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Indian Giver
Besides being a song by the 1910 Fruitgum Company it means the following (from Wikipedia) Indian giver is an American English expression used to describe a person who gives a gift (literal or...
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Låtsas som det regnar
I have been asked about this idiom this week – there is no direct English equivalent that I could find. We do say ‘turn a blind eye’ but it does not mean exactly the same thing. If I understand it...
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Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
I have had a few students asking me where the saying ‘Tinker tailor soldier spy’ comes from. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a 2011 movie of the 1974 John Le Carre novel by the same name. There is a...
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Blåsväder
This seems to be a very popular word in the Swedish press. In English we would say someone is in ’hot water’ Janet
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Idioms using the word ‘Dutch’
For some reason there seem to be many idioms using the word Dutch. Most of them seem to be negative though I am not sure why because The Netherlands seems to be neutrally regarded. Dutch act Suicide...
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Raining Cats and Dogs
This is an idiom I hear often from non-native speakers. But I don’t think I have ever heard a native speaker use it. This idiom is said to originate from times when houses had low thatched roofs made...
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Fat finger syndrome
Ever felt that your fingers were too big for your mobile phone? Dialled the wrong number, misspelled a text message or hit the wrong key when sending an email? Rest assured, it could be worse…....
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The Peter Principle
The PeterPrinciple maintains that everyone rises to their level of incompetence. So if you can do a job you are promoted until you reach a job you cannot do. And there you remain. So the bulk of work...
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Jumping the Shark
When a tv series ‘jumps the shark’ it means that the story arc reaches its peak, the storyline becomes ridiculous and the show loses credibility. The phrase comes from the television series Happy Days...
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Meet Cute
A meet cute is a convention of romantic comedies in which two potential romantic partners meet in a contrived way in unusual or comic circumstances. A staple of the romantic genre, the technique...
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Idioms for bodily functions
I was having a discussion with my fifteen year old nephew this summer about idioms (more interesting than it sounds!). He said that there were many slang terms and idioms for breasts, penises, being...
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Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
I have had a few students asking me where the saying ‘Tinker tailor soldier spy’ comes from. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a 2011 movie of the 1974 John Le Carre novel by the same name. There is a...
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Idioms – Bunny boiler
Meaning An obsessive and dangerous female, in pursuit of a lover who has spurned her. Origin The expression ‘bunny boiler’ derives from the 1987 film Fatal Attraction, written by James Dearden and...
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Bingo Wings
… the term caused much hilarity in class today. ‘bingo wings’ is the English equivalent of gäddhäng
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Idiom of the Day – grass widow
I am writing this one quickly from memory. Grass widow comes from when it was more acceptable for men to have a lover as well as a wife. The lover and the children would not be part of his family or...
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Children and second languages
My ex husband is Irish and has English as his mother tongue. When I came to Sweden his two children were about 14 and 7. He had always refused to speak English to them, reasoning that he wanted them to...
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Economic haircuts
This word came up today with the Greek ‘haircut’ package in the media. An economic haircut is defined in several ways here http://financial-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/haircut
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Låtsas som det regnar
I have been asked about this idiom this week – there is no direct English equivalent that I could find. We do say ‘turn a blind eye’ but it does not mean exactly the same thing. If I understand it...
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Idiom – damning with faint praise
Damning with faint praise means that you praise someone so so slightly and inconsequential that it actually comes across as more of an insult. For example if someone says ‘you hardly noticed your beer...
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