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nairaland.net • View topic - Canary in a Coal Mine

Canary in a Coal Mine

A place to shed light on Idiomatic expresions, Phrasal verbs, Proverbs and sayings, quotations, clichés, Colloquialisms, Etymology, etc. Both native Nigerian, and global English expressions are welcome.

Canary in a Coal Mine

Postby Richard Akindele » Sun Jul 26, 2009 5:03 pm

[b]Canary in a Coal Mine[/b] means a warning sign of possible danger.

Gases like Methane and Carbon Monoxide are deadly to miners. So miners in the past brought a canary bird with them while mining.

As long as the canary continued to sing, everything was fine. But if the level of methane rises, the bird faints - a very good warning to the miners to evacuate the mine immediately.

Example:
"Your body ache may be a canary in a coal mine for another illness."
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Postby xdunamis » Thu Oct 22, 2009 7:19 pm

Just like itching in ones foot may also be a canary in a coal mine, sometimes it may be a sign of misfortune ahead of you.
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