As the UK is an island nation, it’s perhaps not surprising that there are a great many idioms in English that relate to the ocean and sailing. Some of these nautical idioms are not known or used by many people and others contain obscure items of vocabulary. However, a surprising number are fairly common in contemporary English. This post (and my next one) will cover the most frequent of these idioms. Continue reading “Rocking the boat (Nautical Idioms, Part 1)”
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This week’s post relates to the language used to describe an activity that gives a great deal of pleasure to people the world over – growing and taking care of plants and flowers, whether outside or in the home.
Continue reading “Green fingers and thumbs (The language of gardening)”
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by Liz Walter
There are often occasions when we don’t want to do something or when we refuse to do something. There can be many reasons for not doing something, and the language we use to talk about it may depend on them. Today’s post looks at some of the most common ones.
Continue reading “I don’t have the heart for it: not wanting to do things”
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by Liz Walter
We all know that there’s no such thing as a perfect life. Even people who are generally happy and successful will always have some experiences that make them upset or frustrated. Today’s post looks at the language we use when we speak about this.
Continue reading “Taking the rough with the smooth: talking about imperfect situations”
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Regular readers of this blog often ask us for posts on English idioms used now in contemporary English. One way we make sure we provide up-to-date idioms is by looking at those used in current newspaper articles. The expressions included in this week’s post are taken from a range of national newspapers that were published on June 16, 2025.
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A little while back, my colleague, Liz Walter, published a post on phrases that contain the word ‘blood’. Today, I’m picking up the ‘parts of the body’ theme with a post on idioms with the word ‘bone’. There are a surprising number of them!
Continue reading “I feel it in my bones (Idioms with ‘bone’)”
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by Liz Walter
My last post looked at idioms that come from the sport of boxing. This post presents some more common sporting idioms. Back in 2019, I wrote about idioms with the word ‘ball’. I won’t repeat those here, but there are plenty of others!
Continue reading “Open goals and jumping the gun: more sporting idioms”
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by Liz Walter
Back in 1974, the world looked on as Muhammed Ali beat the great George Foreman in the thrilling boxing match known as the ‘Rumble in the Jungle’. Foreman’s recent death was a reminder of that contest, and also of just how many boxing terms have made their way into general idiomatic use. This post will cover a few of the most common ones.
Continue reading “The gloves are off: idiomatic phrases from boxing”
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by Liz Walter
My last post looked at ways of describing how important someone is in an organization, for example at work or in the armed forces. This post covers some more general ways of talking about how important someone is in a society, or how important other people make them feel.
Continue reading “Anyone who’s anyone: talking about how important people are (2)”
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Today’s post is the latest in my Newspaper idioms thread, in which I present you with a selection of English idioms and phrases used in several newspapers published on the same day. The aim is to provide you with a range of contemporary, frequently used English idioms.