Idioms are a group of words established by usage as having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words.
64
votes
18answers
4k views
How to say that food is hot (temperature) without the listener thinking that I mean “spicy”?
There is an excellent discussion of spicy vs. hot here: Difference between "spicy" and "hot"
However, having read the previous question, I did not see any answer that tells how to ...
63
votes
28answers
5k views
Is there an American English equivalent of the British idiom “carrying coals to Newcastle”?
I'm an American living in the Netherlands who is learning Dutch. There's an idiom in Dutch that describes performing a needless/futile activity, "water naar de zee dragen," which literally translates ...
44
votes
8answers
1k views
Is there an English phrase for an inability to actually *leave* already?
There is a Hungarian expression, küszöbgörcs, which literally means "threshold-cramp", and is used to describe that long conversation you have in the entryway, with all the guests awkwardly holding ...
42
votes
11answers
3k views
Idiom: People caring about minor stuff while something terrible is happening
Imagine a situation in which the whole place is on fire, a bomb is about to explode, everyone is running for their lives and someone is checking his looks on the mirror... pretty inappropriate for the ...
37
votes
7answers
2k views
English counterpart to Japanese signal word, “Dokkoisho”
What is an English counterpart to the Japanese signal word, “Dokkoisho” uttered unconsciously in such case as sitting down on the bench?
When you get old, it becomes tough to move your body. We ...
35
votes
3answers
11k views
Origin and exact meaning of the phrase “I have to go see a man about a dog” [closed]
I hear my older coworkers use this idiom/phrase occasionally. It seems possibly to be a humorous way to get out of a conversation. Even as a native English speaker, I've never figured out the exact ...
34
votes
6answers
10k views
Which day does “next Tuesday” refer to?
At what point does next Tuesday mean
the next Tuesday that will come to pass
and no longer
the Tuesday after the Tuesday that will come to pass`?
And, when does the meaning switch ...
33
votes
10answers
2k views
“To shoot out of cannon into sparrows”
In Russian we have idiom/saying "To shoot out of cannon into sparrows" (literal translation) which is used to convey an idea of applying too drastic measures to small problems. I believe there should ...
33
votes
8answers
2k views
Why “job” in “nut job”
Why are crazy people called nut jobs? Why are they called a job? Wiktionary is of no help here.
32
votes
4answers
3k views
What is the meaning of the phrase 'Here be dragons'?
What does here be dragons mean in the example below?
WARNING Here be dragons. Relative source binding can not only encourage
bad application practices, such as binding to things defined in ...
32
votes
4answers
9k views
Which is correct, “buck naked” or “butt naked”?
"Butt naked" or "buck naked" both refer to completely naked, or do they? Where the phrase comes from I have no idea but that would be of interest.
This is a phrase I am too afraid to google and ...
30
votes
10answers
4k views
Is there an English idiom for 'your silence implies your consent'?
I was asked an interesting question today, is there an English equivalent of the saying Zwijgen is instemmen, that is "since you didn't answer, then you agreed with me".
I could not come up with any ...
30
votes
2answers
5k views
What does the phrase “Begging the question” mean?
What does the phrase "begging the question" really mean? And does it even matter if I use it correctly? Almost everyone just uses it as a synonym for "posing the question" these days.
29
votes
6answers
1k views
Who is “That Guy”?
I found the term “that guy”, used as “He embarked on a career as a 'that guy',” in the following sentence of the article of the New Yorker (Feb. 7, 2011) titled “the Most Interesting Man in the ...
27
votes
7answers
3k views
What does “information porn” mean?
On several occasions while browsing Meta Stack Overflow, I have encountered the phrase information porn, typically used by Jeff Atwood. What does it mean?
27
votes
1answer
7k views
Which is correct: “rack my brain” or “wrack my brain”?
Which is the correct usage: "rack my brain" or "wrack my brain"? Google turned up pages with conflicting recommendations.
One argument is that to "rack a brain" comes from the torture device known ...
27
votes
6answers
5k views
Where does the phrase “dry run” come from?
I've heard the phrase "dry run" being used with the meaning of rehearsal, experiment or test exercise in various contexts. For example:
They did a dry run of the demonstration before showing it to ...
27
votes
3answers
826 views
Terms for collections of animals
As I watched the murder of crows sitting on the line above my house this evening, I got wondering where all of the collective nouns for animals (pod of whales, gaggle of geese, pride of lions) came ...
25
votes
6answers
33k views
In sex talk, how many bases are there and what do they all mean?
I always hear people say "I hit the third base" or "I hit the second base" (sex related). I am not 100% sure what they all mean.
Additionally, in one of the House MD episodes, there was a dialogue:
...
25
votes
4answers
33k views
“Worse comes to worst” or “worst comes to worst”
Which is correct: worse comes to worst or worst comes to worst? The former seems more logical but the latter is what appears in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary.
25
votes
4answers
6k views
How does the phrase “used to” work, grammatically?
It is common to hear people say "used to" to indicate that they did something in the past but no longer do; for example, "I used to play basketball." How would "used to," used in that context, fit ...
24
votes
9answers
1k views
“Saving on the parrot's chocolate is futile”
In Catalan there is an expression "ser la xocolata del lloro" that can be translated as "saving by not giving chocolate to the parrot is futile", conveying the meaning that when a household wants to ...
24
votes
4answers
2k views
Is there a name for this type of insult: “I am friends with many manly men. And Gary.”?
Is there a term or word appropriate to describe the trick of using a general term and then explicitly adding a specific term to strongly imply that the specific is not part of the general? The trick I ...
23
votes
6answers
1k views
Does the washing up fairy exist outside of Australia? [closed]
Just to clarify, I'm not talking about the Lush product of the same name.
In Australia, the washing up fairy is a mythical creature. People leave their dishes unwashed overnight, and lo and behold, ...
22
votes
14answers
3k views
Opposite of 'Midas touch'?
I'm wondering what word or phrase could be used for the counter examples of 'Midas touch' effect.
The Midas touch, or the gift of profiting from whatever one undertakes, is named for a legendary ...
22
votes
3answers
3k views
Where did the expression “my two cents” come from?
I've seen "$.02", "2¢", "just my two cents", etc, similar in meaning to IMHO, except usually appended to the main text.
As the Ngram shows, it is only "two cents" that is popular in this usage:
...
22
votes
2answers
4k views
Where did “elbow grease” come from?
I was reading a French blog the other day and I came across the phrase l'huile de coude, meaning "elbow grease." Since "elbow grease" is something I've known about in English all my life (parental ...
21
votes
6answers
1k views
Are “Fish in a barrel” and “Sitting ducks” similar?
Do the phrases "Fish in a barrel" and "Sitting ducks" convey the same thing?
In my opinion, they have the same tone and express something to be an easy target.
Eg: Out there, they are just fish in ...
21
votes
9answers
3k views
Can anyone give me a grammatical explanation as to why “that being said” is proper English?
A certain pedant is claiming that beginning a sentence with "That being said" is grammatically incorrect owing to the apparent logical contradiction in claiming that something in the past (e.g. the ...
20
votes
23answers
9k views
An idiom meaning someone's doing something useless and has no result at the end
In my native language, we use an idiom to warn someone that they're doing something which has no result at the end:
Trying to convince him is like squashing water ...
Is there any idiom in ...
20
votes
6answers
2k views
Does “salt mines” have any specific meaning?
In the movie Easy A, the character Todd said "See you at salt mines" to Olive when they met at Melody's party. What does salt mines mean? Does it really mean "a mine for salt"?
19
votes
4answers
5k views
Why do we say “was supposed to” for “should have”?
I was supposed to do my homework, but I went out clubbing instead.
On a literal interpretation, supposed to suggests that other people (or indeed, myself) might have supposed (thought, imagined, ...
18
votes
8answers
4k views
Are there any expressions that describe going from a bad to a worse situation?
Are there idioms or expressions in English that describe going from one bad situation to one that's even worse?
I heard "between a rock and hard place" but this describes a dilemma not really a ...
18
votes
2answers
1k views
God save the Queen
I was wondering why this expression is not “God saves the Queen”. According to my very first English teacher, when the subject is he, she or it, “to save” is conjugated “he/she/it saves”.
Is it an ...
18
votes
4answers
836 views
“Just deserts” or “just desserts”
Which is correct when referring to the punishment gotten by an evil-doer: just deserts or just desserts?
Are both acceptable due to common usage (see buck naked / butt naked and strait-laced / ...
18
votes
3answers
1k views
How should I end sentences with a URL as the last word?
For example,
The website I was referring to is hosted at http://english.stackexchange.com.
How should I place the fullstop at the end?
18
votes
3answers
5k views
Why do we say “last night” and not “yesterday night”?
As from object, is there a rational reason for saying "last night" rather than "yesterday night", though you would say "yesterday morning" and "yesterday afternoon"?
17
votes
2answers
2k views
How did kool-aid come to be the drink of fanboys?
Why does Kool-Aid relate to being something's fanboy/fangirl?
17
votes
5answers
2k views
The origin of the term “Baker's Dozen”?
There's a "hot question" at the moment about the use of the apostrophe in the phrase Baker's Dozen, and it got me to wondering: where did this phrase originate?
Did bakers really offer 13 in a dozen? ...
17
votes
3answers
3k views
Why does “for good” mean “forever”?
A very recent and similar question was closed asks what "for good" means. While general reference can answer the question, I became curious as to the etymology of the idiom. Googling around got me ...
16
votes
9answers
813 views
Is there any idiomatic expression with the meaning “show all the hidden stuff”?
Which idiomatic phrase can be used to express 'showing all the hidden stuff' (it's supposed that nobody should find that out, some scandal things)?
16
votes
7answers
2k views
Is “below par” good or bad?
I realize a lot of English expressions derive from sports: "his presentation was a slam-dunk," "she really fumbled through that," or "that's pretty much par for the course."
I don't play golf, but I ...
16
votes
5answers
21k views
Which is correct: coming down the “pike” or “pipe”?
Is the expression "coming down the pike" or "coming down the pipe"? I've always used pike, but I've heard a few people use pipe recently. I can see how both could make sense, but which is correct?
16
votes
5answers
8k views
Which is correct: “standing on line” or “standing in line”?
I'm curious to hear from folks in the the Northeast United States (or anyone, really) an explanation of why "standing on line" seems preferable to "standing in line" in the US northeast.
I imagine ...
15
votes
20answers
3k views
Are there other idioms like “a stone's throw away” that both describe an activity and act as a measurement?
If something is quite close by, it could be described as being a stone's throw away; even closer might be a hop, skip and a jump. I'm interested in these "units" of measurement based on human action. ...
15
votes
3answers
1k views
Origin of “he's 6 feet tall if he's an inch”
I have heard this pattern used before in American English:
She's 6 feet tall if she's an inch.
It was a gallon of blood if it was a drop.
The baby was 10 pounds if it was an ounce.
I ...
14
votes
2answers
1k views
What's the reason for calling cheap seats at the theatre nosebleed seats?
I've never heard of this idiom before today and thought it was an especially curious one. What's the origin of calling the cheap seats the nosebleed seats at the theater?
14
votes
4answers
3k views
“Bob's your uncle” … no he's not!
What is the origin of the phrase "Bob's your uncle"? Is it used internationally or is this just a term used in the UK?
I have often heard an extension of this phrase: "Bob's your uncle and Fanny's ...
14
votes
2answers
804 views
Is “spoon feeding” a widely accepted usage?
In India, "spoon feeding" is widely used in context of education where the students are taught in a manner by which they do not have to do much on their own. Everything will be done by the teachers, ...
14
votes
3answers
4k views
“On the other hand” without the first hand
I have been criticized by colleagues in the past for using "on the other hand" as an alternative to "however" at the beginning of a sentence, because they said that you could only use it if a previous ...
