|
Home |
Classroom |
Archive 1 |
Archive 2 |
Words |
Phrases |
Countries |
Languages
|
 Return to the ENGLISH Archive | Forward to the Current ENGLISH Forum |
| Phrasebase Archive | |
| Sybelle | Saturday 29th of October 2005 09:46:40 AM |
| Idioms... - I'm learning english but idioms are some confuse somebody could tell me so many idioms that could you write, of course with it meaning. More idioms, more english comprehesion ^.^ | |
| joziboy | Saturday 29th of October 2005 04:46:11 PM |
| - Sure, I'll try think of the most confusing ones to translate here. If there's any others you can think of that you're having problems with, let me know. [b]Break a leg![/b] = good luck [b]A dime a dozen[/b] = cheap [b]Catch-22[/b] = A situation where every alternative looks bad [b]To play devil's advocate[/b] = to argue for the side you don't believe in [b]Excuse my french[/b] = excuse me swearing :) (I have no idea where that comes from!) [b]To get out on the wrong side of the bed[/b] = be in a bad mood [b]Chip on his/her shoulder[/b]= he/she resents everyone and/or is overly sensitive to criticism [b]Raining cats and dogs[/b]= it's raining very hard [b]Tie the knot[/b]= get married [b]Tongue in cheek[/b]= doing something for the ironic humour [b]Dot your i's and cross your t's[/b] = do everything just right | |
| Psyche | Saturday 29th of October 2005 04:51:18 PM |
| - Wow, this was very useful to me as well! | |
| joziboy | Saturday 29th of October 2005 08:49:39 PM |
| - Glad I could help :) | |
| Jakee | Tuesday 01st of November 2005 01:20:16 AM |
| - Erh, how would you use 'a dime a dozen' in a sentence? Or 'Catch-22'? Excuse my french is an excellent idiom! I think I'll start using it as soon as possible :) (How on Earth could that idiom have found it's way to English? :D) | |
| Psyche | Tuesday 01st of November 2005 01:28:30 AM |
| - Maybe like this: Tom: Oh, these shoes are horrible! I can`t believe that they are actually selling something like this here! No wonders they`re only a dime a dozen. Lisa: Well, look at this pair! Are they used or something? The colours are faded and everything! Tom: I need a pair of shoes now!! Lisa: Mmm...It`s a Catch-22. I`d go for the first pair you looked at. Tom: Alrighty then. :D :D :D I have no idea really, my English isn`t the best :p Maybe you could use them like this :p | |
| Joe | Tuesday 01st of November 2005 01:34:21 AM |
| - Note that "dime a dozen" can also be used to connotate how very common an item is (at least, here in the States it can be used that way). Opinions are a dime a dozen or That watch is a dime a dozen. As for "catch 22", think of also as a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" philosophy. Fred's lie was a "catch 22" for him - on one hand it would cost him the trust of his friends, on the other hand it could cost him his job edit to add: Psyche has got it as well! | |
| joziboy | Tuesday 01st of November 2005 02:49:49 AM |
| - [quote][i]Originally posted by Psyche[/i] Maybe like this: Tom: Oh, these shoes are horrible! I can`t believe that they are actually selling something like this here! No wonders they`re only a dime a dozen. Lisa: Well, look at this pair! Are they used or something? The colours are faded and everything! Tom: I need a pair of shoes now!! Lisa: Mmm...It`s a Catch-22. I`d go for the first pair you looked at. Tom: Alrighty then. :D :D :D [/quote] Haha, nice one :) Yeah, that's exactly how you'd use them. And yup, 'dime a dozen' can mean common in SA too. But common in a derogatory way. A few more... [b] piece of cake[/b] = easy (that exam was a piece of cake!) [b] lend a hand [/b] = help out [b] on the tip of my tongue[/b] = I know the answer, but I can't remember it right now [b] speak of the devil! [/b] = you'd say this when someone you were talking about suddenly arrives/calls unexpectedly [b] to pull someone's leg [/b] = to play a joke on someone Edit: I just looked up the history of 'excuse my french' and it comes from a time when England and France were at war so I assume Brits all thought that the French were rude pigs for being at war with them? :D | |
| karenlee | Wednesday 09th of November 2005 08:23:18 PM |
| - Idioms are funny to discuss with ppl, and in some ways it shows the way of ppl think. Here's some idioms that i like. 1.Houston we have a problem!!! First used to report a real serious problem in space. This term is now used as humor to report any type of problem. 2.Red herring Something to do with a feint or false information intended to throw your opponent off 3.Top Notch Top notch is just another way of say, "Excellent". 4.Mum's the word The humming sound made when a mouth is closed. Used by Shakespeare in Henry VI, Part 2. 'Seal up your lips and give no words but mum'. This idiom means say nothing and keep your mouth shut. | |
| joziboy | Wednesday 09th of November 2005 08:47:05 PM |
| - Hehe, thanks karenlee! I live in the uk and I've never figured out what [b]mum's the word[/b] meant (we don't use that expression in South Africa). People use it here all the time, so I'm glad to finally know what it means! :) Houston we have a problem is a very cool expression. It always makes me smile | |
| karenlee | Wednesday 09th of November 2005 10:42:06 PM |
| - It's been a honor to help an native english speak outta that embarrassing situation:)))))) Houston we have a prob. why won't Brittish just say "shut up!"???? this is much more straightforward. ( seems Bloody shakespeare is all they wanted:))) | |
| karenlee | Friday 11th of November 2005 05:57:38 PM |
| - Here are some more: 1.Make Ends Meet.>>Hardly enough to pay all the bills. Things are so expensive nowadays that it's very difficult to make ends meet. 2.Drive Someone Up a Wall>>annoy and get angry My folks tell me that I annoy them and get them really angry whenever I turn up the volume on my stereo. 3.Leave Someone High and Dry>>left sb alone to do all the work without any help at all! he got a call from some of his pals at work to go bowling, and he left me alone to do all this work without any help at all! 4.Play It by Ear>>Not knowing what to expect and deciding what to do as go along. Let's go to the movies, agreed? Sure. And what'll we do after that ? ah, I don't know. Let's play it by ear. Well, I would like to have a more definite plan of action. Don't be like that. It's always more fun not knowing what to expect and deciding what to do as we go along. | |
| emere | Friday 11th of November 2005 11:41:37 PM |
| - hello i just wanted to thank you it's been helpful and enjoyable to read your threads. | |
| Ciraric | Saturday 12th of November 2005 12:20:44 AM |
| - [quote][i]Originally posted by karenlee[/i] 4.Play It by Ear>>Not knowing what to expect and deciding what to do as go along.[/quote] I believe it is 'Play it by year'. | |
| joziboy | Saturday 12th of November 2005 12:29:17 AM |
| - Erm, nope it's definitely 'play it by ear' | |
| Ciraric | Saturday 12th of November 2005 05:54:18 PM |
| - [quote][i]Originally posted by joziboy[/i] Erm, nope it's definitely 'play it by ear'[/quote] That's strange. I know it is an idiom and isn't suppose to make sense but still, strange. | |
| Peter_fra_Oz | Sunday 13th of November 2005 08:19:25 AM |
| - In the same vein as idioms, if you didn't see the 1500 history post before, here is a copy: The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be. Here are some facts about life in the 1500's: Most people got married in June, because they took their yearly bath in May and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married. Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children! Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water." Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and off the roof. Hence the saying "It's raining cats and dogs." There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence. The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the saying "dirt poor." The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until when you opened the door it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entranceway. Hence the saying a "thresh hold." In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme, "Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old." Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could "bring home the bacon." They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and "chew the fat." Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous. Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or "upper crust." Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a "wake." England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a "bone-house" and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found t have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the "graveyard shift") to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be "saved by the bell" or was considered a "dead ringer." whoever said that History was boring! | |
| joziboy | Monday 14th of November 2005 08:51:14 PM |
| - Wow, that was a really interesting read! Thanks Peter :) The only story I can add to that is the phrase 'bonfire night' comes from 'bonefire' during the witch craze of the 1600s when witches were burnt alive at the stake. So it's a pretty gross expression actually! | |
| lexicon | Saturday 19th of November 2005 11:52:14 AM |
| - A needle in a haystack - Something that's very hard to find Easy as pie - Same as "Piece of cake" My back teeth are floating - Not very common, it means "I have to urinate/go pee." In hot water - In a lot of trouble Out of the frying pan and into the fire - From a bad situation to a worse one. Stuck between a rock and a hard place - Another bad situation, or a situation with no choices. I gotta go see a man about a horse - Again, "I have to go pee." Idioms are fun. I have to go iron my uniform (no, that's not another one). Bye! | |
| missbrianne | Monday 21st of November 2005 09:19:29 AM |
| - "out of the closet" = to be public about being gay ex. "I've been out of the closet for a year" = I've been open about my homosexuality for a year" or "I'm coming out to my parents tonight." = I'm announcing my sexual-orientation to my parents tonight. | |
| missbrianne | Monday 21st of November 2005 09:25:58 AM |
| - Sh*t hits the fan =a crazy situation! ex. When my girlfriend walked in on me cheating, sh*t hit the fan! | |
| Rion | Wednesday 23rd of November 2005 08:26:06 AM |
| - That reminds me of "To have skeletons hidden in the closet", which means to have bad secrets hidden in one's past. Also quite grisly :p | |
| NateD | Saturday 26th of November 2005 10:39:02 PM |
| - The one Hot Shots movie made a joke out of the idiom "A rock and a hard place." On the one map, they were pointing at "Iraq" and next to it was the country "Ahardplace", and they were going to the little country between. Hah! In more rural parts here there's an exclamation: "Heavens to Betsy!"...it's just a show of general excitement (usually neutral, such as surprise). Also: "to make a mountain out of a molehill" = to make a big deal out of something that doesn't matter "hold your horses", and the more modern variation "cool your jets" = calm down, not so fast. Like in comboy films: "Hold your horses there, little lady..." "Cool it" is a more vague and hostile variation. | |
| alowyn | Saturday 31st of December 2005 07:36:52 PM |
| - [quote][i]Originally posted by Ciraric[/i] [quote][i]Originally posted by joziboy[/i] Erm, nope it's definitely 'play it by ear'[/quote] That's strange. I know it is an idiom and isn't suppose to make sense but still, strange.[/quote] Hardly. I think it makes perfect sense. I'm afraid i can't give you the exact history, but it clearly comes from music terminology - you play something as you hear it. Off the top of my head (oh, whoops, I think that's one in itself!) to be out of your depth - to deal with something that is beyond your knowledge/experience. to put your money where your mouth is - to bet with physical stakes. You can't have a cake and eat it too - (one that questions the logic of the person who came up with it, not used often where i live) you can't have everything. | |
| Cliven | Sunday 01st of January 2006 03:08:07 AM |
| - English has so many idioms I don't know where to start :) Some examples that (as far as I know) haven't been mentioned above are: [b]Pardon my French[/b] - Sorry for swearing [b](S)he's got his/her head in the clouds[/b] - (S)he is not paying attention [b](S)he's got his/her head in the sand[/b] - (S)he doesn't care [b]Go with the flow[/b] - Act as everyone else does | |
| Gediminas | Tuesday 03rd of January 2006 06:54:13 AM |
| - Here in the States, the "head in the sand" idiom can also mean to be "willfully ignorant". Other idioms: Cat got your tongue? - It's a way to poke fun at someone who is unable to answer a question, or make a statement, usually because they are surprised. Caught in the middle - Finding yourself in between two opposing forces. Just chillin - Slang (USA exclusive I think). It means "not doing much" Hanging out - Slang. It can mean spending time with friends, but not doing any specific activity. Scratch the surface - It means to learn or discover only a small fraction of the whole. Grey matter - Brain Cream of the crop - It means to be the best there is (not as common among people under the age of 25-30). Top notch - Same as "cream of the crop" and is more widely used. Go postal - To go temporarily crazy. It is an allusion to the oft-proliferated notion that postal workers, in general, are just inches from going insane and murdering people. Some of these are probably already known to most of you, but hopefully you picked something up. Like so many others have posted, English is full of idioms. | |
| EvanescenceChibi | Wednesday 04th of January 2006 07:42:19 AM |
| - The only idiom I can think of right now that hasn't been mentioned yet is: to wing it. Basically means going into something without having thought about the situation, and just make stuff up at you go; basically going into something unprepared. Ex: I really should be studying for my test tomorrow, but this new video game is much more appealing than studying, so I'll just wing it (the test). | |
| stormgoblin | Thursday 05th of January 2006 01:53:24 PM |
| - ok, i've read this african-american slang book in the library. i like it. here's a few. "like white on rice" it describes the fact that white doesn't come off rice. --"he stuck on video games like white on rice, ain't neva gonna stop fo' no one.?" i think that's a good example. "you know what time it is/show 'em what time it is" --aww, yeah. my homies in the us know what's up. that probably started becoming common in modern culture around the 90s rap scene, and it means "you know what's going-on, what's happening, what we're about." but it started much earlier, at least in the first half of the 1900s, i can remember a jazz standard "i've got it bad, and that ain't good" --"but i'm in love, and i know what time it is" is the phrase. got it bad is another idiom too, i guess. that means you're obsessed perhaps. in this context, usually as far as i can think, it describes someone who has a crush on another, it means you're falling for someone. i think those are both kinda idioms, too :) you probably get it, i hope. "get it," means to understand. ok, i hope no one minds profanity....ha "it's a 1-8-7 on the mothafuckin' glock." firstly, a glock is a type of pistol popularized in gangsta rap in the 90s, i believe. this line is from Snoop Dog's first album. 1-8-7 is a code which refers to the penal code in california for 1st degree murder. "holla back" that means "keep in touch, contact you later" which is more contemporary than these last phrases. i think its more appropriate to say the 2000s. you could just say "holla," too. this is a corruption from "holler," which is a southern thing i think, meaning "to yell." i guess maybe it refers to someone yelling over a stretch of the hollow of the land. someone yelling down from a mountain, perhaps... "come out of a bag" means to go crazy. "he was being teased by his friends so much that i thought he was about to come out of a bag." --just so you know, though, "white on rice" and especially "come out of a bag" you may never hear. also the last one is not common. "like death eatin' a soda cracker" that means you're skinny, real thin. i'm not sure if it means the person is death, eating a cracker, or the person is a cracker, being eaten by death. maybe the second... "don't put your foot in your mouth" is common, not african-american i think. it means not to say something regrettable. "eat your words" is similar, meaning to have to rescind a statement previously made. if you make a bet about something, and you are wrong, then someone might say "boy, he made you eat your words, didn't he?" "let's agree to disagree" happens when people want to peacefully resolve a conflict or argument without becoming hostile about it. it means, "you can keep your opinion, and i can keep mine, but we can co-exist, nonetheless." "up Shit Creek without a paddle/ up a creek" means you're in trouble or how about "in deep shit" or "i'm in it, deep" here's another african-americanism, used in 90s hip-hop music: "wiggy-wump wild" ...yeah. it means party hardy (80s CA surfer euphemism), or to go crazy at a party. possible sexual reference is implied, i believe. ok that's all for now i think. salaam, holla, fools! --mene (p.s.--do you think bulgarian rappers say оооййй, ти знае го как е време??) | |
| Jing | Thursday 05th of January 2006 07:43:22 PM |
| - Ok, I think the 'Excuse my French' probably came about because theEnglish don't like the French too much - I.e - Paris is a lovely place to visit, except all the frogs over there - is what someone who doesn't like the French might say. *I however like them all!* It's also why you don't stick your first two fingers up to someone, showing them the knuckles and the fingers being separated, as this comes from the hundred years war - when the French caught an English soldier, they would cut off his first two fingers so that they couldn't fire their longbow anymore - our best weapon. The English would therefore taunt the French by sticking their two fingers up, to show them we still had them, and then they would fire the longbow, and kill the French soldiers - but we lost the war anyway... Also quite interesting, Eavesdrop / Eavesdropping - to listen in on someone else's conversation. In the old days, houses did not have gutters on their roof, so when it rained, the water would run down the roof, off the 'eaves' of the house and would 'drop' onto the ground. A line where the water fell could be seen. If you stood within this 'eavesdrop' - you would be able to hear what the people were saying in the house, as the walls were very thin in the old days. Hence the term 'eavesdropping'. Hope you enjoyed your history lesson, Ed. | |
