Unit One General Outlook of English Idioms

In this unit, we are to analyze the definition, characteristics, classification, variations and stylistic features of idioms so that we can have a clear idea of idioms.

Ⅰ. What Are English Idioms?

In the narrow sense, they are expressions that are not readily understandable from the literal meanings of individual elements. For example, in the sentence“I think you are splitting hairs,” “splitting hairs” doesn't literally mean “to split hairs,” but “to pay too much attention to details.”

In the broad sense, they may include:

A. Colloquialisms (daily expressions), e.g.:

See you.

Goodbye.

Morning!

“See you,” according to the grammar rule, is an imperative sentence indicating an order. Yet, it is now applied to indicate “goodbye,” which originally meant “May God bless you so that I can see you again.” Similarly, “Morning,”which denotes “the early part of the day from the time when people get up until midday or before lunch,” refers to a way of greeting when people first see each other in the morning.

B. Catchphrases (fashionable expressions in a certain period of time), e.g.:

Do it yourself! (DIY)

You don't say. (Really? )

You can say it again. (What you said is nice.)

Are you a man or a mouse? (Are you really so cowardly? )

Be your age. (Try to behave like an adult.)

C. Slang expressions (very informal expressions that are more common in spoken language), e.g.:

They used to chew the rag after dinner.

He spent most of his money on grass and food.

I do not know much about the plan they have worked out. Can you put me in the picture?

D. Proverbs, e.g.:

Good health is above wealth.

Lightning never strikes twice in the same place.

Lookers-on see more than players.

If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.

Money can make the mare go.

Ⅱ. The Reasons for Learning English Idioms

Idioms, a part of typical culture, are frequently used in the daily conversation and without a good command of them, it may be quite difficult to understand the counterpart. The following is a conversation between an American native doctor and an EFL learner:

After a long wait, the doctor called me into the office. I waited for him to ask me what was wrong. After a few minutes, he said, “What was the matter, the cat's got your tongue? ”

“No,” I said. “I haven't been feeling well lately. I don't have a cat, and my tongue is fine. I have a sore throat and my knee hurts.”

“I was only pulling your leg,” said Dr. Ruby. “I'm all thumbs when it comes to jokes.”

“If you were standing over there,” I said, “how could you have pulled my leg? Anyway, my knee hurts; please don't pull my leg. And your hand looks fine to me,” I continued. “I see ten fingers, not all thumbs.”

“Oh, what a pain in the neck,” said Dr. Ruby. “This patient is really bullheaded.”

I answered, “Is that why I have a pain in the neck, because it's turning into a bull? I thought the pain was from the sore throat.”

“You're giving me a pain in the neck,” shouted Dr. Ruby. “Do you have a chip on your shoulder or something? Just laugh!”

“I don't have a chip on my shoulder. Nothing is broken. I told you I have a sore throat and a pain in my knee.”

“My knee only hurts when I dance,” said the doctor. “That's because I have two left feet.”

“Your feet look all right to me,” I answered. Dr. Ruby shook his head and left the room.

“Is Dr. Ruby speaking English?” I murmured. “I can't understand anything he says. What a dumb doctor!”

As I said “dumb doctor,” Dr. Ruby entered the room.

“You put your foot in your mouth this time, young man!” he said.

“But I can't put my foot in my mouth because my knee hurts! ”

From such an example, we may safely come to a conclusion: a command of English idioms, without which EFL learners may become “fluent idiots,”is indispensable for English majors or those who would like to have a natural conversation with native English speakers.

Besides, we may apply English idioms to express Chinese colloquialisms, e.g.:

1) 人比人，气死人。

2) 因噎废食。

3) 姑息养奸，养虎为患。

Ⅲ. Characteristics of Idioms—True Idioms

Based on the stability, idioms can be grouped into three levels:

true idioms,

semi-idioms,

and regular combinations.

The following characteristics belong to the first level.

A. Semantic unity (semantically inexplicable), e.g.:

1) How do you do?

2) It is raining cats and dogs.

3) Not soon he flew off the handle.

B. Structural stability

Idioms, to a large extent, are unchangeable. In other words, they are mostly fixed collocations. In details:

1．Constituents of idioms are not likely to be replaced.

Compare: He is now in a brown study. (idiom)

No substitution

Please compare:

red tape (idiom)—red tapes/a red tape (phrase)

cold comfort (idiom)—cold winter/water (phrase)

He always pays lip service to us. (mouth/tooth)

A stitch in time saves nine. (One? )

this minute//the minute//to the minute

From the above examples, we can see that elements of phrases can be replaced freely, yet those of idioms not. “Dog” cannot be substituted by “monkey”or “chicken”; similarly, “lip” not by “mouth”or “tooth.” Although “one” plays the same role in the sentence grammatically, it cannot be used in the fourth sentence. According to the grammar, “this minute” equals to “the minute,” but they refer to “at once” and “as soon as” respectively.

2．Word order cannot be inverted or changed.

They came in by twos and threes.

We will take the tit-for-tat attitude.

The father is unwilling to work but willing to take the lion's share.

There is a similar idiom “三三两两” in Chinese, but English native speak-ers use “by twos and threes.” Neither of the idioms can be changed in the order. English grammar rules tell us “the lion's share” is the same with “the share of the lion,” yet the latter is not an idiom at all.

C. Grammatical unanalyzability

Diamond cut diamond.

Crook cut crook.

It is as sure as eggs is eggs.

It is high time that he put his best foot forward.

All the above sentences do not accord with English grammar; nevertheless, they are idiomatic. If we take the grammatically correct sentences “Diamond cuts diamond.” “Crook cuts crook.” “It is as sure as eggs are eggs.” “It is high time that he put his better foot forward.” we make mistakes.

Ⅳ. Classification

We can never forget the purpose of learning idioms is to apply them into the oral and/or written practice. By keeping a lot of idioms in mind, we may have more idiomatic expressions. Therefore, we first classify them according to their functions and we need to keep the functions of idioms in mind when learning them:

n.in nature

adj.in nature

v.in nature

adv.in nature

conj.in nature

prep.in nature

and sentence in nature.

For example,“this minute”is adv.in nature,“the minute”conj.in nature and“chicken”in“Are you chicken? ”adj.in nature.

From their formation, idioms can be classified into semantic idioms and structural idioms. The former ones contain vehicles such as “John is a wet blanket,” while the latter not, such as “to make it big,” “for certain” or “out of business.” This book concentrates on the semantic idioms.

Ⅴ. Variations of Idioms

True idioms, to a large extent, are unchangeable. In other words, they are mostly fixed collocations allowing no change.

Yet, the second and third levels, the deviation of idioms, are not rigid forms and may allow variations.

A. Replacement (well-accepted)

Such a variation may take place due to necessity, elegant variation, or simplicity, e.g.:

1) For his father's sake, I gave him 3/4/6 days' grace.

2) Catch/get/seize hold of the rope tightly.

3) This sum of money is a drop in the ocean/bucket.

4) On a large/big/vast scale, the trend influenced the young people.

5) Finally they gave a handle for/to the problem.

B. Addition

1．For free usage, e.g.:

He was forced to the (financial) wall.

2．For emphasis, e.g.:

(Even) the walls have ears.

What's done is done (and can't be undone).

C. Deletion

Such a variation is mainly for brevity, e.g.:

1) He got the position thanking his (lucky) stars.

2) His mother left him for good (and all).

3) The idea was accepted in theory, but no real effort was made to put it into (widespread) practice.

D. Shortening

Such a variation is also mainly for brevity, e.g.:

1) This is the last straw.

(This is the last straw that breaks the camel's back.)

2) Pay attention to the velvet paws.

(Pay attention to the velvet paws that hides sharp claws.)

3) The greatest risk of English majors is to become a Jack of all trades.

(The greatest risk of English majors a Jack of all trades and master of none.)

4) You believe he is a rich man. Mmm, he is a rolling stone.

(…he is a rolling stone that gathers no moss.)

E. Position-shifting

Such a variation is mainly for simplicity, e.g.:

1) They work day and night /night and day.

2) Pin back your ears! /Pin your ears back!

3) Will you do him a favor? /Will you do a favor for him?

4) The “carrot and stick” /“stick and carrot” policy works well.

F. Dismembering (created by some authors by imitating some idioms and not well-accepted)

Such a variation is mainly for novelty, humor, and attraction, e.g.:

1) Generally speaking, he is a misfit, a round peg in the squarest hole.

(a square peg in the round hole)

2) He was criticized for wearing his achievements on his sleeves.

(wearing his heart on his sleeves)

3) He is putting on an unhappy face.

(put on a long face)

Ⅵ. Stylistic Features

1．Idioms are full of rhetorical devices and are vivid and forceful.

Generally speaking, idioms are vivid, by using a lot of rhetorical devices (such as alliteration, rhyme, metonymy, and repetition) esp. that of metaphor, which means applying familiar vehicles to indicate something unfamiliar or abstract. For example, in “we have to tighten our belts,” the underlined action is familiar to people and it can express one abstract idea “to live economically.” They are, therefore, widely used due to their forcefulness.

2．In general, English idioms have various styles, most of which are used in a colloquial situation and some of which in all situations.

For one meaning, there are often a set of idioms used in different styles, e.g.:

study up on bone up on(infml.)mug up on(sl.)

look down upon look down one's nose at(sl.)

Follow-up Activities

Answer the following questions.

1．How would you like to define idioms? What are their characteristics, classification and variations?

2．Why shall we learn English idioms?

3．Can you mention some applications of idioms?

4．How will you learn this course well?

Discovery Activities

Read the following books related to idioms and try to grasp the meaning of idioms.

[1] Kipfer B. A., Robert L. Chapman. Dictionary of American Slang[M]. Glasgow: Harper Collins, 2010.

[2]崔鸣秋．中英谚语合璧[M]．北京：中国电影出版社，1997.

[3]李桂山．英语成语妙用[M]．北京：新世界出版社，2003.

[4]刘春伟．英语惯用语终结者[M]．北京：外文出版社，2010.

[5]汪福祥．现代英语妙语语林（高级本）[M]．北京：石油工业出版社，1999.

[6]汪福祥．现代英语妙语语林（中级本）[M]．北京：石油工业出版社，1999.

[7]汪福祥．现代英语妙语语林（初级本）[M]．北京：石油工业出版社，2000.

[8]张勇先．英语惯用法教程[M]．北京：中国人民大学出版社，1998.

[9]朱维荣．英语流行语[M]．上海：上海交通大学出版社，2005.