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Amidst learning a different language, I wonder about this quite often.
(if you just googled "idiom", good for you for having the curiosity to learn!)
For those of you who didn't do anything here are a few common idioms to freshen your memory:
- A piece of cake.
- Have an axe to grind.
- Give him the slip.
- Like a chicken with it's head cut off.
- Pass the buck.
- Sick as a dog.
- When pigs fly.
- The apple does not fall far from the tree.
- Let the cat out of the bag.
- Kick the bucket.
- Hold your horses.
- Get on his last nerve.
- Smoke the peace pipe.
- Fit as a fiddle- Maybe because a fiddle has an hourglass shape? A sought after appearance for a majority of women.
- Right as rain- Maybe the person who made this up really enjoyed rain?
- Something nasty in the woodshed- No idea.
- By the skin of your teeth- No idea.
- Beat around the bush -The groundskeeper wouldn't do his job?
- As rare as a hen's teeth- What? No idea.
- Save someone's bacon- Bacon could have been a valuable meat back in the day?
- Seven sheets to the wind- It took seven sheets to clean up after a drunkard?
- Teach your grandmother to suck eggs - Clueless
- Slowly, slowly catchy monkey
- Throw the baby out with the bath water-Mom had had enough?
It's curious. How do phrases like the examples above catch on? Is that just it, does a phrase just have to "catch-on"? Can a person make his or her own idiom now days?
Learning to translate one language to another is hard let alone having these different phrases that covertly coverup what is being said. Any guesses as to what "something nasty in the woodshed" metaphorically means?
I hope some people are curious about his or her native language. Language is a complex thing but don't be afraid to tackle a new one.
Who's bilingual?
fist pump.
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