Idioms
I was chatting with a friend the other day and she used a few well worn (I thought) phrases that piqued my curiosity. She used what are called idioms. So, exactly what is an idiom you ask?
The Collins English dictionary says “an idiom is a group of words which have a different meaning when used together from the one they would have if you took the meaning of each word separately.” Huh.
And from the ever entertaining Urban Dictionary ... “An expression that doesn’t necessarily have a definition but more of an understanding behind it.” Okay, sounds reasonable and possibly mainstream.
Then I continued reading … “Idiom means idiot. When someone is being mean to you just call them a idiom and they will not know what you mean.” I copied this word for word. I guess whomever wrote this definition doesn’t grammatically know when to use “a” versus “an” or it’s just a typo.
And the piece de resistance … “A term used by people who are tired of calling noobs idiots. The individual calls the noob an idiom so that they’ll get even more confused and react in a more noobish way. It will confuse them until the noob actually looks up the word in a dictionary to find the definition. Otherwise, they’ll think idiom is another word for idiot.” You can’t make this stuff up.
I don’t know about you but after thinking about it I realize that, like my friend, I use quite a few idioms. I often say “off the top of my head”, “your guess is as good as mine”, “speak of the devil” and here’s one I say a lot … “cross your fingers”. They’re so ingrained in my vocabulary that I don’t realize when I speak or even write them. They’ve become commonplace.
Think on it … what idioms do you use without realizing?
Thanks for reading.
Until the next time.