Archive for the 'Idioms' Category

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, may contain a nasty surprise.

Likewise with people, it is not always possible to tell the true nature of a person judged by outward appearances alone. It is only by getting to know the inner person through friendship that we get to know their reliability and trustworthiness. It is only through a close relationship with a person that we get to know their true character, their inner qualities.

This expression may have been in common spoken usage for some time before its appearance in published form in the 1850s. The opposite expression, “a good egg” did not come into use until the early 1900s and was probably coined by students at Oxford University. Naturally, it refers to a thoroughly reliable and trustworthy person.

Example:

• I wouldn’t trust Percy with the club’s money; he’s such a bad 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 originate from the practice of clipping a bird’s wings and thus rendering it flightless.

The first use of this term seems to have been in the London Stock Exchange in the 18th century, and it has more often been applied in recent times to the political scene. One source I discovered says this:

A lame duck (I suppose I ought to call it “flight-challenged”) is one unable to keep up with the flock and who is thus easy prey for predators. The phrase “lame duck” was first applied on the London Stock Exchange in the 18th century to brokers who could not pay their debts. Beginning in 19th-century America, “lame duck” was used to describe a Congressional representative who had failed to hornswoggle the voters into re- electing him in November, but who was not due, under the Constitution, to actually be booted out until the following March. Thus freed of even the pretense of accountability to the voters, such “lame ducks” usually voted themselves a scandalous jackpot of perks, until a stop was put to the practice by the “Lame Duck Amendment” of 1934. Today, new Congresspeople take office in January, their defeated opponents no longer have an opportunity to loot and pillage on their way out, and thus Congress has become a temple of honesty.

From The Word Detective website.

Real life example:

• Interesting, a few weeks ago I actually saw a real lame duck. We were having a picnic lunch on the banks of the River Murray in Mannum, South Australia. Two Pacific Black Ducks flew in to see if they could score a free feed. One landed normally, the other with a belly flop on to the grass. It had a damaged leg and could only shuffle along on the grass. Otherwise, it looked perfectly healthy and was obviously coping very well. That was one successful lame duck!!

Usage:

• The committee has not made a decision in over three months; it’s certainly a lame duck.

This week’s idiom:

“As the crow flies.”

Meaning:

The shortest distance between two points.

Origin:

The idiom “as the crow flies” seems to have been in use since the early 1800s. One source I found said:

British coastal vessels customarily carried a cage of crows. Crows detest large expanses of water and head, as straight as a crow flies, towards the nearest land if released at sea – very useful if you were unsure of the nearest land when sailing in foggy waters before the days of radar. The lookout perch on sailing vessels thus became known as the crow’s nest.

Several other sources I found gave a very similar answer. In my experience crows and ravens do not fly in particularly straight lines and there are many other species that may fly more directly to a given spot. On reflection, I feel that the point this idiom is making is that a bird, any bird, is easily able to fly directly from one point to another without being hindered by obstacles like humans might be. This direct flight is therefore the shortest distance between those two points.

Example:

• “I am three kilometres from my home, as the crow flies, but by car it is five kilometres.”

This week’s idiom:

“In cloud cuckoo land.”

Origins:

This idiom is a translation of the name of an imaginary city in a play called The Birds written by the Greek playwright Aristophanes in the fifth century BC. In this city the birds built in the air.

Meaning:

Anyone who lives “in cloud cuckoo land” has lost their grip on reality. Their thoughts or words or actions seem to be divorced from the ordinary aspects of life. In everyone’s estimation they are somewhat crazy, or misguided or just plain silly.

Example:

“If he thinks he will sell his house for that much, he is living in cloud cuckoo land.”

See also mt article “What is an idiom?“