by Dictionary Scoop In every language, there is a type of gem known as idioms that add spice to our conversations, relying on context and shared understanding to convey messages in a not-so-direct way. Today, we’ll explore ten idioms in English that play with numbers. 1 One-horse town Many idioms begin as a literal phrase that …
Tag Archives: idioms
Cows And Chickens’ Idiomatic Homecoming
by Kevin Burton American farm country has fed the world and supplied it with a number of mud-caked idioms, as we have seen with the help of Merriam-Webster. Today we bring it all home with our third and final installment of Barnyard Idioms. We start with an idiom touching on my job …
Flying Pigs And Uncounted Chickens
by Kevin Burton I seem to remember on The Beverly Hillbillies, one or more of the Clampetts describing someone as “muley” to mean they were exceptionally stubborn. Now I see that Merriam-Webster, the dictionary supplying us with idioms from farm country, defines muley as “hornless.” Stay tuned for our second helping of …
Idioms Straight From The Horse’s Mouth
by Kevin Burton Today I am owning my farm-country standing and taking a look at some phrases we have exported to the rest of the country. Merriam-Webster calls them “barnyard idioms.” I don’t love that name but I must admit some of these phrases are more than a little muddy. From Kansas …
Happy Wife, Happy Life, Happy Meals
by Kevin Burton The happy whirring has begun. I meant the whirring from our brand new purchased-on-sale, matches-the-oven, shiny, silver refrigerator. My wife may be whirring happily too, not sure. I told the story of our kitchen appliance upgrade last week (“So Long Old Fridge, Good Riddance,” June 1). I said …
Tooling Around, Feeling Virtuous
by Kevin Burton Looks as if I’ve had the definition of “tooling around” wrong all these years. Tool around is a verb, says vocabulary.com, meaning to “ride in a car with no particular goal and just for the pleasure of it.” On yourdictionary.com the definition is “to drive or jaunt about, going from place …
Idioms Are Words To Live By, Carefully
by Kevin Burton I try to be thoughtful and practical when buying things for my wife. I have to admit though, one of my Christmas presents for her sucks. It’s a handheld vacuum to clean the car interior and small places in the house. Sucks, get it? Vacuum sucks? Well OK, …
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