→ Shot sparrow

shot sparrow

Meaning, origin and examples of the use of phraseological units

shot sparrow | old sparrow - (colloquial) man with big life experience who has experienced a lot, who is difficult to deceive.

Synonyms : grated kalach; old (etched, shot) wolf; flying head (head); see all sorts of things; go through fire and copper pipes.

Antonyms : yellow-mouthed chick (youth); fledgling chick;

Etymology : the expression is part of the proverb “You can’t fool the old (or shot) sparrow on the chaff” (which means “the old sparrow will understand where the grain is and where the waste is”), that is, experienced, knowing person cannot be deceived. He will unravel the deception. The proverb reflects real observations over the habits of sparrows, which have long caused losses to the peasants. Chaff - the remains of ears, stems and other waste that are obtained during threshing of cereals, flax and other crops. When the ripened grain is separated from the ear, the empty ears with grain shells look like full ears. An old, experienced sparrow in search of food will never take chaff for full ears, but will look for stacks that have not yet been threshed. The word "old" can be replaced by the word "shot", i.e. one that was shot many times by the peasants, trying to scare the birds away from the crops.

The proverb, as well as phraseological units derived from it, have correspondences in other languages. Compare with the Ukrainian proverb “You can’t fool the old (shooting) humpbacker on the floor” and phraseological units “shooting humpbacker”, “shooting bird”; English “old birds are not to be caught with chaff” and “old bird” ; german “Alte Sperlige sind schwer zu fangen” ( letters. translation: Old sparrows are difficult to catch); Czech “pálený ptáček” (singed bird); Italian "passero veccio" (lit.: old sparrow). So, in many Slavic and non-Slavic languages, the image of an old, shot bird is a symbol of a person with great life experience, who has passed many trials, who is knowledgeable, prudent and patient, who is worth a lot of work to outwit.

Usage examples :

All sorts of withholding is useless, from them the trouble then seems even worse. I something old sparrow, I know. ( A. Koptyaeva. "Ivan Ivanovich")

Well, he is a young man, he has only just begun to smell life, and I sparrow shot. (A. Chakovsky. "Year of life")

Where will you be from? - asked his neighbor, very shabby, very, very, apparently, shot sparrow. (V. Shukshin. "And in the morning they woke up"

5. I already shot sparrow, who survived both successes, and half-successes, and failures, but was literally crushed, stunned, dumbfounded by the gigantic, powerful stream of responses to the "Irony of Fate". ( E. Ryazanov. "Meeting with the viewer").

Murzavetskaya: Enough, mother! Why are you turning my eyes away? I old sparrow You can't fool me on the chaff. ( A. Ostrovsky. "Wolves and Sheep"

Smiling and screwing up her eyes, she liked to repeat: Bird I shot, grated kalach, you won’t fool me like that sparrow on the chaff. ( S. Babaevsky."Plot")

shot sparrow denotes an experienced person who is not easy or even impossible to deceive. It is also not easy to surprise such an individual, because he has seen a lot.

As an analogy to refer to such an experienced person, the phrase third kalach can be used.

There is a saying that you can’t cheat a shot sparrow on chaff, and this gives a complete understanding that the phraseology of the expression shot sparrow this is about an experienced person who went through fire, water and copper pipes. Such a person is never afraid, and no matter what trouble he gets into, he will find a way out of it.

And yet, this shot sparrow is the one that will circle you around your finger, but you deceive him

you can’t, under any circumstances. And such a person knows all the moves and exits, and believes that his experience is not comparable with the experience of other people, he has it higher. And he never bites, as they say, at first everything will check.

A shot sparrow is a person who has already been in some kind of ups and downs, and therefore it is almost impossible to lead him on this. A man experiencedquot ;, you can probably still say the same about him, who will not step on a rake a second time. He is experienced and untrustworthy.

Phraseologism shot sparrow is widely used in folk speech. When this set phrase define a person, then everyone understands that we are talking about an experienced, experienced and somewhat cautious person in business or doing business.

And this phraseological unit arose a long time ago from people's observations of the habits of birds. It has been noticed that a sparrow, this nimble nimble bird, will never fly to threshed grain ears, which are called chaff. You can't fool a sparrow if you use chaff as bait.

Phraseologism appeared as a truncation of the Russian folk proverb

Phraseologism Shot sparrow usually applicable to experienced, seasoned people. If in literally, then this is a sparrow that has already been shot. A man who calls himself a shot sparrow believes that he has already surpassed a lot in life.

Phraseologism shot sparrow means that a person has experience in something, knows how to act in a particular case, it is difficult to deceive him, I will add to the previous answers that this person is not necessarily older and has experience in everything. This may be a young man, but with experience in a particular case.



A sparrow is a small bird that is very difficult to hit (say with a gun, although for such a bird it is too formidable a weapon) because of its size. Thanks to his resourcefulness and wisdom, it is almost impossible to catch him.

As for the phraseological unit, it is applied to those people who cannot be deceived or outwitted, because many years of experience allows us to identify discrepancies (in conversation, in facial expressions and gestures) even in small things.



• shot sparrow

  Phraseologism shot sparrow arose from the Russian proverb A shot sparrow - this is what they tried to shoot or catch more than once, but this sparrow showed vigilance and did not covet the chaff that served as bait.

  shot sparrow they say in relation to an experienced, seasoned person who has already seen a lot and it is not so easy to deceive or deceive him.

  Synonymous phraseological unit to the phraseological unit shot sparrow" - this is a phraseological unit grated roll".

Popular expression shot sparrow means a person with some life experience who knows what to do in specific situation and can resist lies and deceit. Full version this proverb goes like this:

The sparrow is one of the species of birds that is difficult to shoot, because just before the shot it flies in a different direction, but the sparrow that was shot and avoided the bullet can be called a shot sparrow.

So about a person - if he has the ability to make decisions that are beneficial for himself and avoid trouble, you can say - a shot sparrow ...

A good question, and the correct answers to it are given above, moreover, more than complete.

It only remains for me to add that in addition to this phraseological unit shot sparrowquot ;, for a sophisticated, wise person, you can also pick up the following figurative expressions: hardened or etched wolf (beast) quot ;, from seven furnaces, not from one ate bread ovenquot ;, ate a dog on this quot ;, passed fire, water and copper pipesquot ;, and does not sink in water and does not burn in firequot ;, etc. And for those whose experience is acquired by unseemly deeds and deeds, the phrase blowing beastquot ; is better suited.

As Henri Etienne correctly noted: Si jeunesse savait, si vieillesse pouvaitquot ;, - which translated into Russian means: If youth knew, if old age could!

Phraseologism "shot sparrow" enjoys well-deserved popularity.

And almost no one notices that something is wrong with him .

Let's look at the meaning and origin, synonyms-antonyms, as well as sentences with phraseological units from the works of writers.

The meaning of phraseology

shot sparrow- a very experienced, seasoned person who is difficult to deceive

Phraseologisms-synonyms: old sparrow, shot bird, old wolf, grated kalach, shot beast, went through fire, water and copper pipes, battered, been in trouble, knows all the moves and exits, wise with experience, ate a dog, poisoned wolf

Phraseologisms-antonyms: yellow-mouthed chick, fledgling, did not smell gunpowder

AT foreign languages there are similar expressions. Among them:

• old bird (English)
• un vieux lapin (French)
• mit allen Hunden gehetzt (German)

The origin of phraseology

According to most sources, given phraseological unit originated from the proverb “you can’t fool an old sparrow on chaff” by dividing it into two separate expressions: “an old (shot) sparrow” and “you can’t fool it on chaff”. Well, the very image of an old or shot sparrow came from observing the habits of sparrows and was transferred to experienced, cunning people. It has been noticed that experienced sparrows, unlike young ones, can easily distinguish the waste generated during threshing grain (chaff) from the grain itself.

However, the question of shot sparrows as such brought a living stream into this whole story. It is usually stated in dictionaries that sparrows traditionally delivered a lot of trouble and damage to the peasants, in connection with which they fought with them. different ways including shooting at them.

It is this statement that is disputed by the specialist in phraseology V.M. Mokienko (“Why do they say so? From Avos to Yat”). He draws attention to the fact that it was not customary to shoot sparrows in Russia. Yes and economic sense there was clearly no need to spend gunpowder and shot on these little birds. It can also be added that the vast majority of Russian peasants simply did not have guns. They shot game, forest animals.

Conducted by V.M. Mokienko's analysis showed that from the "old sparrow" there was a transition to the "shot bird", and from it - already to the mythological "shot sparrow". It is also interesting that the more popular version of the original proverb was "you can't fool a shot sparrow on chaff."

Thus, using the example of this phraseological unit, one can see that sometimes a more expressive, although actually incorrect, turn of speech is fixed in the language. Pushkin's lines come to mind: "The darkness of low truths is dearer to me than the uplifting deception."

Examples from the works of writers

Complete, mother! Why are you turning my eyes away? I'm an old sparrow, you can't fool me on the chaff. (A.N. Ostrovsky, "Wolves and Sheep")

Do not make a surprised face, you know very well why I am here every day. Predator dear, don't look at me like that, I'm an old sparrow. (A.P. Chekhov, "Uncle Vanya")

I know why you brought the eggs back. If I take them from you, I will say: well, this is very good man, he acted honestly with these eggs, didn't he? And then you come on Monday and take nine dollars' worth of flour and ham and canned goods from me and say you'll pay on Saturday night. I'm a shot sparrow, you can't fool me on the chaff. (O. Henry, "Shot Sparrow")

Where will you be from? - asked his neighbor, a very shabby, very, very, apparently, shot sparrow. (V.M. Shukshin. “And in the morning they woke up”)

Remember! Chuprov said sternly. - You have two paths: to become honest man or... Do you hear me? Or on trial? There are no other roads! And don't try to fool me. I am a shot sparrow ”(V.F. Tendryakov,“ The Fall of Ivan Chuprov ”)

So they usually call an experienced person - "shot sparrow." We will consider the meaning of phraseological units in the article using accessible and understandable examples from everyday and cinematic life.

Origin

An amazing thing: few people remember the proverb "You can't fool a shot sparrow on chaff." Its meaning is this: an experienced sparrow will understand what is edible and what is not. If we project the value onto human society, then an experienced person understands when they are trying to deceive him.

During historical development language, the proverb broke up into independent not even statements, but phrases. Such, for example, as “shot sparrow” (we consider the meaning of phraseological unit through the prism of history) and “you can’t cheat on chaff”. And it turns out, initially two, on this moment independent, phrases were once one. Let's move on to examples.

Teacher

Experience, on the one hand, is an ordinary and understandable thing for everyone, and on the other hand, it is completely magical. Because the chemistry of the process is completely hidden from others, they only see the result: a person knows what is right.

For example, a student is brought to a well-deserved teacher and asked to give him intelligence, but not in a negative, as usual, sense, but in a positive one. Simply put, people ask to teach something to a child. The teacher, on the other hand, is in no hurry to give his consent, he asks for one or two lessons in order to assess the student's capabilities, so to speak, the quality of the material with which to work.

The required time has passed, and the teacher gives his consent or, conversely, refuses to cooperate if parents or relatives want too much from their child. Here the expression “shooting sparrow” is unambiguously suitable (the meaning of the phraseological unit is being investigated by us): good and honest teacher does not pursue a long ruble and values ​​​​his reputation very much.

Just a little more about the experience

Of course it's very important linguistic meaning phraseologism, but even more important is what is behind the linguistic reality, namely, intuitive knowledge. Usually, an experienced person does not even need to look at a person in action. The teacher from the previous example simply had to translate his feeling from unconscious level to the conscious. If the student is good, then you need to praise him, and at the same time tell your parents not only about strengths, but also about weaknesses.

But this kind of “trials” and “experiments” are needed for others, and a professional has a trained eye, as they say. True, everyone makes mistakes, and no one is immune from self-deception. Self-deception here means confidence in one's own greatness and infallibility. The main moral of the section is that even if someone considers himself an overexperienced person, i.e. the turn of speech “shooting sparrow” (the meaning of the phraseological unit is more or less clear to us) suits him perfectly, then he still should not revel in his professionalism, but constantly improve.

Tonality of expression

There cannot be two points of view here - the meaning of the phraseologism, of course, is enthusiastic.

For example, Ivanov says to Petrov:

I immediately realized that Sidorov wanted to deceive me, so I did not give him a loan!

How did you understand it?

Quite simply: he was very nervous and looked around all the time.

Well, yes, you are a shot sparrow in this sense. You just can't be tricked, - Petrov remarked admiringly.

The dialogue quite illustrates the expression "shooting sparrow". The meaning of the phraseological unit of the sentence will help to formulate it correctly. Knowing the meaning speech turnover, it's not that hard to do. For example: “Captain Larionov has been working in the criminal investigation department for more than a year. He was a shot sparrow and immediately realized: before him was a criminal!

When the adjective "shot" takes on a literal meaning

We will not describe extreme situations, it is better to turn to what is close and understandable to many, namely, to Hollywood action movies. There is no need to name any one film. Almost without exception the protagonist- this is a shot sparrow (examples help to understand the meaning of a phraseological unit better), past fire, water and copper pipes. Of course, in films, the main character is usually injured, and sometimes he even dies. Damage and death are necessary for more drama. But enough examples - let's move on to synonyms.

Synonyms of phraseologism

Since we have determined the meaning of the expression “shooting sparrow” (the meaning of a phraseological unit can be briefly described as “an experienced person”), then, taking into account this statement, synonyms can be selected both among phraseological units and among ordinary words.

So, for example, more or less the same content as the analyzed phraseological unit is carried by the words: sensible, knowledgeable, wise, experienced, “old” in the sense of “experienced”.

Phraseological units: battered, through fire, water and copper pipes. In the latter, by the way, fire and water symbolize the trials that this or that person has passed, and copper pipes - glory. He received it after the ordeals. And by the way, the test of glory is sometimes much more severe than the horrors experienced. Glory usually completes what difficulties did not manage to create - after all, it conquers a person. And, unfortunately, there are many such examples.

As the reader understands, any of the words and expressions presented here may come in handy when the question arises: ""Shot sparrow" is the meaning of a phraseological unit, which synonym is it?

Is it good to be a shot sparrow?

If you think about public honor, then, of course, good. But you can look in another way: remember the lessons of A.S. Pushkin and understand that experience is not gained except through pain and suffering.

Of course, many people want the respect of others. But some of our brethren are lucky with teachers and advisers, the latter give valuable lessons and thus save their pupils from suffering.

In general, the "shot sparrows" do not have Hamlet's choice: to be or not to be. They are those who do not have experienced and knowledgeable mentors. Conditional "homeless children" in the world have to learn, figuratively speaking, from their own abrasions, cuts and injuries. But they will surely tell their children what is good and what is bad.

In the use of our turnover about a sparrow, a curious tendency is observed: the old sparrow gradually gives way to the shot sparrow. In the 19th century preference was given almost exclusively to the first turnover, in contemporary literature expansion of the second begins:

"It's possible!" - the general answers coldly, clearly showing that he is an old sparrow who cannot be fooled by any compromises ”(M. Saltykov-Shchedrin. Innocent Stories); “Excuse me, don’t make a surprised face, you know very well why I am here every day ... Why and for whom I am, you know very well. Dear predator, don’t look at me like that, I’m an old sparrow ... ”(A. Chekhov. Uncle Vanya); “Shot sparrow this policeman! You can’t spend this on chaff, - he explained the reason for his laughter ”(A. Saburov. Friends have one road); "Remember! Chuprov said sternly. - You have two paths: to become an honest person or ... Do you hear me? Or on trial? There are no other roads! And don't try to fool me. I am a shot sparrow ”(V. Tendryakov. The fall of Ivan Chuprov); “But Vodomerov, who for many years communicated with a wide variety of people, was a shot sparrow, and Petrunchikov's seeming optimism could not deceive him. In addition, more than once he heard from others that Petrunchikov was not pure in soul ”(G. Markov. Salt of the Earth); “I could definitely say that not so long ago ... two or three people (saboteurs) visited here, sat, smoked, ate. Moreover, these are shot sparrows and very cautious. At the place of stay, they did not leave a piece of paper, or a cigarette butt, or traces of food ”(V. Bogomolov. In August forty-four).

Of course, there is no impenetrable boundary between these expressions; this, as already mentioned, is only a tendency to distinguish. It is significant, however, that the competition of these two options is possible even in the works of one writer - if he gravitates towards both the classical style of the past and the present. Here are a few excerpts from the works of K. Fedin, referring specifically to such writers:

“Is it not an expert who had a bite to eat with you? - No it's mine personal friend. The man is educated, anti-church, knows ancient Latin. In art, an old sparrow, as an actor ”(An Extraordinary Summer); ""But he's under surveillance!" - said the captain with a reproach. - "I heard. However, I believed that a person is being corrected." “Is it being fixed?” the captain cut off authoritatively. “I haven’t heard that such grated rolls, such shot sparrows are corrected” ”(First joys).

The reason for this trend is the use of the proverb about the sparrow in its origin. It has long been believed that the expression arose through the proven transformation of a proverb into a saying (Babkin 1964, 28; Fedorov 1964, 13; Zhukov 1980, 377; Panina 1986, 17, etc.). The proverb has many variants, but they all mean the old, not the shot sparrow:

An old bird is not caught with chaff; You can't fool an old sparrow on the chaff; You can't fool an old sparrow into chaff; wants to deceive the old sparrow on the chaff; wants to deceive the old sparrow over the chaff; You can't puff up an old sparrow on chaff, etc.

Some of these options have been recorded since the 17th century.

It is the old sparrow, and not the shot one, that we also find in proverbs on the “chaff” theme from the languages ​​\u200b\u200bneighboring Russian - Belarusian, Ukrainian and Polish: The old sparrow on the floor is not evil; You won’t fool an old hunchback on the floor; Starego wróbla na plewy nie złapiesz (nie złowisz).

What four have Slavic peoples chaff also appears in the proverbs about the sparrow, testifies to the antiquity of the proverbs and confirms the primacy of the proverb in comparison with the old sparrow. The connection between the sparrow and the chaff is natural, because, according to the ethnographer C.B. Maksimova, this bird is “a pliable thief, armed with experience and sharp eye who is accustomed to distinguishing stacks of bread from chaff heaps. Sparrows usually huddle up to people in the hope of profiting: it is no coincidence that in Siberia before the Russian agricultural population arrived there, the sparrow was not known. Among the people, the attitude towards the sparrow is dismissive and reproachful: it is called the "damned bird". S.V. Maksimov also explains why the old sparrow became the measure of experience and resourcefulness:

“A hungry young sparrow, out of inexperience, sits on the chaff,” he writes, “the old one will fly past. An old rat almost never gets caught in a mousetrap. A rare lucky man caught an old raven or even an old trout. "You can't fool an old Cossack walrus," the Arkhangelsk coast-dwellers who live on Novaya Zemlya assure. The reason is extremely transparent...” (Maksimov 1955, 321).

Indeed, old age and experience in the minds of the people are steadily linked. This is reflected in proverbs and sayings. different peoples. Here are just a few Russians: The old raven does not croak past, The old raven does not croak for nothing, The old horse does not spoil the furrow, and even Old fools are more stupid than young ones. The Ukrainian ones are similar: Vovk the old one is not close to the pits, The old fox is hard to evil, The old one did not zip the furrow, The old one did not savage the furrow. Sometimes the similarity of such proverbs in the most different languages just amazing. For example, the Russian proverb The old horse does not spoil the furrow almost completely corresponds to English. An old oh makes a straight furrow, fr. Vieux boeuf fait sillon droit, German. Ein alter Ochs macht gerade Furchen, Italian. Bue vecchio, solco diritto, Spanish Buey viejo, surco derecho. I said “almost completely”, because instead of the Russian old horse in these languages ​​​​there is an old bull, and instead of “does not spoil the furrow” - “makes a straight furrow”. But - as we see, these differences are very insignificant, because the old arable animal is everywhere on top. Like the old fish, kotsn of paradise, by French proverb(exactly corresponding to the Russian about the old sparrow and chaff), too old to fall for the bait: C "est un trop vieux poisson pour mordre à l" apparat.

It should be noted that the image of the old sparrow in some cases is able to break away from a stable connection with the chaff and switch to other thematic areas. It is significant that the oldest fixation of the Polish proverb about a sparrow was the proverb “You can’t catch an old sparrow in a trap” (Starego wróbla na plewy nie złapiesz - 1838 p). Known for over 150 years Polish and such variants of this proverb as “The old sparrow recognizes any snares from afar” (Stary wróbel każde sidło z daleka pozna), “You won’t catch the old sparrow with snares” (Starego wróbla na sidła nie ułowi), “You won’t catch the old sparrow for oats” ( Starego wróbla nie złapiesz na owies), “You can’t catch an old sparrow on a fly” (Starego wróbla na muchą nie złapiesz - NKP III, 776-777).

Such variants indicate that although the proverb about the old sparrow is the result of a compression of the proverb about the sparrow, which cannot be caught on the chaff, nevertheless, the image of the old, experienced sparrow that does not trust any tricks remains its core. It is no coincidence that in non-Slavic languages ​​\u200b\u200bits equivalent is "old bird": Eng. old bird "an experienced and sophisticated man in tricks." By the way, A. V. Kunni elevates this expression to the proverb Old birds are not to be caught with chaff "Old birds are not caught on chaff." This English parallel once again confirms the fidelity of the erection of the Russian old sparrow to the proverb about chaff.

The Russian old sparrow and the English "old bird" are part of a long line of old animals known to many languages ​​precisely as characteristics of experienced people who are not easily outwitted: Rus. old wolf, ukr. old Vovk, Bolg. star volk, fr. vieux loup; Russian old fox, fr. vieux renard, norwegian. en gammel rev; German alter Hase "old hare", Spanish. perro viejo "old dog" and Bolg. from stara goat yare "lamb from an old goat" - all these are fragments of a universal international phraseological model. A model that is built on very close source images. It is also characteristic that in the corresponding languages, many of these sayings are easily found and proverbs that clarify this image. It is enough to cite a few Bulgarian proverbs that are understandable to every Russian reader: The old fox is not in the hood; Don't teach the star con se for a move.

shot sparrow expression origin

So, with the old sparrow, everything is clear.

Where did the shooter come from? After all, as you know, no one hunts sparrows - like foxes or wolves: it is no coincidence that we have a saying to shoot sparrows from cannons - about sheer nonsense and impractical waste of energy.

Russian classics help answer this question. More precisely - one of the texts of N.V. Gogol:

“Some newcomer would not dare to think that it was possible to steal from such a sharp-sighted master. But his clerk was a shelled bird, he knew how to answer, and even more so, how to manage ”(N. Gogol. Starosvetskie landowners).

Indeed, in the time of Gogol, instead of a shot sparrow, other expressions were common as a phraseological characteristic of an experienced, experienced person - a shot bird, a shot bird, a shot wolf, a shot wolf, a shot beast, etc. Such expressions are still used now:

“- I somehow rolled a letter to her ... Do not spoil the paper, he says. But it's always like this at first. I am a shot bird in these matters ”(N. Ostrovsky. How the steel was tempered); “The third one left,” said Kulik, as if he had obeyed. - The professor pinched two, and the third, who was their commander, left. The fog fell from the river, and he took advantage. Shooting, apparently, a bird ... ”(I. Berezko. Teacher's House); “And if you are embarrassed to talk to the bailiff, then entrust me with this matter. I am a shot beast, you won’t fool me” (A. Peregudov. In those distant years).

Their logic is understandable, because we are talking about either “commercial” game, or animals that are dangerous to humans and therefore “worthy” of a shot: It is no coincidence that experienced people who have been in battles and experienced arrows are also called shot and fired.

Against this background, of course, the shot sparrow is an alogism. Therefore, in the XIX century. and only the expression old sparrow was possible, then still tenaciously attached to the corresponding proverb.

Curious evidence of the distinction between these two associations is found in A.S. Pushkin in the handwritten text “The House in Kolomna”, Here the poet contrasts the fired wolf with the young sparrow:

For the time being, you can take me For an old, shelled wolf Or for a young sparrow.

And here Pushkin, always attentive to the semantic nuances of the word, “felt with his belly” (as he liked to put it) the semantic difference between an old and a shot wolf and just an old sparrow. Sparrow, which in the time of Pushkin was not yet shot with phraseological expression. A curious echo to this sense of the semantic tint of our turnover is the use of the opposition unshot sparrow - shot falcon in the memoirs of I. Ehrenburg about M. E. Koltsov:

“Once he confessed to me: “You are the rarest species of our fauna - an unshot sparrow.” In general, he was right - I became shot later. Of course, no one will rank Mikhail Efimovich among the sparrows, and since he once started talking about birds, I will call him a shot falcon. We parted in the spring of 1938, and in December the shot falcon was gone.”

So, we can sum up the story of the shot sparrow.

Born in the depths of the proverb, the turnover of the old sparrow gradually broke away from her as independent characteristic an experienced, experienced, resourceful person. Then - thanks to the common figurative core and the identity of the meaning - this turnover crossed itself, became contaminated with a number of other expressions - a shot bird, a shot bird, a shot wolf, a shot beast.

This rebaptism was greatly facilitated by the fact that in a number of these expressions, the replacement of the adjective shot with old was easily allowed: the old wolf is a shot wolf. AT modern language the shot sparrow thus became a lexical variant of the original old sparrow. And not just became, but pushed him out in terms of usage thanks to a special charge of expression emanating from an illogical image.

Moreover: without having at first a “proverb” basis, this variant in our days has given rise to the same proverb about chaff and a sparrow, which was previously known only with the adjective old. We will not find such an option in any of our collections. folk proverbs. But on the other hand, in the modern press he is even given preference:

"Heads of the Chernihiv and Kyiv production associations meat industry decided to recover the money sent to Pugachev, using his own method. They returned his creations cash on delivery. An was not there! You can't fool a shot sparrow on chaff. Pugachev categorically refused to receive parcels. I didn’t work for that!” (N. Cherginets. A package for you...)

Boomerang is back. The version about the shot sparrow again became part of a well-known proverb, thereby enriching it with a new image of an old, experienced and already shot bird.