idioms

Tagged Discussions

Idioms With Cats and Apples as the Subject Matter

celticeagle @celticeagle (189833) • Boise, Idaho 22 Mar

I find it rather amazing that so many of the idioms we use a lot have either cats or apples as the subject matter. Here are the ones I found so far: Apples: * Apple doesn't fall far from the tree * An apple a day keeps the...

cats

apples

idioms

6 responses •

6 people

Gift tags coming out my ears

Judy Evans @JudyEv (382071) • Rockingham, Australia 8 Nov 24

The photo has nothing to do with the post. It’s our national floral emblem – the wattle. I wrote in a response earlier today that I had gift tags ‘coming out my ears’. What a strange idiom this is. In case English isn’t your...

18 responses •

18 people

Sporting One's Oak

DW Davis @DWDavis (25797) • United States 16 Feb 24

I came across this expression today while reading one of the stories in James Buncie's Sydney Chambers and the Perils of the Night. The story was "Unholy Night." My interest in etymology and the origin of words and phrases...

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11 people

Are you pretty familiar with 'pretty'?

Judy Evans @JudyEv (382071) • Rockingham, Australia 27 Jul 23

The image has nothing to do with the discussion but is a night view of Perth, Western Australia, and taken from King's Park. In the foreground is the old Swan Brewery which has now been converted to luxury apartments. Every...

23 responses •

23 people

When the penny drops

Judy Evans @JudyEv (382071) • Rockingham, Australia 9 Dec 22

I used the phrase ‘the penny dropped’ the other day and, of course, I then started wondering how it first came about. It means that someone has finally understood or realised something. It seems it originated with the coin in...

25 responses •

25 people

Itchy feet - another strange English idiom

Judy Evans @JudyEv (382071) • Rockingham, Australia 12 Oct 22

I mentioned to rsa101 (@rsa101) that my cyclamen might get itchy feet if it stays in one place for a month after all the travelling it’s been doing lately. To try to keep it alive, I’ve been taking it to all our house-sit homes....

24 responses •

24 people

Letting the cat out of the bag

Judy Evans @JudyEv (382071) • Rockingham, Australia 18 May 22

While we were at the old Fremantle Gaol, Western Australia, recently, we saw a replica of a cat-o’nine-tails whip which was used to lash recalcitrant prisoners. This whip had a solid section which the ‘flagellator’ (that was his...

17 responses •

20 people

Three bits of trivia

Judy Evans @JudyEv (382071) • Rockingham, Australia 14 Mar 22

Did you know ‘incorrectly’ is spelt incorrectly in every dictionary and thesaurus? (That’s a joke.) Lancelot is not a common name nowadays but in the very olden days, even before my time, they used to use Lance a...

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22 people

The cats and dogs are coming down

Judy Evans @JudyEv (382071) • Rockingham, Australia 5 Feb 22

I thought I’d written about this before but I’ve searched for all the keywords I can think of and nothing comes up so hopefully you haven’t read about this before. Or, if you have, hopefully you’ve forgotten about it....

22 responses •

24 people

Do you need an idea for a discussion?

Judy Evans @JudyEv (382071) • Rockingham, Australia 5 Feb 22

Since I wrote about idioms recently, I continually find myself using them either in my discussions or in my comments. And I’m continually worrying about which ones make sense to those reading and which ones don’t. Here is a list...

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34 people

Room with a view

Judy Evans @JudyEv (382071) • Rockingham, Australia 18 Jan 22

We will be eating in our swanky hotel over the next few days. It is a large place by Perth, West Australian, standards with a fine reputation. Luckily, being so large, it has a number of eating places, ranging from really, REALLY...

western australia

crown casino

idioms

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28 people

Kangaroo petrol takes the cake

Judy Evans @JudyEv (382071) • Rockingham, Australia 8 Jan 22

I wrote recently about Omicron going through our eastern states like ‘a dose of salts’. Many of you had not heard of the term before. Dianne (@DianneN) mentioned that some sayings are specific to some countries. So I asked if...

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25 people

Has the virus come full circle?

eileenleyva @eileenleyva (27555) • Philippines 3 Aug 21

A year and a half ago, the world was shocked as Wuhan was put into a mandatory lockdown. Secretive China never divulged the gravity of the health crisis but heartbreaking tales and images of the province showed: - Dr. Li Wen...

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7 people

"Take the cake", an English lesson

moirai @moirai (2948) • Philippines 16 Jun 18

So... I was going to write a post. It's still there in my Keep in draft form. But as I was writing it, I wanted to describe something I really like, a favorite, and I was going to use the phrase 'takes the cake' because, you...

english

idioms

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1 person

"Horse-Horse-Tiger-Tiger"

Just an Ordinary Owl? @owlwings (43897) • Cambridge, England 16 May 17

I was reading a discussion (by a Chinese member) about the difficulty of understanding English idioms and it occurred to me that every language, and especially Chinese, has many idioms which are difficult or impossible for people...

16 responses •

17 people

Idiomatic Sayings - The Point Of No Return

Arthur Chappell @arthurchappell (44941) • Preston, England 25 Feb 17

This phrase refers to the point at which safe retreat or return to base and the starting out location is no longer practical or possible. It is particularly significant with aircraft, which are supposed to return to their launch...

idioms

sayings

pregnancy

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6 people

Barking Up The Wrong Tree

DW Davis @DWDavis (25797) • United States 31 Jan 17

According to answers.com, "the idiom 'Barking Up The Wrong Tree' means you are on the wrong track; you are making a fuss at the wrong person or over the wrong thing." While I have heard this expression used in its idiomatic sense...

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11 people

Part of the furniture

Arthur Chappell @arthurchappell (44941) • Preston, England 15 Oct 16

One of the oddest expressions I know is that in which a person is described as being part of the furniture – though it is often a status I feel I used to have in my old family home. It can get very easy to take someone for...

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18 people

Teaching Our Children On U.S. A. Politics: 'A Bad Penny Always Turns Up'

PsalmOneCares @everwonderwhy (7355) 19 Sep 16

The present shake-up during the 2016 Presidential Election shaping up America's voice is wonderful to behold. Nerve-racking, but life-changing movement, in my opinion. The Town Crier calls out for America's history-makers on...

usa 2016 presidential election

idioms

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2 people

Spilling the Beans on the Cat's Silk Pajama's

PsalmOneCares @everwonderwhy (7355) 12 Sep 16

Monday early morning welcomed me with my annoying old cat in her pajamas. Again. She's a spoiled darling, that one. It's not my fault that she's a brat. She says she's superlatively fit to dip her paws on the exotic dip of tuna...

cats deplorable antics

1 response •

4 people