Raghunathan
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what is missing trees for woods
[Idiom] WOODS for Trees
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Welcome to the forums.
Can you please explain your question?
I'm not familiar with this expression.
There is one that says "You can't see the the forest for the trees" which means you can't see the entire situation because you are too focused on the details.
Can you please explain your question?
I'm not familiar with this expression.
There is one that says "You can't see the the forest for the trees" which means you can't see the entire situation because you are too focused on the details.
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Even some native speakers misunderstand the phrase "... can't see the wood for the trees". They seem to think that "wood" is used as the collective (uncountable) noun for pieces of wood, ie the material from trees. It's not. It's the singular countable noun meaning "forest".
Charlie Bernstein
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It might be a Britishism. Where I come from, it's can't see the tree for the forest.
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Or, in fact, it makes too much sense!
The BrE version (I can't see the wood for the trees) basically says that I cannot see the forest because all these damn trees around me are in the way! Of course, the trees are the forest so the speaker is surrounded by the very thing they are looking for.
Charlie's version (I can't see the tree for the forest) demonstrates a perfectly feasible scenario - the speaker is looking for one specific tree but is having trouble spotting it because they are standing in a forest. A person might genuinely go to a forest to look for one tree. As a perfectly feasible scenario, I don't think it makes a great idiom.
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The expression used in AmE is "he can't see the forest for the trees." It would not make sense the other way around.
fencecat42
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In American English, "he can't see the forest for the trees" means that he is so focused on minute details that he cannot understand the big picture. It loses all meaning if it is reversed.
It is also interesting to note that in Britain, "wood" meaning "forest" is singular, whereas in America it is "woods" (plural).
BrE: You won't be able to find him in that wood.
AmE: You won't be able to find him in those woods.
It is also interesting to note that in Britain, "wood" meaning "forest" is singular, whereas in America it is "woods" (plural).
BrE: You won't be able to find him in that wood.
AmE: You won't be able to find him in those woods.
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