In the advance of the movement, the humorous saying has acquired a proverbial currency, "Quitting smoking is the easiest thing world. I've done it hundreds of time."

在这一运动的推进中，幽默的说法众所周知：“戒烟是世界上最容易的事，我已经做过几百次了。”

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He thinks that being a close loser might give people a psychological boost, or the proverbial kick in the pants.

他认为，惜败可能会给人们一种心理上的刺激，或者如谚语所说的“重大挫折”。

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The idea has acquired a proverbial currency.

这一思想已像格言一样广为流传。

《新英汉大辞典》

For example, The Now Network doesn't lift a proverbial finger when a phone is ordered -- UPS takes care of plucking the right handset from its inventory and shipping it off to a customer.

ENGADGET: Inside UPS' Worldport: How a shipping titan moves 2,000 packages every 17 seconds

Since the Arctic as a whole is responding to climate change earlier and more acutely than the rest of the planet, we should think of it as an early warning system -- a proverbial canary in a coalmine.

CNN: Next global warming worry: Thawing tundra

However, like a the proverbial canary in a the coal mine, advertising stocks start to plunge a full quarter before a recession.

FORBES: Double-Dip Recession? Advertising Stocks Say So