1. Idioms
Language and Culture

2. What are Idioms?
• is an expression, word, or phrase that has
a figurative meaning that is comprehended
in regard to a common use of that
expression that is separate from the
literal meaning or definition of the words
of which it is made.[1] There are
estimated to be at least 25,000 idiomatic
expressions in the English language.[2]

3. Idioms
• 1. A speech form or an expression of a
given language that is peculiar to itself
grammatically or cannot be understood
from the individual meanings of its
elements, as in keep tabs on.
• 2. The specific grammatical, syntactic, and
structural character of a given language.
• 3. Regional speech or dialect.

4. Idioms
• 4.. A specialized vocabulary used by a
group of people; jargon: legal idiom.
• b. A style or manner of expression
peculiar to a given people:
• 5. A style of artistic expression
characteristic of a particular
individual, school, period, or medium

5. English Idioms
• A Blessing In Disguise:
• Something good that isn't recognized at first.
• A Chip On Your Shoulder:
• Being upset for something that happened in the
past.
• A Dime A Dozen:
• Anything that is common and easy to get.

6. English Idioms
• Actions Speak Louder Than Words:
• It's better to actually do something than just talk about it.
• Add Fuel To The Fire:
• Whenever something is done to make a bad situation even worse
than it is.
• Against The Clock:
• Rushed and short on time.
• All Bark And No Bite:
• When someone is threatening and/or aggressive but not willing to
engage in a fight.

7. English Idioms
• All Greek to me:
• Meaningless and incomprehensible like someone
who cannot read, speak, or understand any of the
Greek language would be.
• All In The Same Boat:
• When everyone is facing the same challenges.
• An Arm And A Leg:
• Very expensive. A large amount of money.

8. English Idioms
• Back Seat Driver:
• People who criticize from the
sidelines, much like someone giving
unwanted advice from the back seat
of a vehicle to the driver.
• Between A Rock And A Hard Place:
• Stuck between two very bad options.

9. English Idioms
• Bite Off More Than You Can Chew:
• To take on a task that is way to big.
• Bite Your Tongue:
• To avoid talking.

10. English Idioms
• Curiosity Killed The Cat:
• Being Inquisitive can lead you into a
dangerous situation.
• Cut to the Chase:
• Leave out all the unnecessary details
and just get to the point.

11. English Idioms
• Dog Days of Summer:
• The hottest days of the summer
season.
• Don't count your chickens before
they hatch:
• Don't rely on it until your sure of it.

12. English Idioms
• Drastic Times Call For Drastic Measures:
• When you are extremely desperate you need to
take extremely desperate actions.
• Drink like a fish:
• To drink very heavily.
• Drive someone up the wall:
• To irritate and/or annoy very much.

13. English Idioms
• Dropping Like Flies:
• A large number of people either
falling ill or dying.
• Dry Run:
• Rehearsal.

14. English Idioms
• It Takes Two To Tango:
• A two person conflict where both people are at fault.
• It's A Small World:
• You frequently see the same people in different places.
• Its Anyone's Call:
• A competition where the outcome is difficult to judge or
predict.

15. English Idioms
• Jaywalk:
• Crossing the street (from the
middle) without using the crosswalk.
• Joshing Me:
• Tricking me.

16. British Idioms
• Across the pond
• This idiom means on the other side of the
Atlantic Ocean, used to refer to the US or the
UK depending on the speaker's location.
• All mouth and trousers
• Someone who's all mouth and trousers talks or
boasts a lot but doesn't deliver. 'All mouth and no
trousers' is also used, though this is a corruption
of the original.

17. British Idioms
• Back foot
• If you are on your back foot, you are at a disadvantage and
forced to be defensive of your position.
• Bad mouth
• When you are bad mouthing, you are saying negative things
about someone or something. ('Bad-mouth' and 'badmouth'
are also used.)
• Banana skin
• A banana skin is something that is an embarrassment or
causes problems.

18. British Idioms
• Bob's your uncle
• This idiom means that something will be successful: Just
tell him that I gave you his name and Bob's your uncle- he'll
help you.
• Box clever
• If you box clever, you use your intelligence to get what you
want, even if you have to cheat a bit.
• Brass neck
• Someone who has the brass neck to do something has no
sense of shame about what they do.
• Break your duck
• If you break your duck, you do something for the first time.

19. British Idioms
• Do a runner
• If people leave a restaurant without paying, they
do a runner.
• Do the running
• The person who has to do the running has to make
sure that things get done. ('Make the running' is
also used.)
• Do time
• When someone is doing time, they are in prison.

20. British Idioms
• Don't wash your dirty laundry in public
• People, especially couples, who argue in front of
others or involve others in their personal
problems and crises, are said to be washing their
dirty laundry in public; making public things that
are best left private. (In American English, 'don't
air your dirty laundry in public' is used.)
• Double Dutch
• If something is double Dutch, it is completely
incomprehensible.

21. British Idioms
• Dull as ditchwater
• If something is as dull as ditchwater, it is
incredibly boring. A ditch is a long narrow
hole or trench dug to contain water, which
is normally a dark, dirty colour and
stagnant (when water turns a funny colour
and starts to smell bad). (In American
English,'things are 'dull as dishwater'.)

22. British Idioms
• Easy peasy
• If something is easy peasy, it is very easy
indeed. ('Easy peasy, lemon squeezy' is also
used.)
• Football's a game of two halves
• If something's a game of two halves, it
means that it's possible for someone's
fortunes or luck to change and the person
who's winning could end up a loser.

23. Australian Idioms
• Ace! : Excellent! Very good!
• Aerial pingpong : Australian Rules football
• Amber fluid : beer
• Ambo : ambulance, ambulance driver
• Ankle biter : small child
• Apples, she'll be : It'll be all right
• Arvo : afternoon
• Aussie (pron. Ozzie) : Australian
• Aussie salute : brushing away flies with the hand
• Avos : avocados

24. Australian Idioms
• Bog in : commence eating, to attack food with enthusiasm
• Bog standard : basic, unadorned, without accessories (a bog
standard car, telephone etc.)
• Bogan : person who takes little pride in his appearance,
spends his days slacking and drinking beer
• Bogged : Stuck in mud, deep sand (a vehicle).
• Boil-over : an unexpected (sporting) result
• Boogie board : a hybrid, half-sized surf board
• Boomer : a large male kangaroo

25. Australian Idioms
• Cab Sav : Cabernet Sauvignon (a variety of
wine grape)
• Cactus : dead, not functioning ("this bloody
washing machine is cactus")
• Cane toad : a person from Queensland
• Captain Cook : look (noun) ("let's have a
Captain Cook")
• Cark it : to die, cease functioning

26. Australian Idioms
• Dag : a funny person, nerd, goof
• Daks : trousers
• Damper : bread made from flour and water
• Date : arse[hole] ("get off your fat date")
• Dead dingo's donger, as dry as a : dry
• Dead horse : Tomato sauce
• Deadset : true, the truth

27. Summary
• Idioms are expressions used every day.
Most people do not even realize that they
use them.It is critical to note that
idiomatic expressions are not chosen by
one person, and suddenly, a trend begins.
Idiomatic expressions are manifestations
of how people treat and change language.

28. Guess what these mean:
• Paint the town red
• Apple of my Eye
• Heard through the grapevine
• Riding Shotgun
• On cloud nine
• Skeleton in the Closet
• Blacklist
• Bite the bullet

29. Paint the Town Red
• "Paint the town red:" Multiple theories exist
regarding the history of the idiom that conjures
up images of nocturnal bacchanalian fervor, with
one in particular standing out. Around 1837, the
infamous troublemaker Marquis de Waterford and
his accomplices spent an evening vandalizing the
English town Melton Mowbray. Some of the
night's raucous festivities included literally
painting various buildings — even a tollbooth — a
lovely (and obvious) shade of red.

30. Apple of my Eye
• "Apple of my eye:" The Book of
Deuteronomy first used this phrase in
Hebrew, and Shakespeare popularized its
English use in A Midsummer Night's
Dream. In spite of the millennia between
them, both eras believed the human pupil
to be a solid, apple-like construct. This
idiom was originally used in a literal sense,
but over time metamorphosed into a term
of endearment.

31. Heard through the
grapevine
• "Heard through the grapevine:" The wires
utilized in America's first telegraph
stations oftentimes swooped and draped in
twisted, random patterns. Professionals
and onlookers alike believed the tangled
masses resembled grapevines somewhat,
eventually birthing a common idiom still
used today. Especially in catchy songs by
Smokey Robinson and The Miracles.

32. Riding Shotgun
• "Riding shotgun:" Back when stagecoaches
existed as the pinnacle of transport, the
seat immediately next to the driver was
reserved for individuals holding (of course)
a shotgun. Such a strategic spot allowed
the protectors to better ward off any
bandits attempting to loot passengers. As
engineering marched on into motor
vehicles, the vernacular designation for
the coveted spot stayed the same.

33. On Cloud Nine
• "On cloud nine:" The whos and whats behind the creation of
"on cloud nine" remain largely obscured, but it burst onto
the scene sometime around the 1950s and spread through
its use on a popular radio program. Whenever eponymous
protagonist Johnny Dollar wound up unconscious, he found
himself floating about the popular atmospheric locale.
Although it likely existed in some form or another prior to
the show, it caught on as slang for ecstasy induced by
intoxicating substances — before undergoing the usual
broadening to encompass any sort of profound happiness.

34. Skeleton in the closet
• In the United Kingdom, one's shameful secrets
are kept in the cupboard rather than the closet,
though the origins of the near-identical idioms
stem from the same exact same source. Both
literal and figurative skeletons factored into its
popularity, the former when William Hendry
Stowell likened one's wish to hide genetic
diseases to shoving bones into closets. In fictional
narratives, a murderer hiding corporeal evidence
oftentimes utilized out-of-the-way areas,
subsequently turning safe, domestic scenes into
grisly torrents of terror.

35. Blacklist
• "Blacklist:" To blacklist someone always
held the same definition and connotation,
though modern parlance does not usually
mean a literal black list. During King
Charles II's reign, however, it involved
black books where he kept the names of
those involved with his father's murder.
"Black book" can be used interchangeably
with "blacklist," but the latter is far more
popular.

36. Bite the Bullet
• "Bite the bullet:" "Bite the bullet" boasts a
literal, straightforward history. As with
its later metaphorical use, chomping down
on ammunition meant one needed to face
down his or her physical turmoil. Prior to
the invention of anesthesia, the only
respite surgeons could offer was a bit of
liquor (usually whisky) and a lead bullet or
stick to chew.

37. Discussion
• What are some Chinese Idioms that
you often use or that you know that
are used by others?
• 10 minutes

38. Assignment
• Get in a group of 2-3 people and
make a skit using a minimum of 6
idioms and a maximum of 10 idioms
• You will present your skits to the
class