India, Oct. 25 -- It's strange how we have some of the same ideas, all around the world.

There are differences in how we frame them, of course. That's what makes things interesting. Here are some of my favourite English idioms, not merely because they are insightful, but because their parallels around the world are so varied and unexpected.

First, we have that good old chestnut: a leopard cannot change its spots. In German, it's "you cannot turn a farm horse into a racehorse" (a bit harsh, but true). In Kyrgyzstan, there's a wild twist: no matter how well you feed a wolf, it always looks to the forest. In Russian, we find perhaps the unkindest variant of all: only the grave will cure the hunchback. (It's hard to imagine people muttering...