English Idioms and Sayings

[bmo]

What does it mean if I say there is something fishy going on? Am I (a) happy, (b) amused, (c) suspicious, or (d) sad?

:?:

Suspicious.

There is something fishy going on; I think someone is taking money out of the register after the store is closed.

 

[RonBee]

What does it mean if I say there is something fishy going on? Am I (a) happy, (b) amused, (c) suspicious, or (d) sad?

:?:

Suspicious.

There is something fishy going on; I think someone is taking money out of the register after the store is closed.

Excellent! Yes, indeed! If I say there is something fishy going on that means that I suspect that something is not on the up and up (not right).

 

[bmo]

What is "sitting pretty?"

 

[Red5]

What is "sitting pretty?"

sitting pretty (informal)

be sitting pretty

to be in a good situation, usually because you have a lot of money:
- They bought their house while prices were low, so now they're sitting pretty.

http://www.freesearch.co.uk/dictionary/be+sitting+pretty

 

[RonBee]

Okay, class. Here are some more.

What does it mean to get off on the wrong foot?

What does it mean to burn the midnight oil?

What is "breaking bread"? What does it mean to "break bread" with somebody?

 

[Beeuurkes]

What is "breaking bread"? What does it mean to "break bread" with somebody?

To share some food with a friend ? :roll:

 

[RonBee]

What is "breaking bread"? What does it mean to "break bread" with somebody?

To share some food with a friend ? :roll:

Yep. To eat with somebody. (Especially, I think, in a spirit of peace and friendship.)

 

[RonBee]

What is meant by "He is playing a different tune now"?

:?:

He's made his mind. He adopted a different point of view because he felt he was wrong ?

Do the opposite way. The French and the German governments were playing a different tune when President Bush wanted to go to war in Iraq.

BMO

Not exactly. It indicates a change of viewpoint. Example:

• The French and the Germans were supportive of the American effort to rout the Taliban in Afghanistan, but they were playing a different tune when it came to Iraq.

 

[bmo]

Okay, class. Here are some more.

What does it mean to get off on the wrong foot?

What does it mean to burn the midnight oil?

What is "breaking bread"? What does it mean to "break bread" with somebody?

Get off the wrong foot : a bad start of something. "Their relationship got off on the wrong foot when she wanted to borrow money from him on their first date."

Burn the midnight oil: study or work late into the night. "She burnt the midnight oil preparing for the TOEFL the next morning."

BMO

 

[RonBee]

What is buyer's remorse?

What does "a move afoot" mean?

 

[RonBee]

Somebody says, "I've had it up to here" and gestures around his eyebrows. Does he mean (a)he's done that before, (b) he'd like some more, (c) he's been there and done that, or (d) he's sick and tired of it and he's not willing to put up with any more?

:?:

 

[RonBee]

"Subsidies are all wet," says Thomas Sowell. What does he mean by that?

:?:

 

[sanny]

What does it mean to blow your own horn?

To do whatever you want to do?


:roll:

Bragging about yourself.

BMO

but of course! :wink:

 

[Tdol]

We blow our own trumpets in the UK.;-)

 

[RonBee]

Okay, class. Here are some more.

What does it mean to get off on the wrong foot?

What does it mean to burn the midnight oil?

What is "breaking bread"? What does it mean to "break bread" with somebody?

Get off the wrong foot : a bad start of something. "Their relationship got off on the wrong foot when she wanted to borrow money from him on their first date."

Burn the midnight oil: study or work late into the night. "She burnt the midnight oil preparing for the TOEFL the next morning."

BMO

That is excellent!

 

[RonBee]

Time for a couple more questions ( a "twofer").

1. What does it mean to split hairs?

2. What does it mean to be kept in the dark?

 

[bmo]

Time for a couple more questions ( a "twofer").


2. What does it mean to be kept in the dark?

If you are kept in the dark, people are hidding something from you.

"Their elderly parents were kept in the dark while the brothers grow marijuana in the back yard." (I am not sure if it is "to be growing" or "grow?")

What is "You can't squeeze the blood out of turnips," or "squeeze the blood out of stone, or something like that?

BMO

 

[bmo]

Somebody says, "I've had it up to here" and gestures around his eyebrows. Does he mean (a)he's done that before, (b) he'd like some more, (c) he's been there and done that, or (d) he's sick and tired of it and he's not willing to put up with any more?

:?:

D. He is sick and tired of it and he is not willing to put up with any more.

"I've had it up to here," said the husband. "It is either me or your parents, the choice is yours." (Semicolon after parents?)

 

[RonBee]

Somebody says, "I've had it up to here" and gestures around his eyebrows. Does he mean (a)he's done that before, (b) he'd like some more, (c) he's been there and done that, or (d) he's sick and tired of it and he's not willing to put up with any more?

:?:

D. He is sick and tired of it and he is not willing to put up with any more.

"I've had it up to here," said the husband. "It is either me or your parents, the choice is yours." (Semicolon after parents?)

Yes! You get an A, my worthy student. :wink: (Semicolon or period after "parents".)

 

[RonBee]

More questions.

What does it mean to be out of the loop?

What does it mean to bury your head in the sand?

What does it mean to put your money where your mouth is?