The Maple Leaf Rag

Someone asked me about idioms and if I use them a lot in English. At first, I had no idea what an idiom was. Maybe they didn't have them when I went to school! Just kidding. Of course there were idioms then but I don't remember that they were named that back in the 50's.

Sometimes you can get all caught up in the names of things and ignore what the thing is. It's just another way of saying something. 'It's raining cats and dogs' is another way of saying 'it's really raining hard'. Well you can certainly say either one, and if you were in the middle of a business meeting I'm sure you would simply say that it's raining hard.

Learning idioms isn't necessarily for you to use them. I think it is more for you to understand them when you are in an English country or in an English situation. It's a bit like 'slang' and I think there are regional idioms as well as universal idioms. It's the universal ones that you might want to study. I'll put some of the more popular ones here in a moment.

(My laptop battery ran out so here are the promised idioms)

a pig in a poke - not knowing exactly what you are getting

letting the cat out of the bag - revealing a secret (originally this came from the same source as the first idiom in old England)

three sheets to the wind - drunk

the whole nine yards - everything, nothing missing 'they went the whole nine yards with their wedding'

shake a leg - get up!

rise and shine - get up!

son of a gun - surprise, a mild epithet, "The Leafs lost again? Oh, son of a gun!" "Who's the son of a gun who took my parking place?" "Look at that son of a gun play soccer! He's amazing!" Better to know what it means than to use it, ok?

I think every language has idioms. They might be things that your grandparents said but I'm sure we all have them.

Some of the ones I have used here  come from  the days of sailing ships and the old British Empire. Wow, the weather here in Canada is cold enough 'to freeze the balls off of a brass monkey!' This isn't as bad as it sounds. Look up the source of that idiom to see what it really means. 

Everyone here is either trying to learn English or trying to help other people learn English. Ok, well some are just after entertainment but mostly we are all working toward the same goal. 

What have you got in your home, or on your computer that will help you learn this tough language? If you are religious, and many people here are religious, you have the Quran or the Bible or the New Testament or the Declaration of Independence or The Joy of Cooking! What do these have to do with learning English? Read on.

Has anyone heard of the Rosetta Stone? It was a piece of stone discovered in 1799. It had three translations of the same story (passage) on it, two in Egyptian (demotic and hieroglyphic)  and one in  classical Greek. The key to understanding hieroglyphics came from this stone. A French scholar finally translated the hieroglyphics in 1822-24. 

How does this fit into your English study? Well, pick up something in English at a bookstore. Then look for the same book in your own language. Maybe choose poetry, a book of songs, maybe even the script from a popular movie. Hey, a cookbook will do!

While the words won't be EXACTLY the same, you should be able to follow the English version of your book when you read the same book in your own language. I have read that some people have learned English in this way. Simple but effective.

The alternative is to rent a movie and watch it with the subtitles in your own language several times. Then, scene by scene, go through the film and try to figure out what the actors are saying. Sooner or later it will all begin to sink in. Just sit and watch, don't get frustrated. In a while you will be able to figure out what the actors are saying.

The Internet is full of song lyrics. What group do you like to listen to? Download their music and then find the lyrics online. Listen to the music and read the lyrics as you enjoy the tune. Sooner or later it will start to make sense. 

Your local bookstore, your library or even Itunes has your "Rosetta Stone'. Look for it and you'll be proficient in English in no time! Good luck! 

Hi Crew!

That's what I used to call my team when I was coaching baseball and soccer. Crew! My baseball teams were mixed sometimes so crew fit better than 'people'. When I was coaching just girls I always said 'crew' also since it sounded better than girls or ladies.

So, that isn't a funny word but 'chock a block' is. So is 'cheek to jowl'. Oh, and there is also 'packed like sardines'. Did you get an idea of that all of these words mean? Crowded, they all mean crowded. "We were packed like sardines in that elevator!" "There we were on the bus,cheek to jowl, during rush hour". There is another word for the same thing, 'chock full'. The car was chock full of people. These are fun words, not really things you would find in a book but you would hear them here in Canada. 

Here are some more:
butter me up - make me feel good by complimenting me

stick in the mud - a person who can't seem to have fun or relax

Then there are words from Aesop's fables. Is Aesop a universal writer? Has everyone heard of the Tortoise and the Hare? "Slow and steady wins the day". I was speaking with someone today and she said that she would learn English a little at a time, and I said that this is the correct way to do it. A little bit at a time. But you know I had a Latin teacher in high school, Mrs. Sunderland. She always said that the human brain is a fantastic thing. If you cram enough into it, the things you put in will come out when you need them. And that, crew, is true. 

Over the years, from five years of Latin through hundreds if not thousands of books and thousands of movies, the stuff keeps coming out when I need it. So for English, read, listen, speak, write, do whatever you can and you'll soon find that "what goes in will come out sooner or later" and you will be a confident speaker/writer/listener of English.

A long blog but I hope you enjoy it. Several people have told me that they enjoy my blogs. Well, I can tell you that you don't enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy writing them!