What idiomatic expression intrigues you?
Often I wonder how an idiom came to be. For example how did “saving face” or “break a leg” show up in the language? What expression have you always wondered the history of?
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17 Answers
One bird in hand, is worth two the bush.
Call a spade a spade.
Go fly a kite!
Why don’t you get out of my hair!
Tooting your own horn.
A chip on your shoulder.
Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.
Everything but the kitchen sink.
etc.
etc.
The whole nine yards. Nine yards of what?
More than (x) ways to skin a cat
Catch as catch can (who’s “catch”?)
more to come…
Not sure if this qualifies as an idiomatc phrase, but I always wondered about the word “jinx” used when two people speak the same time. I always thought that was just something between my siblings and myself and was quite surprised when I realized how universal it is.
As nervous as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs…
If it looks like a duck…
Jump down someone’s throat
The worm has turned
High on the hog
…in spades
Neck of the woods
Stinking rich
Winner winner chicken dinner!
Going ‘round Robin Hood’s barn.
I know there are more rattling around in my brain…I just can’t remember them at the moment!
If you can’t be with the one you love, love the one you’re with.
i’m often amazed by idiomatic expressions in foreign languages (examples solicited! thanks), and i’m sure that native speakers of foreign languages are often totally puzzled by some English idioms.
Lots of idioms stem from an era that we’re no longer in touch with, when most people were farmers. “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth” because you might be able to tell from its teeth that it’s much older than the giver would like you to be grateful for. “Don’t buy a pig in a poke” [old word for pouch] because it might turn out to be some less desirable animal—usually a rat.
How about “waiting for the other shoe to drop”?
Hey, thanks! That’s pretty cool! :^>
The classical Greek phrase transliterated; I can’t figure out how to type Greek script here ‘Omoion estin ‘omoion philon literally translates to “Like things are like to like things.” My Greek professor said the idiomatic translation would be Birds of a feather flock together!
@cyndyh As I understand it, “The whole nine yards” derives from radio communication between fighter pilots and their gunner, who during World War I carried 27 feet of machine gun rounds with them for each mission.
Pilot: “Have we fired-off all of our ammunition ?”
Gunner: “Yes, sir. The whole nine yards….”
“Let the cat out of the bag” and “pig in a poke” seem to be related. Letting the “cat” out of the bag would show that the “pig” in the poke was actually a cat!
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