Top 10 Most Common Idioms in English
You’re talking to your native English-speaking friend about
your recent breakup and how depressed you are when suddenly he turns toward you
and says “Don’t worry about it man, girls like that are a dime a dozen!” You
then stare at your friend in confusion. You simply don’t understand why your
good friend is comparing the girl that was once the love of your life to $1.20.
Actually “dime a dozen” doesn’t mean anything even remotely
close to what the individual words in the phrase implies. For native speakers
of English, a dime a dozen simply means that something is common and easy to
obtain. Because we cannot figure out the meaning by examining the phrase alone,
“dime a dozen” is what we call an idiom. As a non-native speaker of English,
the best way to understand idioms is to memorize their meanings from the
standpoint of a native speaker. We’ve listed the 10 most common idioms in
English and their actual meanings.
1. Piece of cake – No, when someone says that the
assignment they just finished was a piece of cake, it does not mean that their
professor gave them a red velvet cupcake for their midterm paper, what piece of
cake actually means is that something is very easy to complete.
2. Costs an arm and a leg – It would be a strange world
we lived in if buying that fancy shiny purse literally required us to chop off
our body parts to give as tribute to the Louis Vuitton gods. When something
costs an arm and a leg it actually means that something is very expensive.
3. Break a leg – Oh, look, another idiom about legs.
You’re about to take your dreaded calculus final and before you head into your
classroom your roommate texts you, “Break a Leg!” Why, you think in your
head, would he ever wish that upon me? I thought we were cool with each other.
Well, your roommate surely doesn’t want your bones to break while walking to
your seat in the exam room that’s for sure. Break a leg actually means good
luck!
4. Hit the books – If you’re a student in an English
speaking environment you’re probably going to be hearing this phrase a lot.
Before you imagine students running into their campus library and punching,
kicking and wrestling apart the complete works of Shakespeare, we would just
like to say that hit the books actually means to study. There there, you can
still punch books in your spare time if you want, we won’t judge you.
5. Let the cat out of the bag – Why would someone put
their cat in a bag? What did the cat ever do to them? Our last idiom actually
means to disclose a secret that was supposed to be kept, well, as a secret.
The next time someone lets the cat out of the bag do not immediately pick
up your phone and call animal cruelty control.
6. Hit the nail on the head – This idiom has to do with
doing or saying something that is precisely right. If you don’t understand
this, just think about that sweet feeling you get when you swing a hammer at a
nail and hit it perfectly.
7. When pigs fly – So, have you ever seen a pig fly
before? Never? Me neither. This idiom basically means that something will never
happen, like fat little pink mammals soaring toward the sun!
8. You can’t judge a book by its cover – How many
awesome books do you think you’ve never read in your life just because the cover
did not catch your eye? This idiom does not only apply to books however, but
can be used for everything in general. Essentially it means that you should not
decide upon something based just on outward appearances.
9. Bite off more than you can chew – Imagine your
waiter brings you the biggest juiciest hamburger from your favorite American
restaurant. In your hunger, you grab it quickly and take a giant bite out of
it. Unfortunately, the bite you’ve taken is too big, and you end up looking
like an idiot trying to shove this bite down your throat while drinking water
and trying not to choke. That is the most literal sense of the meaning, but in
general it just means to attempt to take on a task that is too much for you to
handle.
10. Scratch someone’s back – We all know how difficult
it is to scratch that itch on your back that your hand just aren’t flexible
enough to reach, so why would you want to scratch some random person’s smelly
back? Because if you do, they may eventually be willing to scratch your own
smelly back when you need it! What this idiom means is to help someone out with
the assumption that they will return the favor in the future!
That’s all for now, be sure to keep checking this blog for
more idioms in the future! (No that wasn’t an idiom, seriously, check our blog
out, and let the cat out of the bag!) :D
(voxy.com)
