Idioms - You use them every day

 

My newest top ten list is a look at Idioms which are figurative phases that should NOT be taken literally, but what if they were?  For example, suppose you were helping someone to learn the language and they took every phrase at face value.  Everyone has heard the phrase "it's raining cats and dogs." Imagine the surprised look on their face when confronted with that statement.  Does that happen often? What kind of cats and dogs?  What happens to them?

Let's take a look at a few more.

10)   "Pardon my French" - Almost no one who uses that phrase can speak French. 

9)   "Break a leg" - not really good advice unless you happen to be the understudy for that performance. Otherwise, it seems pretty cruel to put that thought in a performers mind just before the show.

8)    "Dime a dozen" - clearly outdated - a dime won't buy a dozen of anything.

7)    "There's a frog in my throat" - I doubt if that is even possible, frog legs maybe, but not a whole frog.  Check for reflux or take a cough drop.

6)    When speaking to your new friend you could tell him/her we are like "peas in a pod," because we always see "eye to eye" which is what you would expect from two friends "joined at the hip."

5)    My favorite sports idiom - "it ain't over until the fat lady sings."  In today's world of being politically correct that just won't fly.  Does it have to be a fat lady, what about all the skinny singers? Can it be over if she sings? Are all the male singers left out?  See what I did there, snuck in an idiom within an idiom (won't fly).

4)    Horses seem to show up in a lot or idioms - for example - "don't beat a dead horse, don't look a gift horse in the mouth, horse play, straight from the horse's mouth, eat like a horse, charley horse, get off your high horse, hold your horses" just to name a few.

3)   " It cost an arm and leg" - what could possibly cost an arm and LEG?   BTW if this were true would you be able to pick which arm and leg, is one worth more than the other? Legs must be valuable, because someone is always trying to "pull your leg," that may put you "on your last leg," in which case you "would not have a leg to stand on" and golfers don't forget the "dogleg."

2)    "Forty winks" - who came up with number?  Forty is seen as a biblical number, but so is 3 and 7.  How long is forty winks anyway?  How do you know when you get to forty?  What happens if you are a few winks short?

1)   Finally, when you hear the phrase "To make a long story short" - it is way too late.