• zeppo@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        32
        ·
        1 year ago

        That’s a common saying in the US as well. Never heard of chess blindness, though.

        • TheLemming@feddit.de
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          Didn’t know that. TIL, thanks

          Edit: how do you say it? “I can’t see the forest because of all the trees”? That would be the literal word by word translation coming from german

          • Dandroid@dandroid.app
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            11
            ·
            edit-2
            1 year ago

            I have heard it with that exact wording many times. Or maybe, “can’t see the forest through the trees”

            • SARGEx117@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              13
              ·
              1 year ago

              Lived from Virginia to Ohio, Indiana Illinois and Michigan, also heard “can’t see the forest FOR the trees” which I always figures was a more colloquial change.

              • Dandroid@dandroid.app
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                3
                ·
                1 year ago

                I haven’t heard that exact phrasing before, and as a native English speaker born and raised in California, that wording sounds a little awkward to me. It does kind of sound like something my mom, who is from the east coast, would say. 😆

                • SARGEx117@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  2
                  ·
                  1 year ago

                  Don’t get me started on pop vs soda…

                  I say soda, wife says pop. We have a little exchange of “correcting” each other a couple times a month.

                  • shalafi@lemmy.world
                    link
                    fedilink
                    English
                    arrow-up
                    3
                    ·
                    1 year ago

                    You’re both wrong. The generic word for a sweet, carbonated beverage is “coke”.

                  • Dandroid@dandroid.app
                    link
                    fedilink
                    arrow-up
                    3
                    ·
                    edit-2
                    1 year ago

                    My mom grew up saying “tonic”…

                    She also says “quarter of 8” when it is 7:45, which never made sense to me either. I usually hear quarter til 8 or quarter after 8 (for 8:15). Never quarter of. And whenever I point out that the phrase doesn’t really make much sense, she does this whole hand motion to explain it, which just confuses me even more.

                    It’s those Bostonians, man. Gotta watch out for them. They say weird stuff.

      • weew@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        13
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        The English phrase is “missing the forest for the trees”

        Not quite the same as chess blindness. Possibly the opposite. It basically means: being unable to see (or ignoring) the bigger picture because you’re too focused on minor individual details