What are some of your favorite idioms?

Zaydism · January 29, 2020

Share as many as you like, I heard one from my professor in history class, he asked everyone if what he said was, ''clear as mud'' which everyone nodded yes to; I found that a bit funny XD

Edited January 29, 2020 by Mohammad313Ali

**hasanhh** · January 29, 2020

"crooked as a dog's hind leg"

**notme** · January 29, 2020

"like herding cats". That's most days in my life. These people are all over the place!

**hasanhh** · January 29, 2020

^^^^Before that was a Super Bowl commercial -when l first heard it- l once worked around toddlers whom l had to move away. One of the girls working there asked me something about it -like difficult, nuisance- and l responded "no problem, it's like herding ducks".

One idiomatic expression my father used which my older sister liked was "fifty cent millionaires". This came from the 1930s when people were tight with their money and money was hard to come by. There were people who had fifty cents in their pocket and would show-off with it by spending it, or whatever. lOW: people who show-off with money.

**Son of Placid** · January 29, 2020

7 hours ago, hasanhh said:

^^^^Before that was a Super Bowl commercial -when l first heard it- l once worked around toddlers whom l had to move away. One of the girls working there asked me something about it -like difficult, nuisance- and l responded "no problem, it's like herding ducks".

One idiomatic expression my father used which my older sister liked was "fifty cent millionaires". This came from the 1930s when people were tight with their money and money was hard to come by. There were people who had fifty cents in their pocket and would show-off with it by spending it, or whatever. lOW: people who show-off with money.

Weren't fifty cent millionaires a dime a dozen?

AbuDharr · January 30, 2020

One of my favorite that I my kids know well is, "going to see a man about a mule"

it's a way of saying none of your business when asked where you're going

riham.zaydiyya · January 30, 2020

Nose over teakettle. Basically it means falling head over heels, but in the painful literal way.

**Panzerwaffe** · January 30, 2020

Kicking the can down the road

Bob's your uncle

AbuDharr · January 30, 2020

There's more than one way to skin a cat

Hannah_A · January 30, 2020

My husband is not a native English speaker so he enjoys learning idioms. One of his favorites is "to let the cat out of the bag."

**notme** · January 30, 2020

"it's all fun and games 'til someone loses an eye"

**notme** · January 30, 2020

As happy as a duck in water

Or

As happy as a pig in mud

___

As cute as a button.

Just how cute are these people's buttons? Mine are fairly plain and functional.

Edited January 30, 2020 by notme

**Haji 2003** · January 30, 2020

37 minutes ago, notme said:

As happy as a pig in mud

The more authentic version is, "as happy as a pig in $hit", this is also the Muslim preferred version since it underlines how unclean these animals are.

:sign_welcome:

"happy as a pig in [Edited Out]." Phrases.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2020. Web. 30 Jan. 2020. <https://www.phrases.com/phrase/happy-as-a-pig-in-[Edited Out]_12855>.

**hasanhh** · January 31, 2020

"mad as a wet hen"

AbuDharr · January 31, 2020

Ain't got sense enough to pour piss out of a boot

Edited January 31, 2020 by AbuDharr

**hasanhh** · January 31, 2020

"he/she will go up a tree for a fish"

A Japanese expression for someone really goofey-stupid.

**Panzerwaffe** · January 31, 2020

Throw out the baby with the bath water

Run with the hares and hunt with the hounds

**notme** · February 1, 2020

As snug as a bug in a rug.

**Son of Placid** · February 1, 2020

A few bricks short of a load.

**notme** · February 1, 2020

10 hours ago, Son of Placid said:

A few bricks short of a load.

A few cards short of a deck.

Not the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree.

As sharp as a bowling ball.

**hasanhh** · February 1, 2020

Everyone is entitled to a 'fair trial' . . . before you hang them.

Zaydism · February 1, 2020

Between the devil and the deep blue sea

**hasanhh** · February 1, 2020

2 hours ago, Mohammad313Ali said:

Between the devil and the deep blue sea

Between a rock and a hard place . . . unless you live in Tehran. Then it is 'between lraq and a hard place' (US doesn't like lRl).

AbuDharr · February 2, 2020

Sweating like a loose woman in church

**hasanhh** · February 2, 2020

Nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs.

AbuDharr · February 2, 2020

2 hours ago, AbuDharr said:

Sweating like a loose woman in church

Yeah that ones a bit naughty. A lot idioms are rather risqué in there allusions actually, and I know many more but in the name of good taste "I'll give them a miss"

Interestingly "loose woman" is the word I typed in or the word that was there when I submitted the post but once it was submitted it came up as that. Must be some anti profanity measure in the programming...fascinating

**Reza** · February 2, 2020

The elephant in the room

**hasanhh** · February 2, 2020

Don't judge a book by its cover.

[As in "cover jacket" which is formed as an advertisement. Or people by the way they happened to be dressed at that moment.

Or by avatar . . . l like Reza's new one.]

**Panzerwaffe** · February 3, 2020

Out of the frying pan and into the fire

**Son of Placid** · February 3, 2020

The pot calling the kettle black.

It goes back to when people cooked over an open fire.

For those who are a bit quicker I've often shortened the phrase to "pot-kettle syndrome"

Moalfas · February 3, 2020

What goes around comes around.

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

**hasanhh** · February 3, 2020

19 minutes ago, Moalfas said:

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger

Retort from Hungarian Uprising Refugee, survivor of Nazi persecution, and Intel co-founder Andy Grove:

"Who ever says something like that hasn't been through sh__ in Life".

He said it on PBS' Charlie Rose.

Northwest · February 3, 2020

“Government is not a solution to our problem; government is the problem.” –Ronald Reagan

Actually, this is axiomatic, not idiomatic, but it almost starts to sound like an idiom after a while...

Edited February 3, 2020 by Northwest

**mesbah** · February 3, 2020

Confidence through the roof

The Farsi version: Etemad be saghf! (Instead of: Etemad be nafs)

Some Farsi ones:

He works like yogurt (lazy and lame) Farsi: Mesl-e mast kar mikone

Can't cut yogurt, or only can cut yogurt (blunt knife, scissors etc.) mast ham nemibore, faqat mast mibore

I was smashed (leh-e leh shodam) I was torn apart (pare shodam). (I laughed the hell out of myself, it was super funny)

My leaves were fallen. bargham rikht (I was scared to death)

Empty-packing (bluffing) khali bandi

He/she has swallowed shame, vomited embarrassment (extremely rude and impolite person) Haya ro qurt dadeh, sharm ro qey kardeh

Edited February 3, 2020 by mesbah
habib e najjaar's request

habib e najjaar · February 3, 2020

48 minutes ago, mesbah said:

Confidence through the roof

The Farsi version: Etemad be saghf! (Instead of: Etemad be nafs)

Some Farsi ones:

He works like yogurt (lazy and lame)

Can't cut yogurt, or only can cut yogurt (blunt knife, scissors etc.)

I was smashed (leh-e leh shodam) I was torn apart. (I laughed the hell out of myself, it was super funny)

My leaves were fallen. (I was scared to death)

Empty-packing (bluffing)

He/she has swallowed shame, vomited embarrassment (extremely rude and impolite person)

Share these in Farsi too please :book:

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