Idioms

I have always wanted to write a character who only talks in idioms. Some day I will because it would be fun to find a way to connect multiple idioms into one precise sentence, and at the same time, it would create a picture in the reader's mind of a unique person. I once met a person who, at the end of each sentence, would throw in either an idiom or a moral to what she just said. Things like, "Well, you know, we'll just have to go back to square one." Or "Once in a blue moon, I would like to see eye to eye with him, but I guess I'll have to pull myself together and eat crow. Because, you know, sometimes you just have to take a hit to ensure the job gets done in the end." Phew. She was a fun person to talk with.

What is an idiom?

I like the beginning of Wikipedia's definition: "An idiom is a phrase or expression that typically presents a figurative, non-literal meaning attached to the phrase." It's "formulaic language" with a symbolic meaning different from the literal meaning. In other words, "Raining cats and dogs" doesn't literally mean that dogs and cats are falling out of the sky; it just means that the raindrops coming down are as large as dogs and cats. So, the literal meaning can also be exaggerated.

A few weeks ago, we talked about Tall Tales and how they exaggerate actual historical accounts to highlight the main character's essential features. This allows the reader to remember the story by connecting a figurative meaning to what happened. It's like Tall Tales are, in themselves, idioms. So, if you decided to write a Tall Tale, you may have wondered where to start. Perhaps you can look up idioms online, pick one you like, and then pick the historical character you want to write about. From there, the story may create itself.

Let me know how that works for you.

Let's look at some idioms, analyze them, and discuss their historical beginnings. Click HERE for a website where I got some information.

·         A dime a dozen: The modern meaning for this term describes something that’s common, every day, nothing special.

• The history of its beginning actually does involve an actual dime. After 1796 when the first 10-cent piece, or dime, was made, merchants would advertise their items for "a dime a dozen." It had a catchy tone to it. Alliteration within the consonant /d/ sound. This term meant that you were getting a good deal. You got 12 items (such as eggs) for 10 cents. By 1930, the meaning changed to mean something that is readily available. This new context made sense, and sentences like: "Ah, that's nothing special, you can get that for a dime a dozen." Spread throughout the English-speaking world.

·         Beat around the bush: To talk around a subject without getting to the point.

• The origin of this idiom is associated with hunting. In medieval times, hunters would hire assistants to "beat" the area at the foot of the bushes—around the circumference—with sticks to flush out any game hidden underneath. The point was only to hit the brush around the bush because hitting the bush itself could disturb a bee's nest or something more dangerous. So, a person these days might say, "Don't beat around the bush; I can take it. Hit me with the truth."

·         Bite the bullet: have courage and force yourself to do something you don't want to do.

• In Francis Grose's 1796 book called "A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue" (I would love to get my hands on that book), he talks about what soldiers did to distract them from the pain of medical procedures they had during the war. They would put a bullet in the soldier's mouth, and he was told to bite down on it. This would distract them from the pain of their leg getting chopped off and keep them from biting their tongue or screaming. So the surgeon might say, "Here, colonel, bite the bullet, and you'll get through it just fine," before they took his gangrened arm off. A quote from Grose's book: "A soldier who, as the term is, sings out at the halberts. It is a point of honour in some regiments, among the grenadiers, never to cry out, or become nightingales, whilst under the discipline of the cat of nine tails; to avoid which, they chew a bullet."

·         Break a leg: Good luck!

• Thespians can be superstitious. They can believe that saying "good luck" will bring bad luck on stage. The worst thing they could think of happening on stage is for a person to trip and break a leg. So, instead of saying "good luck," which they feel means "bad luck," then they will convey the opposite, "break a leg," which actually means "good luck." It's a reasonably new idiom, beginning in the early 1900s. (It may have come from the German saying "Hals-und Beinbruch," which means "neck and leg break." Or the Hebrew blessing "hatzlakha u-brakha," which means "success and blessing." So the next time you're at a play, there are three things you should never do:

§  Do NOT wish someone luck. Say, "Break a leg."

§  Do NOT whistle on stage. (Considered bad luck, too)

§  Do NOT mention McBeth; it's considered bad luck, too. If you must talk about it, call it The Scottish Play. (Theater people can be superstitious.)

·         Cut somebody some slack: give someone a break.

• The history of this idiom may come from the docking of ships, where "give me some slack" is meant to loosen the rope. A similar phrase, with a similar meaning but slightly different form – "cut slack for" – was used in 1855 by Frederick Douglas in his book “My Bondage and My Freedom.” So, when someone is pressuring you to do something or is on your back to get it done, you can say, "Ease up, dude, cut me some slack, Jack."

·         The whole nine yards: everything you want, have or do in a particular situation. You can also say, "the whole enchilada," "the whole ball of wax," and "the whole shebang," (My mom used to say, "the whole shebang."

• There are a few origin stories for this saying (specifically, "The whole nine yards.”)

§  Machine gun bullets starting in WW2 American combat planes are in chains twenty-seven feet long. So if a pilot fired all his shots at one target, he would say he gave them 'the full nine yards.'

§  Or, it could have started with fabric. There were exactly nine yards of material on a bolt of fabric. To have enough material for a fancy dress, one must use all of the fabric on the bolt.

§  Another possibility revolves around cement. Some cement trucks carry a maximum of nine cubic yards, so if you wanted "the whole nine yards," it would mean you want the whole truckload of concrete.

§  My favorite one has to do with sailing ships. "Yard" was a nautical term for the wooden rod connected to a sailing ship's masts. This rod supports the ship's sails. Every three-masted ship had three yards each on each mast. "the whole nine yards would mean the sails were fully set."

Now let's put it in a sentence: Thank you so much for staying around after the party to help clean up. If you'd like to take the whole nine yards home with you, please feel free.

There are so many English idioms that choosing which ones to talk about is challenging. I tried to pick some that would make it easy to find their historical meaning, so we can see why they became well-known expressions.

Writing Prompt that you can use for our Writing Competition:

Considering the subject of this blog post, your writing prompt will include an idiom.

Choose one of the following:

Write a story inspired by the phrase: "A dime a dozen."

Write a story inspired by the phrase: "Beat around the bush."

Write a story inspired by the phrase: "Bite the bullet."

Write a story inspired by the phrase: "Break a leg."

Write a story inspired by the phrase: "Cut somebody some slack."

Write a story inspired by the phrase: "The whole nine yards."