.
A: sour grapes!

Etymology of Sour Grapes
The Fox and the Sour Grapes (An Aesop Fable)

Once upon a time, a hungry fox happened on a delicious looking bunch of grapes in the
forest. But the bunch was set high up in the vine, and jump high as he may, the fox couldn’t

reach it. Frustrated and a hundred times hungrier, the fox mumbled to himself,” What the
hell, those grapes are sour anyway.” When we call a person ‘sour grapes’, we mean he con-

soles himself for failing, with absurd rationalizations. In the story, the fox very well knows
that the grapes were ripe and sweet, but since he can’t get those grapes, he denies reality

and concludes even if he got them, they would have been too sour to be eaten anyway.

Comprehension

1. What do you mean by, “She gave me the cold shoulders”?
2. According to the fable in this article, why did the fox sour grape?

Questions

1. Put an idea across by means of a fable.
2. Tell a famous Korean fable.

Vocabulary & Expressions
etymology: an account of the history of a particular word or element of a word
mumble: to speak in a low indistinct manner, almost to an unintelligible extent, mutter
rationalization: to ascribe (one’s acts, opinions, etc.) to causes that superficially
seem reasonable and valid but that actually are unrelated to the true,
possibly unconscious and often less creditable or agreeable causes
deny: to state that (something declared or believed to be true) is not true
hitting on: to attract or to woo somebody

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