Finally, something fun in English! This is the answer to one of the most common questions about idioms: why do we use idioms? Because they’re more fun than “normal” English.
Now the “what”.
What is an idiom? The Cambridge dictionary has an excellent deifinition here:
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/learner-english/idiom
But let’s try another approach to this. Here is a common English idiom:
It’s raining cats and dogs. (this is the English idiom that expresses the idea)
Now here is a version of the same idiom from a different language:
There is a hole in the sky.
And from another language:
The sky is falling.
These are not English idioms, but they express the same idea. Can we guess what the idea is? Yes, all of these idioms from different cultures and languages mean the same thing: “It’s raining heavily” or “It’s raining a lot”.
So. It’s raining cats and dogs.
We don’t have to say this. We can just say, “It’s raining hard”. But “cats and dogs” is more fun because it creates a picture in our mind. Idioms make language more fun, and most languages use idioms regularly.
Let’s have a look at a few more common idioms in English. For today, let’s stick with idioms about the weather.
Example: I’m on cloud nine!
Cloud nine? Hmm. The meaning here is difficult to guess. Let’s give it some more context:
I just got that job that I applied for! I’m on cloud nine!
Now we probably have enough information (about getting a new job), and we can guess the “on cloud nine” means “very happy.
Here’s another one.
Example:
We’re in the dog days of summer!
What? Dog days? What are dog days? It doesn’t matter. What matters is the main idea. We might not know what “dog days” are, but we know what summer is, and what is the first thing people think of when they think of summer. That’s right. The sun. It’s hot. We can also remember that idioms are often used for emphasis. In this case, “the dog days of summer” means the hottest part of the summer (as we move toward the end of summer).
There is another important point here. Sometimes the meaning of idioms can change, stretch and take new form. Webster’s dictionary provides a good example of this here:
The second definition is: a period of stagnation or inactivity.
We might think of this as a period when people are not getting a lot of work done for some reason, or they are not making progress in their life personally.
Now we are getting to another reason to understand idioms: they are used a lot in movies, books and music.
Here are two links to a popular song in which “dog days” are very important:
Lyrics:
https://genius.com/Florence-the-machine-dog-days-are-over-lyrics
Music:
We will look more at idioms in the future because there are A LOT of them. Check out this post that deals with guessing the meaning of idioms using context. Until then, try to notice them in conversation or when you are reading and listening in English!