English Phrases Decoded: A Storm In A Teacup

This weeks phrase is "storm in a teacup", an odd phrase when you think about it.  Teacups are usually peaceful places, filled with delicious tea. This idiom means to make a small problem into a big problem.  Another English idiom similar to this is "to make a mountain out of a mole hill". A few …

What Does It Mean? “Useful As A Chocolate Teapot”

Here is a challenge for you on a this Friday morning.  What does this phrase mean? It applies to ideas and objects, you could say: "That toaster is as useful as a chocolate teapot." "That plan is as much use as a chocolate teapot." Comment below with your answers, and if you have worked it …

English Phrases Decoded: Under The Weather

Under the weather; we all are right?  I mean technically.  But when someone uses the phrase "under the weather" they don't mean this.  What they mean is that they or the person they are talking about is feeling ill or sick. People believe it the idiom has it routes in sailing, where a sailor would …

English Phrases Decoded: The best thing since sliced bread

Sliced bread is great.  It is quick and easy, it is a really good idea.  Maybe because of this, the phrase "the best thing since sliced bread" has come to mean a really good idea.  When someone says that something is the best thing since sliced bread, they think it is great.  The phrase is …

English Phrases Decoded #9

A barge pole is a  long pole used to manoeuvre a barge across waterways.  It is also a statement of just how much you don't want to do something. The idiom 'I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole' means that you don't want to do something.  And not just a little a bit, I …

English Phrases Decoded #8

The straw that broke the camel's back.  This idiom goes back to the time of Charles Dickens.  He used a version of this phrase in his book 'Dombey and Son'.  However, there was an older phrase, "tis the last feather that breaks the horse's back", that he might have borrowed. Either way, this is a …

English Phrases Decoded #7

Have you ever tried herding cats?!  It is hard, basically impossible!  They don't listen and keep moving anywhere they want to.  Because of this, 'like herding cats' has become an English idiom to describe something very hard which refuses to go as you intend it to.  Here are some examples of how you might use …

English Phrases Decoded #6

This week we look at the English idiom 'barking up the wrong tree'.  This is an old phrase which anyone who has ever owned a dog will probably be able to relate to.  In conversational use it means that someone is looking in the wrong place for something. Has this ever happened to you?  Comment …

English Phrases Decoded #5

This week the phrase is an outraged phrase!  'Who does he think he is?!" It's a phrase used when someone does something out of character which is unpleasant or nasty!  It is a phrase that would be used in shock towards someone's actions, whether they be to a thing, a person or a place. Here …

English Phrases Decoded #4

The wrong end of the stick is a phrase that has a rather unpleasant historical origin, but has since become a phrase to indicate that someone has the wrong idea.  Historically it has been traced back to Roman toilet hygene - where you definitely would not want want the wrong end of the stick! Thankfully, …