Origin: No one really knows where this comes from. Tricky to explain?: If you're spending your year abroad in France, things might turn a bit meta.ĭefinition: Used to compel someone to speak or to point out their silence when they're being unusually taciturn.Įxample: 'You're a bit quiet. Origin: Sources suggest the phrase originated around the 19th century as a literal excuse for using a French phrase in conversation with one who didn't speak the language. Or for comic effect before saying something really filthy.Įxample: 'Pardon my French, but you're an asshole' (to quote the inimitable Ferris Bueller's Day Off). Give it a go.ĭefinition: Employed in order to excuse the user of a swear word by indicating that said word is part of a foreign language. Tricky to explain?We reckon you might be able to get there, mainly because it's pretty easy to mime. Origin:Bit confusing this one, mainly because all the literature on the subject focuses on whether the correct phrase is actually 'All mouth and trousers'. 'Oh Mum, you're all mouth and no trousers.' Often used in a sexual context, for obvious reasons.Įxample: 'If you don't make your bed, I'll kill you!'. Translating that dodgy logic may pose a few problems.ĭefinition: Used to describe a person (usually male) who is boastful but can't back himself up or makes idle threats. Tricky to explain?: I'm not sure the whole 'donkeys ears are long and they live forever' thing stands up to scrutiny.

Donkeys are believed to live a long time plus, their ears are quite long. Origin: The phrase probably originated from 'donkey's ears' (from the rhyming slang, donkey's ears/years, often shortened to 'donkey's'). Your well-meaning flatmate may end up attempting to spice up your cuppa with a tin of tuna.Įxample: 'I haven't read that book in donkey's years.' You're on dangerous territory with this one. Tricky to explain?: Firstly you'll have to deal with the fact that the modern kettle is pretty much unheard of in many places outside of our tea-obsessed island.

Origin: To clarify, in this instance, a kettle doesn't refer to the water-boiling contraption, but to a long, thin saucepan used to poach salmon. Also, my uncle's not actually called Bob, he's called Ian.ĭefinition: Referring to an alternative/a different thing altogetherĮxample: 'I loved the first film but the sequel is a different kettle of fish.' It might be easier just to pack it in altogether and switch to 'et voilà'. Tricky to explain?: Even the etymologists can't explain this one, so good luck trying. Another credits it to the slang 'all is bob', meaning 'all is well'. One theory suggests it refers to the supposed nepotism of the 20th British Prime Minister, Lord Salisbury (whose first name was Robert), who appointed his nephew to several political posts in the 1880s. Origin: No one's quite sure, to be honest. But have you ever stopped to consider how strange our own English idioms can sound? The year abroad might just force you to confront our rather bizarre use of metaphors, especially if you use them within earshot of a non-native speaker.ĭefinition: Usually used to conclude a set of instructions, much like the French 'et voilà!'.Įxample: 'Just add a dash of salt and Bob's your uncle!' The building of the right team is an art in and of its own right.' Author: D.A.We've all heard a few hilarious, odd and (at times) useful foreign idioms ('Not my circus, not my monkeys', anyone?) and gain infinite amusement from translating them into English. Steve Jobs didn't make Apple it was a bunch of people. The reason companies work is because you're able to get a lot of people doing the work it's not because of this visionary. And if he had, she would have known that it was not her Jende who was beating her but a grotesque being created by the sufferings of an American immigrant life. She was almost certain he would beat her. For the first time in a long love affair, she was afraid he would beat her. The man who had promised to always take care of her was standing above her vomiting a parade of insults, spewing out venom she never thought he had inside him. But she also knew it would be futile reasoning with a raging man, so she decided to sit quietly with her head bowed as he unleashed a verbal lashing, as he called her a stupid idiot and a bloody fool. She believed these kindhearted people, like Natasha, would never betray them, and she wanted to tell Jende this, that the people of Judson Memorial Church loved immigrants, that their secret was safe with Natasha. She'd seen them on the news, compassionate Americans talking about how the United States should be more welcoming to people who came in peace.

Idioms about being stupid