Idioms in our life

Introduction Every language has its own collection of wise sayings. They offer advice about how to live and also transfer some underlying ideas, principles and values of a given culture or society. English has a thousand-year history. During this time, it has collected a large number of expressions that people have found successful, accurate and beautiful. Thus, a special layer of language has appeared - idioms, a set of stable expressions having independent significance.

An idiom is a sequence of words which has a different meaning as a group from the meaning it would have if you understood each word separately. Idioms are not the same thing as slang. Idioms are made of normal words that have a special meaning known to almost everyone. Slang is usually special words, or special meanings of normal words that are known only to a particular group of people. A little bit about the idioms

The best thing since sliced bread Meaning. The best innovation for some time. Usage. It can be the greatest, best or even hottest thing since sliced bread. Example. Smartphones have become an indispensable part of our lives; they are the best thing since sliced bread.

To take the cake Meaning. To deserve honour or merit; to be outrageous. Usage. The cake was ‘that deserves the prize or the special mention’. Today it is often said of a clever or amusing remark and is sometimes used slightly sarcastically to express exasperation, especially when the word biscuit is substituted. Example. Patty, you sure take the cake for persistence.

All my eye and Betty Martin Meaning. A lot of nonsense. Usage. Generally used as an exclamation, rejecting another speaker’s statement. As with all longer idioms, it is often reduced in length, to It's all my eye or even My eye. This last form is particularly likely to be an exclamation. Example. Oh, that's all my eye and Betty Martin! Nobody believes that, I should hope.

The chips are down Meaning. The situation has reached crisis point; the moment of truth, of trial, of testing has come. Usage. Colloquial. Example. When the chips are down, a man shows what he really is.

Chock-a-block Meaning. Crowded, crammed full Usage. Informal. There are varying spellings: chock a block, chockablock. Hyphenation is also variable. A colloquial shortening in speech is chocker, e.g. “It’s absolutely chocker in there.” Example. The cheering fans were chock-a-block in the stands.

To give someone the cold shoulder Meaning. To behave in an unfriendly way towards someone, to snub someone; to be unenthusiastic about an idea. Usage. Rather dated and not as common as a synonym a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Example. She thinks you started that rumor about her—that's why she's been giving you the cold shoulder all day.

To show oneself in one’s true colours Meaning. To make one’s true opinion known, to show one’s real self. Usage. Too dramatic and romantic for common use today. Example. He showed me New York in its true colours. He showed me the vanity and wickedness of sitting in gilded haunts of vice, eating lobster when decent people should be in bed.

Not one’s cup of tea Meaning. Not to one’s taste. Usage. The phrase implies a strong liking (just my cup of tea) or, perhaps more commonly, the converse with a negative. Example. I invited you because I thought long-distance cycling was your cup of tea. When I found out that reading wasn't his cup of tea, I knew that there wasn't much of a relationship in store between us.

Out of the frying pan and into the fire Meaning. From a bad situation into one that is worse. Usage. Reggie escaped the bears but as he came out of the bush, bees stung him. That’s what I call out of the frying pan and into the fire. Example. And try and contact me one more time, you'll be out of the frying pan into the fire.

A battle axe Meaning. An overbearing and belligerent (usually middle-aged or old) woman. Usage. Colloquial. Example. My grandmother was always the matriarch of the entire family, an old battle-axe who answered to no one but God. I gained a reputation of being an old-battle axe in the office because of how outspoken and unbending I am about certain issues.