Meanings Of The Words example essay topic

It's So Clich " ed 'She sat down to write her paper without batting an eyelash. ' This sentence contains an example of what is called an idiom. Idioms are individual forms of expression specific to one language. They can be thought of as a group of two or more words that together mean something different from the literal meaning of the individual words. 'Without batting an eyelash' means to be passive, or show no interest in an event or situation. This phrase first appeared in the early 1900's.

' Batting', used in this phrase, was intended to mean 'blinking'. If a person is so cool and calm that they do not even blink when confronted with something unusual, they there is no outward show of emotion. 'Without batting an eyelash' is just one of about ten thousand idiomatic expressions! Idioms are said to appear in every language. Some of ours have even originated elsewhere.

Our English idioms can be quite confusing to a foreigner since the meaning of them, as previously noted, may have little or nothing to do with the meanings of the words taken one by one. An example of this is the phrase 'let the cat out of the bag'. While today that means to reveal a secret, a hundred years ago the phrase actually meant to let a cat out of a bag. Foreigners may find that to fully understand our language, they will have to understand our idioms. The use of idioms dates as far back as biblical times, and can come from something as random as horse racing.

Many authors throughout history have made up idioms to liven up their writings. These authors were popular, so the words they wrote became equally popular. Some examples of these authors are Homer, Aesop, Geoffrey Chaucer and William Shakespeare. Word experts have difficulty with agreeing on the exact origins of our idioms, but it is said that some came from Native American customs and others from African-American speech. Some have become popular because they rhyme, or because they contain alliteration.

There are idioms that originated as colloquialisms (informal speech), some as slang (casual, playful, non-standard language) and there are those that were well-known proverbs or adages (short passages that express practical, basic truths). An overused idiom or phrase is referred to as a clich'e. A clich'e has the reputation of being a once fresh and original expression that is now old and too commonplace. While many times this reputation is upheld, if one pays close enough attention to their phrasing, clich " es can serve as the basis of their language. An example of proper use of clich'e could be columnist George Wills comment on the fact that the fans of the Chicago Cubs support their team through 'thick and thin'.

While there are many clich " es heard today, many of them so common that we may not even think about it when we hear or read it, there are still some not-so-common idioms. Some that have not become too clich " ed include these phrases; 'Air your dirty laundry in public', 'Ax to grind', 'Beware of Greeks bearing gifts', 'Call you on the carpet', 'Drop you like a hot potato', 'Gone to pot', 'Ignorance is bliss', 'Mum's the word', 'Pull the Wool over your eyes', 'Red Herring', 'Straighten up and fly right', 'What's good for the goose is good for the gander' and 'Word of mouth'. A quarreling pair or group of people talking about their disagreements or embarrassing issues in public are referred to as 'Airing their dirty laundry in public' whereas 'to air' means to discuss thing aloud where anyone can here and 'dirty laundry' would be intimate details one would not normally share. Having an 'ax to grind' is not a good thing. It is a form of flattery one uses to gain something for a selfish reason. One would flatter and thus trick another in order to get a favor from them.

This originated in the early 1800's when a man wrote a story in a newspaper about how, when he was a boy, a man used flattery to trick him into sharpening the man's ax. The catch was that the boy was not paid for his heavy grinding and was actually scolded for being lazy and missing school that day. I think people today 'have an ax to grind' without even noticing it at times. Even working in retail I see examples of this, possibly from an employee complimenting on the look of an item on a customer in order to get them to purchase the item. Beware of Greeks bearing gifts!

In the famous story of the Trojan War, the Aeneid, a great Roman writer by the name of Virgil said to beware of Greeks giving gifts. The reason for this was because for ten years during the Trojan War, the Greek army tried hopelessly to take over the city of Troy. Finally they were successful and this happened when they pretended to sail back to Greece while leaving a huge wooden horse as a gift for the Trojans. The Trojans then brought it inside there city, and while they were sleeping they were invaded by the many Greek soldiers hiding in the empty belly of the Trojan horse. 'I'm afraid if I don't finish this project correctly my professor will 'call me on the carpet'. The idiom used here, 'Call you on the carpet' means to be called upon and receive an admonishment from an authority figure.

This originated in Britain households in the 1800's that had hired help. When these maids and servants were to be called by their masters into the parlor, they would usually have to walk from the servants corridors, down a carpeted hallway. The same goes for an unlucky employee nowadays awaiting criticism from a boss. Today when the idiom is used, it does not necessarily have to be a carpeted area that one is walking on, but the 'carpet' part stuck. Another popular idiom is 'Drop you like a hot potato'. Meaning to quickly expel of something undesired or dangerous, the phrase originated in the early 19th century when a writer used it as a simile.

Naturally, if someone handed you a hot potato, you'd have to drop it quickly or else you would burn your hand. This is equivalent to a harmful idea being planned and disposed of. When something gets worse and worse or becomes destroyed, it can be said that it has 'gone to pot. ' This idiom is from the 1500's and initially pertained to the old or weak animals at the time which could no longer breed, lay eggs, give milk or pull wagons.

These animals would be slaughtered and then cooked in a pot. So if a person or thing nowadays has worn out or can't to it's job anymore, it has either 'gone to pot', 'gone to wrack and ruin' or 'gone to the dogs'. Ignorance is bliss. Sometimes, it is better to not know of any bad news that is present, especially if one is happy. The phrase 'ignorance is bliss' was written by Greek playwright Sophocles around 400 B.C. It was quoted almost two thousand years later by Erasmus, a Dutch scholar. The phrase became most popular, however, when British poet Thomas Gray used it in one of his poems in the 1700's.

He wrote 'Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise. ' 'Mum' has meant 'silent's ince about 1350. The word itself is said to sound like a person trying to talk with their lips shut tight. 'Mum's the word' became a popular expression since approximately 1700 and means to keep silent and to not tell anyone the secret. A rather peculiar idiom has been of interest to me for some time. The term 'to pull the wool over your eyes' is another way of saying to fool, deceive or trick somebody.

Today it describes any form of cheating or trickery, but it actually came from 19th century Europe. In those days many men wore wigs made of wool (which is still seen in some British courts) and if you pulled these wigs over their eyes, naturally he or she could not see what was happening, thus they could easily be tricked. When a clever trick was done by a lawyer, it was said that they were 'pulling the wool' over the judges eyes. ' Red herring' has been a popular idiom since the 19th century and refers to something purposely misleading to distract one from the main subject, or something irrelevant that confuses an issue.

A red herring is actually a very strong smelling fish that has been pickled and preserved in herbs and spices so that it becomes reddish. Centuries ago, dogs learned to follow a trail from the use of this fish. It would be dragged on the ground and the dogs would have to follow that scent. This became a problem though, when people who disliked hunting would drag the red herring on the ground, confusing canines that were on the trail of a fox.

Also, crooks who had escaped found that they could cover their own tracks with the smell of the red herring so that the bloodhounds could not find them. If an individual was being told to stop acting foolish and start acting serious, or to stop fooling around and try to achieve a goal, they might be told to 'Straighten up and fly right'. This is a popular African-American expression and can relate to birds or airplanes. It is saying that instead of flying in a crooked or curved matter, a bird or pilot should readjust their flight pattern and fly directly to their destination. A rule or requirement that applies to one person or group must also apply to others, especially their mate. At least, that is what the phrase 'What's good for the goose is good for the gander' is saying.

A Gander is a male goose. So this saying states that what is good for one gender must be good for the other. It has been said that this expression calls for equality between the sexes, though the 'goose and gander' doesn't mean a male and a female as much as it just means two people. A final example of an idiom that has not yet become too clich " ed is 'word of mouth'.

This phrase is almost self-explanatory, as it means one person telling information by speaking instead of writing. If people see a show or read a book and tell another person about it, they are using 'word of mouth' as opposed to those who they are telling being informed by a media source like the newspaper or television. Idioms and clich " es are used in so many occasions. The idioms mentioned above can be used in everyday language and are in fact heard frequently. Different occasions in which clich " es have been heard are; when a person feels bad, when one is confused, when one wishes to be in a higher class, and then there are those clich " es which either offer inspiration or have a moral value to them. When a person feels bad they might hear someone say 'every cloud has a silver lining'.

It means that there is a reason to have faith that something good may happen even in the most helpless situation. Literally clouds are uniformly gray and lowering, but still this expression of hope has been preserved since 1634 when John Milton wrote about a woman lost in the woods in Comus. The woman takes comfort in the words 'was I deceived, or did a sable cloud turn forth her silver lining on the night?' If a person is confused they may say that the situation is 'all Greek' to them. Three hundred years ago this term was used in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar by the character Casca. Casca was among the group conspiring to kill Caesar and told Brutus and Cassius how Caesar refused the crown of emperor. Casca asked if Cicero had said anything at the time.

He had, speaking in Greek to prevent passerby from understanding him. Casca then replied, 'Those that understood him smiled at one another and shook their heads, but for mine own part, it was Greek to me. ' When a person wants to attain a higher class of living it is said that they are trying to 'keep up with the Joneses'. This was implied to have been done by straining one's financial or social resources.

The actual phrase came from a comic strip written by Arthur Momand from 1913 to 1931 which followed the story of a young, newly married man who made $125 dollars a week. The strip was originally called 'Keeping up with the Smiths' but was changed to what Momand thought sounded 'more euphonious'. ' Live and learn' can be considered an inspirational clich'e. It basically means to learn from one's mistakes. In 1575 a play called The Glass of Government was written by George Gascoigne and he offered this advice; 'We live to learn, for so Saint Paule doth teach. ' An example of a clich'e that teaches a moral value would be 'Live and Let Live'.

Gerard De Malines wrote in The Ancient Law-Merchant in 1622; according to the Dutch proverbe... Leu en end lae ten leu en, to like and to let others lieu. ' The clich'e says to mind your own affairs and be respectful of those of others. In addition to clich " es and idioms, linguists also use a process called reduplication, where there is a doubling of a syllable or other part of a word, sometimes with modifications. These words, such as 'higgled y-', 'dilly-dally', 'so-so', 'hunky-dory', 'handy-dandy' and 'fancy-' are reduplicative words. The origin of 'higgled y-' is unknown, but it is thought to have come about sometime between 1590 and 1600.

It means to be in a confused, disordered or random matter. 'Dilly-dally' is a form of stalling or wasting time. 'So-so' means to be mediocre. To be 'hunky-dory' is to be perfectly satisfied. 'Handy-dandy' came from child's play whereas a child would be holding something in one hand and another child would guess which hand the item was in. 'Fancy-' was a phrase used to describe something fancy.

Of all the idioms, clich " es and paired words there are, one thing can be certain. The English language is a complex one. Native speakers of the language take for granted what they know and understand. It took centuries of modifying for our language to get to where it is today, and foreigners only have a few decades to grasp a firm understanding.

Bibliography

Ammer, Christine The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms New York: Houghton-Mifflin Co., 1997 Amber, Christine The Facts on File Dictionary of Cliches New York: Facts on File, 2001 Baugh, Albert C.
and Cable, Thomas A History of the English Language Fifth Edition, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2002 Rogers, James The Dictionary of Cliches New York: Ballantine Books, 1985 Terran, Marvin Scholastic Dictionary of Idioms: More Than 600 Phrases, Sayings and Expressions New York: Scholastic, Inc.
1996 Quinton, Michael 'Is This a Word?' World Wide Words updated 17 November 2004 Accessed 18 November 2004 web.