by Kate Woodford
Do you know the new-ish idiom in the title of this post? For anyone who hasn’t heard this phrase (which is suddenly everywhere), if you spill the tea, you talk about someone else’s private life, sometimes in a way that is unkind. It’s basically another way of saying ‘gossip’. This post, as you might have guessed, looks at the language of gossip and as usual, includes both single words and phrases. Continue reading “Come on, spill the tea! (Words for ‘gossip’)”
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by Liz Walter
We often find ourselves in situations where we don’t believe something we are being told. This post looks at some of the phrases we can use when this happens, depending on factors such as how strongly we feel about it, or whether we think someone intended to lie or not. Continue reading “It’s a pack of lies!: things we say when we don’t believe someone”
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by Liz Walter
Back in the 1990s, a social networking site called Friends Reunited enabled people to find old friends and communicate with them again. It was immensely popular but eventually closed down, unable to compete with platforms such as Facebook. I was reminded of it as I recently waited to meet someone I hadn’t seen for a long time myself, and I started to consider the language we use in these situations. Continue reading “Reuniting and reminiscing: talking about meeting old friends”
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by Kate Woodford
As I was writing last month’s post on ‘horse’ idioms, it occurred to me that there are a number of interesting English idioms that relate to horses while not containing the word ‘horse’ itself. I thought I’d share the most frequent of these with you in another horse-themed post. Continue reading “Champing at the bit (Horse-related idioms)”
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by Liz Walter
I recently watched a fascinating and shocking TV documentary called ‘Dirty Business’. The subject was the terrible state of the UK’s rivers and seas, and the title has a double meaning. On the one hand, it refers to literal dirt in the water and on the other to apparently unethical practices from both water companies and the UK Environment Agency which should be protecting our water quality. In this post I take a closer look at the way ‘dirty’ is used metaphorically and the words and phrases we often use with it. Continue reading “It’s a dirty business: the metaphorical use of ‘dirty’”
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by Kate Woodford
Idioms featuring the word ‘horse’ or ‘horses’ are common in English, and this is no great surprise. Humans have always had a close relationship with this beautiful animal. For centuries, horses were our main means of transport. We also used them in farming, war, and industry. More recently, of course, we’ve ridden horses, both for leisure and in the sport of horse racing. Today, I’m looking at some of the most frequent and useful horse idioms. Continue reading “Wild horses and gift horses (Idioms with the word ‘horse’)”
by Liz Walter
My last post looked at the way the verb ‘throw’ can be extended into several figurative uses. Today, we go a step further and look at some classic idioms that contain this word. Continue reading “Throwing your weight around: idioms with ‘throw’”
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By Liz Walter
Today’s post looks at some of the phrases we use when bad things happen to people. It appears that we must be very judgmental, since there are many more phrases for saying that a person deserves what happened to them than there are for being sympathetic! Continue reading “It’s your own fault! Talking about deserving bad things.”
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by Liz Walter
Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, the most visited painting in the world, is famous for its subject’s strange smile. That smile is often described as enigmatic, meaning that it is rather mysterious and it is impossible to guess what she is thinking. Today’s post looks at some other words and phrases to do with people hiding or showing their emotions. Continue reading “Poker faced or heart on your sleeve? Showing or hiding emotions.”
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My first post on death and dying looked at softer, less direct ways of talking about this subject, for example saying that we ‘lose’ a person or that a person ‘passes away’ rather than saying they ‘die’. Today, I’m looking at idioms and phrases generally in this area, some of which are also gently euphemistic. Continue reading “Talking about death (Part 2)”