american-idioms习语

Deciphering American Idioms and Street Talkturn arounddo a 180, turn tail, backtrack, pull a u-eyAre you sure?Did I hear you correctly? Could you say that again? Please repeat that. Double check.Wild goose chasea waste of time, futile quest, wasted effort, fools errand, walking in circlescrock obullreleasing frustration verbally:non offensive - phooey, shoot, golley, gee, gee whiz, dag gone it, dag nab it, For heavens sake!, Thats just perfect/peachy!, darn itmoderate - crock obull, bullcrap, oh my godoffensive - bullshit, damn it, ass, oh hell* As long as you say it with the right tone, you can say anything to relieve stress such as, barrel of monkeys or popcicle sticks. Try it, bet you cant keep from smiling!Simmer down.Dont blow your top! Cool it. Chill out. Chillax. Keep your cool. Keep the lid on. Calm down. Check yourself. Watch your temper. Hold your temper. Stay calm. Be still. Compose yourself.In itAre you in? - Do you want to join me/us? Want to come?Im in! - Ill do it! Ill join. Ill go.Were in it together. Were a part of something. In the middle of a task.In it for the long haul.(a long haul is literally to carry a heavy weight over a long distance)Strongly committed. To keep going no matter what.Prepared to stick it out.to persist, keep trying, not abandon the project, stick with it, stick to it, stick/stay together, glued to it (glued to the TV), attached at/ glued to the hip - best friends, do it till its done, get it done, make it work, work it out, work out the bugs/kinksReady to stay the course to the bitter end.(means literally to navigate a boat and the bit at the end of a rope)keep on target, make a plan and follow it through to the end, to hold out against the strongest resistance*William Shakespeare changed the meaning of bitter end to mean death, since then the word bitter has come to describe a bitter taste and the feeling of bitterness.Through thick and thin.For better or worse. Through good times and bad. To survive despite obstacles, frustration, and confusion. to prevail, to lastbefore the cows come homeBefore late. Before I grow old. Im not getting any younger. Before too long.until the cows come homeIts going to be a very long wait. Maybe never. Not likely. Not until late tonight. Itll be a long time.Hang in there.Hold on. It wont be long. Everything is fine. No worries. Come on, its ok. Everything is gonna be alright. Its all good. All is well.Make up for lost time.Hurry up. Go faster. Quickly now. To have a distraction and need to work faster to finish before a deadline.Pushing the limit.Going slightly over the limit. Bending the rules. See how much you can do before getting in trouble or going to far or becoming too exhausted to move.SECTION 2out of itbeyond tired, wiped out, exhausted, zapped, zonked, drained, done in, ready to crash, falling overYou said it.I agree. Couldnt have said it better myself. You bet. Of course. Definitely. Absolutely. Couldnt agree more. You took the words right outta my mouth.a killer partythe best ever, a lot of fun, epic, to die for, unsurpassed, super, fine, superfine, #1, unbeatable, the greatest, totally rad, excellentWatch out!Look where youre going! Look out!Slam on the brakes! Hit the brakes! Deer! Stop! Oh shit! eyes on the roadtoo close for comforta close call, missed it by a hair, missed by an inch, I think Im going to need a change of underwear.bleary eyedsleepy, cant keep my eyes open, too tired to drive, my eyes are starting to burn, gotta take a break and rest my eyesWTFa moderately offensive swear - stands for the offensive phrase what the fu*%, what the heckthought it/I was a gonnerI thought I was going to die. My life flashed before my eyes. Near death experience. out of body experiencewickedcool, way cool, far out, fascinating, amazing, awesome, sweet, shiny, unbelieveable, wow, wowzer, wowzeruny, sick, neat, neat-o burritoroadkill - animal killed by a car and left on the road or on the side of the roadgrab a few winkstake a short nap, Im just gonna rest my eyeshit the hayIm gonna crash, heading to bed, going to bed for the night, gonna see the sandman, gonna go count sheep, saw logs, Im going to sleep now.Can I crash here? Wanna crash here?May I stay the night (at your place)? Do you want to stay here tonight?hit the roadbe on our way, take off, leave, make tracks, get back on the road, start driving towards our destinationHit the road, Jack.asking someone to leave immediately, against their will Get outta here. Leave and dont come back.Dont go away mad just go away! (sarcasm)Youve overstayed your welcome. Get out of here. Youre no longer welcome here. Be gone! Heres your hat; whats your hurry? (refers to the host wanting someone to leave so they make the person so uncomfortable they leave of their own free will)Dont let the screen door hit you in the ass. (sarcasm)to stand around, to idle, to stay when youre not welcome to overstay your welcome to loiter lounge around loaf linger lollygag lurk (implies making people feel uncomfortable because you are being creepy) “Dont stand in the doorway, the screen door will hit you in the ass.”take the next shiftwhy dont you drive for a while, Im gonna need to take a break from driving, will you drive for a bit/a while?SECTION 3Get off my back!Leave me alone. Quit pushing me - I dont work well under pressure. Let me do it myself. Stay the hell away from me. Give me a break. Dont push me - Stop pushing my buttons. Lay off a minute. Dont order/boss me around. Youre not the boss of me! Give me some space. Cut me some slack. Youre pushing me too hard. I need room to breathe.doing the best I cantrying hard, making an effort, doing my best, done my best, theres nothing more I can do, my hands are tiedIts just that.I want to say. My point is. What Im trying to say is. What I meant to say wasgetting turned aroundnot exactly lost, to know roughly where you are but dont know which way to go, lost directionMother of all things holy!moderately offensive - voicing frustration/complaining I have never known anything like this before, and its unpleasant.Mother ofthe biggest, mother of all traffic jams, mother of a headache, the mother load a treasure/jackpot, mother f*er intense situation, startled, sudden sharp pain all things holyevery in existenceIts scorching.extremely hot, sun is beating down, Im frying, roasting, suffocating, bakingThere it is!Were here! Weve arrived. Weve made it. Finally. The fun starts now. Destination fun time. What a relief.Thank goodness. A weight has been lifted. Out of the dumps. Thank heavens. SECTION 4Find outdiscover, go find out search for an answerget up bright an earlyat the crack of dawn, get up with the birds, the cocks crow, tread the dawn, leave at sunrise, sun-upSounds good to me.I like the sound of that. Sure thing. Great idea. I love it. Lets do it. Nifty/natty/groovy, terrific, I like what Im hearing. I could get used to that idea. Yeah.out and aboutLets hit the town, paint the town, Lets go out and do something. Here and there. Lets get out of here. stretch my legswalk around, do something involving walkingboardwalkoriginally this was the main street of the town where the market took place, the street was laid with boards in order to keep people from walking in the dirt or mud, before the invention of cobblestone and pavementSECTION 5Hows it hangin?Hows it going? Whatre you up to? How you been? Whats up? to hang aroundloiter, lollygag, lounge around, lurk or linger someplaceGuys/girlsguys all guys or mixed company, girls all girls, buddy, a good friend, a chum, a brother, a sister, a bro, girlfriend, a sidekick, crony, pal, gal*it is politically correct to say guys and girls in mixed company, but it is not always usedWe just got in.We just arrived. got here moments ago, weve landed, engines still hotpain in the asssomeone who wont leave you alone, constantly irritating, someone you cant get rid of, someone who keeps bugging you, something extremely annoyinggot some stories to tellsounds like a lot has happened, you must have been through a lot, have exciting newsSECTION 6Look at you.You look great. I cant believe my eyes, youre really here! Ive missed you so much.How longs it been?Its been so long. Its been too long. Dont stay away so long. Time flies. I cant believe how long its been. Seems like yesterday we were (graduating high school, college, working together)three amigosfamous movie, can also say the three musketeers (famous book and movies), a trio of best friends, bffs (best friends forever), lifelong friends, lasting friendship, friendship tested by the sands of time, true friendsgotta grab sthgoing to get sth, cant find it, looking for sth grabbing sth, go back to get go grabgettin oldyoure taking too long/a long time, were wasting away (waiting and hungry), were waiting, how long you gonna take? seriously, you move like my grandmaDont get your panties in a bunch.calm down, dont have a hernia, drama queen, Ill be out in a minute, hold your horsesfront and centerplace of honor in a photo, also a place of shame if late for a drill (the front being the most difficult place because you cannot look to others if you forget a step), to single someone out for something (an award or to scold)your babyyour toy, baby is used to replace the word of a thing that someone treats as if it were a babyI cant go anywhere with you.You jokers. Always joking around. Typical childish behavior. You are acting like a fool.I. A sampling of American IdiomsNotice that adding a preposition or certain adverbs to many of these words completely changes the meaning, adding new nuances and splendors to the immense versatility of the English language. What you, the Chinese student, should do is take any new word and experiment with building new meanings by adding this preposition or that. The list below is only a sampling; there are lots more. HAVE FUN! -Dr. Frederic DeJavanneII. Heres a partial list of meaning-building prepositionsatinoutonofftoupforawayback down overaboveaboutbelowaheadbehindacrossunder throughIII. Here are more such contrasting pairs/phrase generatorslive and diesit and standstart and stopcome and gostay and gostop and gofix and breaksharp and dullbent and straightsmart and dumbplain and fancygood and badfine and coarseround and squarebeautiful and uglylong and shorttall and shortstart and finishon and offout and inloud and softhard and softhot and coldsmooth and roughsmall and largebig and littlestrong and weakdeep and shallowfull and emptyup and downright and leftin and outto and fromover and underback and forthloose and tightlose and findlost and foundfight or flightwalk and runstand and fallswim and flyfire and icerain and snowsink or swimdo or dontshit or get off the potbalanced or unbalancedIV. Here are some prime examples, each phrase “taking on” a different meaning as you add the modifying word! Note that many come in pairs such as give and take.Givegive in give out give up Give it up! give away give back give thanks give over give a little give off give withTaketake in take out take on take off take to take from take up take down take away take back Take your time. take time taker take-out (n) take a chance take a risk take over takeover take a flyer takeoff take a powder take no prisoners takeoutOutout to lunch out of your head out of it outsider down and out outdone outmaneuvered carry-out outcastCutcut to the bone cut to the chase cutaway cut away cut down Cut! Cut it out! cut in cut up cut through cut off shortcutPasspass the salt pass water pass the ball pass the biscuits pass up pass the test just passing through pass a car pass out pass off mountain pass “Head em off at the pass.” pass on pass away to say in passing pass the buck make a pass atDowndowner down n out down on the farm down home duck down “Duck down!” “Youre going down!” downtownStandstand for stand up for stand up to stand down stand-in stand behind standoff make a stand stand up take a stand stand-up comedy last stand standing room only hot dog stand vegetable stand “I cant stand you/him/her.” “I cant stand it any longer!”Holdhold a conversation to have and to hold holdup (n) hold in holding pattern hold out hold on hold to hold the phone hold it! hold down “Hold down the fort” hold court hold backTurnAdd almost any preposition to TURN and youll get a completely new and different meaning for each one! There are two main meanings, both having to do with change:1) to change direction turn right, turn left, make a turn, get turned around2) to change oneself turning point, turn the corner, turn a new leaf, turn on, turn outThere are lots of phrases which use TURN which have a variety of meanings:turn in turn out turn on turn off turn to turn down turn away turn against turn back turnover turn over turncoat turnabout (Aus.) turn-on turn tail and runV. Another approach to idioms is to look at all the different ways to say the same thing. Remember, in English, as long as you are communicating an idea, you can say something mundane any way you want to make communication more colorful!Out of the blueonce in a blue moon all of a sudden suddenly surprisingly Toss it!throw it away throw it out get rid of it dispose of it dump it file it Get it out of my sight! shitcan itChickenfearful afraid phobic cowardly craven lily-livered chicken livered timid pusillanimous white-livered yellow yellow-bellied cringing chicken out white as a sheetTo make itto succeed to get something done to achieve what you wanted to achieve to get someplace on time to triumph or win to finish something important to you to reach an important stage in your life (“I made it”)Gross, grossed outSynonym: Chinese tao yan, fan rendisgusting revolting pornographic having a foul odor overdone in very poor taste Its really gross. That grosses me out. Dont get grossed out. Thats grossly expensive. (Slang used by the 80s generation to describe anything unpleasant, overdone, badly conceived and/or poorly executed such as, overdressed, overpriced, overly boring, profane or distasteful.)on the ball used with: am, is, was, werecompetent sharp diligent able paying attentionMake it happenTo be a direct cause or factor in bringing about a desired result. bring about induce cause precipitate portend prefigure presage prognosticate cast a shadow bode augur stimulate give rise to bring onPut your heads togethershare a common goal work together reason together cooperate collaborate help out get together pull your weight do your share make a difference two heads are better than one(Its a) far cryIts very remote. Doesnt remotely resemble. A long way from being. Its not even close. “Shes a far cry from the woman I used to know” shes gone downhill, losing her edge, getting old, senilepushyaggressive belligerent rude crude abrasive insistent antagonisticThat will do! Thatll do.Youve gone far enough. Enough already! Youve taken it too far. You may go now. You should go. Dont push it. Drop it! Leave it alone. Let it be. Let it alone.Dont push your luck!Stop right there! Dont take another step. Your next step may be your last! Youve gone to far already. Freeze. Youd stop trying if you knew whats good for you.Pissed off (use with “at” or “with”)mad mad at resentful enraged doing a slow burn very angry furious irritated pissed off at you pissed with youin your face1) angry confrontation direct defiance rudeness to get in someones face “You didnt have to be all in his face about it.”2) bad sportsmanship to say this after winning a game is to “throw it in someones face” wipe their nose in it make them eat their own words show off taunta rip-offa gyp an outrageous price a swindle a con game a fraud a hustle a fake a knock offVI. Some words have so many meanings it helps to make a list of all the phrases you know that use the word in all its different meanings.crossto be cross (angry, upset) cross your arms/ankles/legs (physical action of crossing one limb over another) cross your fingers (good luck) cross something/someone off a list check it/them off (put a line through something or a name on a list) cross someones path (meeting someone by chance or accident) cross oneself (to make the Christian symbol of the cross with the hand as a small prayer) cross the line gone too far (take so