Idioms—phrases that come to mean more than each word's "literal meaning" on their own—have been a part of spoken language for a long time. They may change as the years go by and often vary from ...

For native speakers of a language, idioms can capture just the right nuance of a particular situation. But for those who aren't intimately familiar with that language and culture, idioms often sound ...

A group of teenagers playing guitar and hanging out in August 1972. From the Renaissance to the Age of Enlightenment, there has been no shortage of periods in history that have shaped society in terms ...

Have you sometimes wondered where some commonly-used English idioms came from? I have, and many of them emerge from delightful stories. One of my favourites is “turning a blind eye” to something, ...

TO many, idioms and proverbs are just another lesson in English grammar to get over with, however, they can be powerful tokens of symbolism and expression. When used effectively, a handful of these ...

“Right then, mate. I’ll meet you at the marsh just after sparrow-fart.” Or sparrowfarts, depending on whether the marsh is in Australia or the United Kingdom. Either way, it’s a common English idiom ...

One of my favorite greeting cards has a picture of two women on the front. One woman is asking the other: “Is it ‘butt naked’ or ‘buck naked’?” The inside reads: “These are the kinds of questions I ...

Has someone pulled the wool over your eyes? Was your annual review a bitter pill to swallow? Or was it an ace in the hole? These quirks of speech aren't limited to English speakers. Everyone has their ...