Incredible Idioms 7

To bounce off the walls

So normally, when we see or hear that something is bouncing off the walls, we imagine this:

But it is also an idiom. To say that somebody is bouncing off the walls means that somebody is very excited about something. Like me and a bunch of my friends before this amazing Bran concert. Well, and also afterwards. We are still talking about it. And swooning over them.

You can watch and listen to two of their songs here:

The whole Bran concert experience actually started a very lovely conversation with an excessive usage of gifs. It was SUCH FUN!

I haven’t found anything on the history of this idiom, but one can guess that a ball bouncing off the walls kind of resembles a very excited person. Maybe it’s not your case, but when I get very excited I can’t just sit around and do nothing. I walk or in a way jump and really look like some ball weirdly bouncing off the walls.

My creativity is at the end. I hope I didn’t bore you very much.

Incredible Idioms 6

Wear One’s Heart on One’s Sleeve

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome on board this flight from Incredible Idioms 5 to Incredible Idioms 6. You may have noticed that once again we borrowed something from Cabin Pressure, but to our defense – we love Cabin Pressure series. These past few days I’ve been doing nothing creative, so I decided to put an end to it and write something. Go me!
                As the title suggest, I am going to write about the idiom wear one’s heart on one’s sleeve. Why this one? Because while watching several interviews with Tom Hiddleston I stumbled upon one that was truly inspiring. In that particular interview he says: “Never stop. Never stop fighting. Never stop dreaming. And don’t be afraid of wearing your heart on your sleeve - in declaring the films that you love, the films that you want to make, the life that you’ve had, and the lives you can help reflect in cinema. For myself, for a long time… maybe I felt inauthentic or something, I felt like my voice wasn’t worth hearing, and I think everyone’s voice is worth hearing. So if you’ve got something to say, say it from the rooftops.” 

In this great message he manages to use the incredible idiom wear your heart on your sleeve. All dictionaries agree that it means to show and declare one’s feelings and emotions openly. And to follow Tom’s advice I am declaring that I love him!

What interests me more is the origin of this idiom. During my research I found out that it may derive from the custom of the middle age. And you can guess which one. Yeah, jousting matches. You know when knights used to wear the ribbons or some cloth tied to their sleeves. The ribbons from their ladies. Just like Guinevere gives one to prince Arthur in this video:

But what is even more interesting is that this idiom was first used by Shakespeare in the play Othello.
Iago:
It is sure as you are Roderigo,
Were I the Moor, I would not be Iago:
In following him, I follow but myself;
Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty,
But seeming so, for my peculiar end:
For when my outward action doth demonstrate
The native act and figure of my heart
In compliment extern, 'tis not long after
But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve
For daws to peck at: I am not what I am.

So this is it from me today. I think this is more than enough. I sincerely that from now on I will be posting more often. Till the next time...

Incredible Idioms 5

To Give St/Sb a Rain Check

Hey guys! So, before you ask... No, we're not dead yet. But we've been very naughty bloggers lately (this, my dear friends, is called understatement), especially me, since this post marks a full half a year of me not writing one single post. I am so ashamed. Today I'm trying to make this right a bit, with an Incredible Idioms post, although I usually write about similes. Please, do enjoy your flight, but first, let me show you a video, whose song has been my inspiration source :) also, it Is a lovely video.

You can find the lyrics here (although there are several versions, none of them apparently an official one, I tend to like this one best, and I'm very much interested if I've chosen the right one... we'll see). As you can see, the narrator is giving the academy/commodities a rain check. When I was preparing this song as a listening exercise for an English lesson, I was very much intriqued by this phrase. What does it mean? After several moments of fascinated googling, I am able to bring you the solution to this not-so-metaphysical conundrum (I do profoudly apologize for these Cabin Pressure inserts, I just can't help it right now).

This phrase originates from, in the British Isles undoubtedly not-so-scarce, occasions, where a sports match or an outdoor performance of some sort had to be cancelled, or rather postponed, due to bad weather. The visitors would then get this rain check, which was a ticket that enabled them to come to the postponed performance without loosing their money.

Later, rain check gained its metaphorical meaning. For example, when you promised your friend to come to their house but something came up and you had to cancel your visit, you could say: "Can I take a rain check?", meaning that you aren't cancelling the visit, just postponing it until next time. It seems that it doesn't matter which side gets the rain check, because you can be giving it to something or somebody, or taking it, and still be the one who is postponing something.

And lastly, what I like most about this phrase being used in the song, is that you're not giving out rain checks because of procrastinating and sudden inconvenieces coming your way, making you postpone the things that you would like to do. The song is all about new beginnings, leaving the old you behind to make a fresh start and giving rain check to things that no longer work for you to make room for new and exciting stuff. At least this is how I feel about the song :) Ready to give something a rain check and take up something new? :)

Rhymey Whimmey or What Makes English So AWESOME

There are two aspects of English that I really love - rhymes and alliteration. I bet you know well what rhymes are, so I won't waste time in explaining it, I'll just give a lovely example from my favourite radio series Cabin Pressure (you'll be hearing more about this one soon enough) - from Cork to York. Easy, effective and ear-pleasing, I'd say. They even based a whole slang on it, no kidding! Guess in what accent you can "give a hook out of the window"? The word "hook" subsittues another very similar word that rhymes with it - "look". Now it makes sense, doesn't it? You can see many more examples of this language playfulness in Cockney Rhyming Slang (a slang originally used by the inhabitants in Cheapside, London). Lovely, right?

Alliteration is another thing that helps you make your statement more audially appealing. It's the simple act of starting words in a phrase or sentence with the same letter. In a sentence, I suggest you don't use alliteration for all the words in it, but only for the key terms. Alliteration is fun and can be part of a daily conversation too. Soon enough you'll train youre ears (and eyes) to spot alliteration in every speech and text you encounter. Just like today - I asked my friend a simple question "Where were we?" and suddenly the complete awsomeness of this sentence struck me. It just sounds SO great, doesn't it?

And what more, the British like to use these two great artistic features in advertisment and public announcements. Unfortunatelly I cannot recall any alliterative announcement, but maybe my dear Trollkona or even you, our dear readers, could help me with it. So look at some splendid examples of how playfully the British can use their mother tongue:

 

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Guess what product is thusly advertised!
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Get a friend!

They're saying it all the time. And they're absolutely right - the best way how to master a new language is to have a native speaker as a friend. But when I say friend, I really mean a friend. Because only then you will really communicate on daily basis and sooner or later you will probably cover every thinkable topic in the Universe. Yes, you can chat with native speakers from time to time but what you really need is a total immersion and that is possible only when some friendly feelings are involved.
There is the trick - in a friendly chat, native speakers use whatever expression come to their mind, just as you when you're chatting with your BFF you've known since your first grades. Often it will be slang and the more experienced you will get, the less help and explanations you will need from your friends when they use some word/phrase you don't know. What more - it is no shame to ask your friend - "What does this mean?" - "What do you mean by that?", but I would probably not be as courageous with some casual acquaintance. It is also great to meet both in person and on chat, as when chatting, you can look up the phrases by yourselves and even add it to your personal word list. Also, you will probably better remember the word or phrase because it is placed in a very specific, personal context and it carries a message only for you.
When looking up new words and phrases, I find the web site Urban Dictionary very useful. They also have a great FB page where they post new words and phrases daily - and most of them are pretty amusing! With these, you can easily astonish your native speaker friends ;-). It is also important to remember that we are all just humans and even native speakers can have something wrong. Bear in mind from that background your friend is and apply the new knowledge wisely and approrpiatelly. There is nothing easier than ask - "Is this considered polite?" or "Can I use this when speaking to my teacher/boss?" This info is often not involved in the dictionaries and you never know what faux-pas you may cause by wrong expression.
Well, is sounds quite amazing, doesn't it? I am not saying that with a native speaker as a friend you can throw your textbooks aways and that you can spend the money put aside for language courses on hot-tub full of champagne, but having English/American/Canadian/Australian/New Zealandian/whatever friend can be an invaluable addition to your language learning. And where can you meet native speakers? Well, this we will discuss later on.
So long, folks! :-)

Splendid Similes 7

As Irish as Paddy's Pig

Seems like I've grown rather fond of piggy similes. Happy St. Paddy's Day to you all! How are you celebrating? Are you feeling as Irish as Paddy's pig? If you're not, then it probably doesn't matter, because Paddy is said to have come from Northern England anyway - but perhaps he got the pig after he'd come to Ireland :) As for myself, I have spent my St. Paddy's Day studying for Practical English, hurrah! But even if you haven't had any whiskey, any Guinness, any green clothes - you can still save the day with Irish Hair! :)

Splendid Similes 6

As Happy as a Pig in Shit

Yeah, you got me. I'm neither a pig in shit, nor happy (though I am quite fine, thank you). It's just that I really think that the English might have made a better simile than this one. Just look at it! I know, it accurately expresses the wicked, fuzzy, happy feeling you have when your enemy slips on a banana peel. But in spite of this, I find it very un-English-like. The English don't swear! And if they do, it's brilliant, well thought and often containing long awesome unforgettable similes. Or they say "whoops-a-daisy" instead (as our beloved Wimbledon teacher taught us).

In this case I must say that the Czech version of this simile is much nicer - both nicer to hear and nicer to pigs :) it says "as happy as a pig in rye". Now, isn't that better? Though it's true that the czech word for rye - "žito" - sounds roughly similar to "shit" (as Kouzelník Žito a.k.a. Shito the Magician has already proved - Czech reference, sorry). So, may your weekends be as happy as a pig in whatever you prefer :)