It gives me goosebumps

Figurative language in different languages

If I say that something gives me goosebumps, I usually mean that it scares me. But when a Gupapuyngu speaker heard a draft of John 1-2 in her own language, she exclaimed, "It's giving me goosebumps!" It makes sense that in a place where it's almost always hot, coolness is usually used figuratively as a positive thing. There is no giving someone a cold shoulder, or an icy stare.

Kathy Glasgow struggled to find a way of translating Luke 24:32 into Burarra. It's when Jesus appeared to some of his disciples after he died and explained what the Old Testament said about the Christ. When they realised who he was, they said, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?" In Burarra, burning a part of someone's body, or something with their sweat or something on it, is considered a method of cursing someone. So Jesus making their hearts "burn" would not make sense! On the other hand, Kathy found that if "cold got a hold of someone", that was an exciting, thrilling thing!