WHAT IS IDIOMATIC EXPRESSION?

An idiom (Latin: idiom from Ancient Greek: ἰδίωμα, "special feature, special phrasing, a
peculiarity", f. Ancient Greek: ἴδιος, romanized: ídios, "one's own") is a phrase or an
expression that has a figurative, or sometimes literal, meaning. Categorized as formulaic
language, an idiom's figurative meaning is different from the literal meaning.[1] There are
thousands of idioms, occurring frequently in all languages. It is estimated that there are at least
twenty-five thousand idiomatic expressions in the English language.[2]
Many idiomatic expressions, in their original use, were not figurative but had literal meaning.
Also, sometimes the attribution of a literal meaning can change as the phrase becomes
disconnected from its original roots, leading to a folk etymology. For instance, spill the beans
(meaning to reveal a secret) has been said to originate from an ancient method of democratic
voting, wherein a voter would put a bean into one of several cups to indicate which candidate
he wanted to cast his vote for. If the jars were spilled before the counting of votes was complete,
anyone would be able to see which jar had more beans, and therefore which candidate was the
winner. Over time, the practice was discontinued and the idiom became figurative.

However, this etymology for spill the beans has been questioned by linguists.[3] The earliest
known written accounts come from the USA and involve horse racing around 1902–1903, and
the one who "spilled the beans" was an unlikely horse who won a race, thus causing the
favorites to lose. By 1907 the term was being used in baseball, but the subject who "spilled the
beans" shifted to players who made mistakes, allowing the other team to win. By 1908 the term
was starting to be applied to politics, in the sense that crossing the floor in a vote was "spilling
the beans". However, in all these early usages the term "spill" was used in the sense of "upset"
rather than "divulge". A Stack Exchange discussion provided a large number of links to historic
newspapers covering the usage of the term from 1902 onwards.[4]

Other idioms are deliberately figurative. Break a leg, used as an ironic way of wishing good
luck in a performance or presentation, may have arisen from the belief that one ought not to
utter the words "good luck" to an actor. By wishing someone bad luck, it is supposed that the
opposite will occur.[5]
Compositionality

In linguistics, idioms are usually presumed to be figures of speech contradicting the principle of
compositionality. That compositionality is the key notion for the analysis of idioms is
emphasized in most accounts of idioms.[6][7] This principle states that the meaning of a whole
should be constructed from the meanings of the parts that make up the whole. In other words,
one should be in a position to understand the whole if one understands the meanings of each of
the parts that make up the whole. The following example is widely employed to illustrate the
point:
Fred kicked the bucket.
Mobility
Idioms possess varying degrees of mobility. While some idioms are used only in a routine form,
others can undergo syntactic modifications such as passivization, raising constructions, and
clefting, demonstrating separable constituencies within the idiom.[10] Mobile idioms, allowing
such movement, maintain their idiomatic meaning where fixed idioms do not:
Mobile

I spilled the beans on our project. → The beans were spilled on our project.

Fixed

The old man kicked the bucket. → The bucket was kicked (by the old man).
List of Common English Idioms:
Idiom Meaning
Hard to swallow Difficult to believe
Digging around Looking for
He’s a really bright spark He’s an intelligent person
He’s kicked the bucket He died
She’s hitting the books She’s studying hard
Break a leg! Good luck!
Set out on a new career Start a new career
Saunter through life Live in a relaxed way
Follow in someone’s footsteps Do something the way another person did it
before
One step at a time Do something slowly and carefully
Career path The sequence of jobs someone takes that create their career
Milestones Important events in a person’s life or career
Dead end job A job that offers no opportunity for advancement
To be at a crossroads When someone is at a point in life where their decisions
will have long term consequences
He’s on the straight and narrow He’s living in a morally proper way
To walk someone through something To show someone how to do
something
We need to come up with a road map We need to make a plan
I wouldn’t go down that road if I were you! I wouldn’t do that if I were you!
Don’t run before you can walk Don’t try to do something difficult before
mastering the basics
Inching forward When progress on something is being made in small
increments
To move at a snail’s pace To move slowly
To get good mileage out of something To get a lot of benefits from
something
To have your whole life in front of you To be young and have a lot of years
to live
To get on with your life To make progress in life goals after a difficulty
To tread carefully To behave or speak carefully to avoid offending or
causing problems with someone or something
To be a minefield When something presents many possible dangers
We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it To wait to worry about one
problem at a time
Information superhighway The internet
Time is money Time is a valuable resource
A tasty (or juicy) bit of gossip Very interesting or sensational gossip
To devour someone or something To consume something very quickly
To add a pinch of salt to something To acknowledge that someone exaggerates
To chew something over To think about something before making a decision
To not swallow something
To not accept something as fact
To bite off more than you can chew When someone makes a commitment that
they cannot keep
To eat your wods When someone has to admit they were wrong
A warm welcome A friendly welcome
DEVELOPMENTAL
READING

CHRISTIAN CIRE B. SANCHEZ