Archive for the 'Idioms' Category

This week’s idiom: “As sick as a parrot.”
It may seem strange but this is one idiom I don’t think I’ve ever come across before reading it in a book of idioms. “As sick as a dog” I am familiar with but that has a different meaning. To be as sick as a dog is to […]

This week’s idiom: “To kill the goose which lays the golden eggs.”
Origin:
This saying comes from the Aesop’s fable The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs.
A man and his wife had the good fortune to possess a goose which laid a golden egg every day. Lucky though they were, they soon began to think they were […]

This week’s idiom:
“A feather in one’s cap.”
Meanings:
A special achievement or acknowledgment of one’s work or efforts is said to be “a feather in one’s cap.”
Origins:
A number of different cultures around the world celebrate victory over an enemy or the killing of an enemy by placing a feather somewhere on the head, as in the head-dress […]

This week’s idiom:
“A bad egg”
Meaning:
A person who is unreliable or untrustworthy is sometimes referred to as “a bad egg.”
Origins:
One cannot tell the quality of an egg just by looking at the outer shell. Breaking the egg and looking inside is the usual way of testing the quality of an egg. A bad, or rotten egg, […]

This week’s idiom:
“A lame duck”
Meanings:
A person who is no longer effective whatever role they have. Also used in describing a failed business, enterprise or organisation.
Origins:
The origin of this saying could come from the observation that a duck with damaged or injured web feet, a lame duck, would be unable to swim properly. It could also […]