The Origins of the Phrases We Use Everyday PDF Book
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| The Origins of the Phrases We Use Everyday PDF Book |
In the course of a day, we all use many examples of what is known as an idiom. Idioms are words and phrases which those of us with a native English tongue take for granted, as we have grown up to recognize their meaning. That is despite the words being used having absolutely nothing to do with the context of a conversation we are having.
For example, if I explained I am writing this preface ‘off the cuff’, you would immediately recognize it as an unprepared piece being written in one take (which, by the way, it is). But why do I call that ‘off the cuff’ when it has nothing to do with my cuffs, much less being either on or off them?
If I suggest everything in this book is absolutely true, I can emphasis that statement by insisting every word in here is ‘straight from the horse’s mouth’. Again, we all know that means it has come directly from the source of information and is therefore reliable. But I haven’t got a horse.
I have never spoken to one and unless I can find one that wins more often, even when I hedge my bets, then I might have nothing to do with any of the beasts again.
These phrases appear in conversation all over the English-speaking world every minute of the day and we take them for granted. Have you ever heard someone say they had a bone to pick with you or they could smell a rat? Have you wondered what on earth they were talking about? No, probably not, because we all grow up knowing what these phrases refer to, but, if you were overheard by anyone learning our beautiful language, they’d think we were all mad.