The British are all idioms (house, college, live)

[southdown]

Idioms, not idiots, but that might be a moot point.

I came across a book of English idioms when I was supposed to be tidying up...two hours of illicit reading later I realised we can't have a conversation without littering it with idioms and proverbs, like 'that rings a bell/strikes a chord', 'speak of the devil', 'off the hook', 'pigs might fly'...etc etc.

I remember Michael Palin in one of his travel documentaries trying to converse with a Chinese man who spoke very little English, saying that he might have 'a few more irons in the fire' - as if that was going to make any sense!!!

Just wondered if our American cousins find this nutty habit confuses them too, as we often are, as GB Shaw said, "two countries separated by the same language".

[RH1]

Originally Posted by southdown

Idioms, not idiots, but that might be a moot point.

I came across a book of English idioms when I was supposed to be tidying up...two hours of illicit reading later I realised we can't have a conversation without littering it with idioms and proverbs, like 'that rings a bell/strikes a chord', 'speak of the devil', 'off the hook', 'pigs might fly'...etc etc.

I remember Michael Palin in one of his travel documentaries trying to converse with a Chinese man who spoke very little English, saying that he might have 'a few more irons in the fire' - as if that was going to make any sense!!!

Just wondered if our American cousins find this nutty habit confuses them too, as we often are, as GB Shaw said, "two countries separated by the same language".

We are, but then you can't teach an old dog new tricks.

It caused much entertainment when I shared a house with a Greek girl. She started writing them all down, and I realised just how many funny little expressions I did use in the course of normal conversation. It's almost compulsive as well - the more you try not to use them, the more come to mind!

[Franklyn]

Originally Posted by southdown

Idioms, not idiots, but that might be a moot point.
Just wondered if our American cousins find this nutty habit confuses them too, as we often are, as GB Shaw said, "two countries separated by the same language".

Yes, but we love most of you anyway. You've had so many more years of experience with the language - and so many more folk to share it with - that we sometimes are just amazed at what keeps rolling, and rolling, and rolling - from your lips.

Cheers, though.

[InLondon]

Originally Posted by southdown

Idioms, not idiots, but that might be a moot point.

I came across a book of English idioms when I was supposed to be tidying up...two hours of illicit reading later I realised we can't have a conversation without littering it with idioms and proverbs, like 'that rings a bell/strikes a chord', 'speak of the devil', 'off the hook', 'pigs might fly'...etc etc.

I remember Michael Palin in one of his travel documentaries trying to converse with a Chinese man who spoke very little English, saying that he might have 'a few more irons in the fire' - as if that was going to make any sense!!!

Just wondered if our American cousins find this nutty habit confuses them too, as we often are, as GB Shaw said, "two countries separated by the same language".

I love British talk...

[Franklyn]

That is soo funny. And your London is so much closer to Manchester than the UK variety, too.

[WoodwardGirl]

(a middlewestern American viewpoint, here) My mother-in-law is convinced that idioms in the US are dying with her generation. She always stops to explain all of them to me, although, even if you've not heard them before, most of them are pretty easy to follow to the native English speaker, right? She's never used any that aren't familiar to me, but I often have them fall on completely uncomprehending ears in my classes of 18-24-ish junior college students. I blame lack of reading. But I've never felt you Brits use more idioms than we do, although perhaps some are different. I personally love when you equate things with "a dog's breakfast," but I'm in the veterinary field and probably get more enthused about most animal bodily functions than most... Just finished the latest Elizabeth George novel and was thinking that doing copy editing for it must be interesting since she lives in the Pacific Northwest of the US -- keeping it all consistently British. Seeing "American" characters on British television is similarly fun -- catching the occasional "whoops" in dialogue!

[southdown]

Originally Posted by WoodwardGirl

But I've never felt you Brits use more idioms than we do, although perhaps some are different

Tell us some of the different ones - please! I love all idoms but especially the ones I have to work on.

[Go Ne]

When pigs fly, instead of pigs might fly, all I can think of right now

[WoodwardGirl]

Originally Posted by southdown

Tell us some of the different ones - please! I love all idoms but especially the ones I have to work on.

Chalk and cheese (and, sadly, Hawks and Handsaws)
Taking a **** (means something completely different here!)
Gone pear-shaped
He's barking
Coals to Newcastle
Take a Butcher's
Come a cropper
Donkey's years
Lost his bottle
On the blower

I'll add more as I think of them.

[uglyblackjohn]

WoodwardGirl- Or anyone else, please give the meanings of the ones you've stated. I'll watch a Guy Richie movie and need the context to understand what their idioms/slang mean but just stating different sayings... I'm confused as to what they could mean.