What on earth do you mean?
By fizzytom
@fizzytom (752)
Maribor, Slovenia
August 29, 2016 12:18pm CST
As someone who teaches English to speakers of other languages, I know that some of our idioms can be a little odd, to say the least.
This afternoon the temperature was pushing 30 C here in our corner of northeastern Slovenia and it felt like it was building towards a storm. I had offered to take an English visitor to our city to the police station to register with the authorities and when we were done there, we decided to stop off at a unique restaurant - it serves traditional Romani gypsy cooking. We had just sat down on the restaurant terrace with a couple of glasses of wine when the heavens opened and it started to pour. We dashed inside to take shelter but got a soaking in the process. The pavements were like a river, the thunder and lightning wouldn't stop. The owner remarked on how terrible the weather was and we agreed that it was 'raining cats and dogs'. The owner stared at us with a bewildered expression. Where was the cat? What had happened to the poor dogs? Were the animals OK?
Of course we explained what it meant but he still thought we were a little odd. Do you have any favourite idioms in the English language?
8 people like this
9 responses
@nannacroc (4049)
•
29 Aug 16
I try not to use idioms any more. I have an 11 year old grandson who is autistic, he has always been good at reading and has a large vocabulary. However, he insists we explain any word he doesn't understand.
When he was about 4, my Husband said something and I said, ' Well, go to the foot of our stairs.' I then looked for my grandson who had disappeared from the sitting room. I found him looking very puzzled, sitting on the bottom step.
@nannacroc (4049)
•
30 Aug 16
@fizzytom I just make sure I explain them as much as possible. Good luck with your attempt.
1 person likes this
@fizzytom (752)
• Maribor, Slovenia
30 Aug 16
Yes, I believe that some people who have Asperger's are prone to taking language very literally. But it must be really difficult to avoid all idioms because they are a huge part of the English language. You have inspired me to try to spend a whole day without using any, just to see how tricky it is.
@CinnamonGrl (7084)
• Santa Fe, New Mexico
29 Aug 16
LOL. How about "on pins and needles" anticipating something? It presents a very painful picture, doesn't it?
2 people like this
@responsiveme (22926)
• India
30 Aug 16
@fizzytom I do. I chose this because when I ask my student to do it at the drop of a hat, he laughed and said he didn't have one.:)some years ago.
1 person likes this
