When I was growing up, there were a whole lot of idioms in our house.
Careful, I said idioms, not idiots.
Big difference!
Do you know what an idiom is?
From Grammarist.com:
“An idiom is a word or phrase whose meaning can’t be understood outside its cultural context. These expressions are usually figurative and would be nonsensical if read literally. Although most of us only use a few idioms in our everyday speech, it’s believed that there are tens of thousands of them in the English language.”
Tens of thousands? Wow.
Mum was always a big user of idioms. It’s actually thanks to her that I have a fascination with these funny expressions.
One idiom that she used quite frequently?
Good Lord love a duck.
Say what?
What duck… and why do we want the good Lord to love it?
As funny as this idiom is, I always knew what it meant when my mum said it. She would say it when she was stunned or shocked about something that had happened. It seems it was akin to today’s “WTF!”, yet the intent of this old phrase was not to be offensive in any way.
So what does “Lord love a duck” really mean, and where did it come from?
According to WorldWideWords.org, this expression is “a mild and inoffensive expression of surprise, once well-known in Britain and dating from the latter years of the nineteenth century.”
T.S. Eliot used it in his book, “The Rock of 1934”, stating “Lor-love-a-duck, it’s the missus!”.
Perhaps this is why my mum, born in 1932, used this idiom a lot. It was likely something she heard many adults saying during her childhood.
Mum had a few other idioms that she used regularly, most notably:
“(I’ll bet you) dollars to doughnuts”
Mum’s use of idioms had an effect on me.
One idiom I use quite often always gives my better half a good chuckle: “Six of one, half a dozen of the other”. He had never heard that one until meeting me. To him, this idiom is quite nonsensical.
What does it really mean? It’s comparing two things that are almost the same. As in, “six” is really a “half-dozen”.
One idiom that my dear aunt uses all the time is “For John’s sake!”. Why John? Why not Pat, Gord, or Tony?
Another idiom I remember my mum saying every once in a while was “house of ill repute” when referring to unsavoury news stories. That one definitely got chuckles out of the teenage me, once I understood the meaning behind it.
Something that I find rather amazing is that, for the most part, we’ve “got it down pat”. While the words are “outside cultural context”, we all have a good understanding of what many idioms mean.
In doing some research for this post, I realized that I had NO idea how many things that I say, on a regular basis, are idioms.
So I decided to make a list. I’ve included two that could be considered “newer” idioms – ones made popular by pop culture over the last few decades. Can you spot them?
How many of these idioms do you use?
95 Commonly Used Idioms
Ride roughshod
Heavens to Betsy
In a jiffy
On the fritz
Just desserts
Barking up the wrong tree
Piece of cake
Throw in the towel
Like a fish out of water
Eke out a living
Don’t judge a book by its cover
Elvis has left the building
Back to square one
Play it by ear
Caught red-handed
Don’t bite off more than you can chew
Once in a blue moon
Kill two birds with one stone
The ball’s in your court
It takes two to tango
Let sleeping dogs lie
If push comes to shove
Kick the bucket
Best thing since sliced bread
Raining cats and dogs
Pull your socks up
A taste of your own medicine
As easy as pie
At the eleventh hour
Straight from the horse’s mouth
Blow your top
By the skin of one’s teeth
Burning the midnight oil
Beat around the bush
Break a leg
Can’t make heads nor tails of something
Costs an arm and a leg
Down in the dumps
A bang-up job
Get a kick out of it
An eager beaver
Got it down pat
In over your head
Jump the gun
Keep and eye out/on
Ride roughshod
Keep your finger’s crossed
Keep your chin up
Let sleeping dogs lie
Living from hand to mouth
Making a mountain out of a mole hill
Pay the piper
Pull your leg
Pleased as punch
You’ve made your bed, now lie in it
Until you’re blue in the face
Until hell freezes over
Take it with a grain of salt
Wet behind the ears
With bells on
Golden handshake
Works like a charm
Don’t have a cow
Penny wise pound foolish
Apple of my eye
Trip the light fantastic
Fit to be tied
If the shoe fits
Tricks of the trade
Keep it under your hat
Get the show on the road
Whole bag of tricks
Explore all avenues
Word of mouth
Behind the eight ball
Full of beans
Bee in your bonnet
Bring home the bacon
Chatty Cathy
Have your cake and eat it too
Fight tooth and nail
Going dutch
Learn the ropes
Over a barrel
Nothing to sneeze at
Warts and all
Pay through the nose
Push the envelope
Get the ball rolling
Read between the lines
Been there done that
On a wing and a prayer
Paint the town red
Hit the nail on the head
At the drop of a hat
And last but not least, by hook or by crook, I will end this complete list of idioms here.
I know there are many more idioms out there! Know any? Share them in the comments!
