In Conversation with Terry O' Brien

An idiom is an expression or a phrase whose meaning cannot be easily understood from the individual meanings of the words it contains. Idioms can be defined as expressions which are peculiar to a language. They play an important part in all languages.

The expression ‘A bull in a China shop’ literally would make one wonder what a bull is doing and that too in a shop when ‘China’ actually is a city but such an idiomatic expression is peculiar to a language. These are words which when taken together, mean something different from the literal meaning and so is called an idiom.

In an idiom the grammatical construction and the vocabulary used is fixed. If we change them we lose the meaning of the idiom. ‘The cat among the pigeons’ means ‘some troublesome idea or person’. If we change the grammatical construction of this idiom and write it or say it as ‘Be careful there is a cat here save the pigeons’ then we have actually changed the idiomatic meaning altogether.

In the expression ‘throw the towel’ one can easily understand the meaning of the various individual words without realizing that the phrase means ‘to give in’ ‘to admit defeat’. This idiom comes from the world of boxing in which ‘throwing in the towel’ indicates a method of conceding defeat. People use idioms to make their language richer and more colourful and to convey subtle shades of meaning or intention. The idiom better describes the full nuance of meaning. Idioms and idiomatic expressions can be more precise than the literal words, often using fewer words but saying more.

Little Red Book of Idioms and Phrases will help you add spice, colour and flavour to your speaking and writing skills. This book has American Idioms and English idioms, all there for the grabs!

Happy reading

Terry O’Brien

American Idioms and Phrases

Able to fog a mirror

Alive, even if just barely (Usually jocular. Refers to the use of a small mirror placed under the nose to tell if

a person is breathing or not)

Above par Better than average or normal

Above the fray Not involved in a fight or argument; aloof from a fight or argument

Act of faith An act or deed demonstrating religious faith

Afraid of own shadow Easily frightened; always frightened, timid or suspicious All agog Surprised and amazed

All and sundry Everyone; one and all In the family

Restricted to one’s own family or closest friends, as with private or embarrassing information