Craft Notes 03
Idioms
Today, we are going to look at idioms, which add fun and intrigue to your writing. The ancient Greek word “idioma” means “peculiar phraseology, which sums up idioms well. They are commonly used expressions with a figurative meaning rather than a literal one. There are subsections of idioms, but for now, we will look at the picture as a whole.
Did you fix the car?
I did, it was a piece of cake.
In this response, the car isn’t a literal piece of cake, but it’s a phrase you’re likely familiar with, meaning ‘very easy’. This here is an idiom. A thing that doesn’t mean exactly what it’s saying. It’s raining cats and dogs, adding insult to injury, don’t judge a book by its cover, and bite the bullet are all idioms you may have heard of. By definition, it is only an idiom when its definition becomes widely spread, but as a fun exercise, I thought you could define ones I wrote, then invent your own. Take a couple of the ones below and tell us what they mean to you.
To sweep shadows with a broom
Stop staring at thunder
It’s like teaching trees to whistle
She could sell cages to outback lions
He could turn blue into purple
To invent your own idiom, think of yourself or somebody you know, and take a trait and make an idiom from it. Let’s say they were really good at getting a lot for their money, then you can make the idiom ‘a two penny feast’. This tells me that they were able to feed a lot of people on little money. The feast also doesn’t have to be food; it could be anything they bring to the table. Do the same for situations or basic expressions. Break a leg is an idiom meaning good luck, because the side curtains on stage are referred to as legs. It also has roots in theatre superstition, as actors don’t want to tempt fate by saying good luck, so they wish for something bad as a countermeasure. This has evolved into an idiom commonly used as a standard placement for good luck. Think of other daily phrases you could replace with an idiom.
Take a swing and don’t be afraid to be ridiculous. What could ‘ghosts for shoes’ mean? If I told you, my friend ‘sold rain for water’, what does that say to you? You may already have idioms that nobody outside your hometown knows. I know American states have their own idioms; it can be quite a localised thing. Please leave a comment below with some answers to my idioms and leave your inventions. I’m very excited to see them.
Keep kind and stay true, Woofenberry’s