WHAT ARE IDIOMS?

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (2003:85) defines an idiom as “ a group of words that has a special meaning that is different from the ordinary meaning of each separate word”. John Wright (2002: 7) points out that “an idiom is an expression with the following features: 1. It is fixed and recognised by native speakers. You cannot make up your own! 2. It uses language in a non-literal – metaphorical way”. Watcyn-Jones (2003: V) explains it in a very simple and accessible way: “An idiom is a group of words that has a completely different meaning from the meaning of each word on its own”. Watcyn-Jones ( 2003) continues:  
“/…/ although you might know the words storm  and teacup it would be almost impossible to guess the meaning of the idiom a storm in a teacup, which is a situation where people get very upset and angry over something that is unimportant./…/. Similarly, knowing the verb to go and the noun song won´t really help you to understand the meaning of the idiom to go for a song which is when something is sold very cheaply, e.g. As no one else at the auction seemed interested in the painting, it went for a song. Idioms really have to be learnt as complete phrases, each with its own unique (often unexpected) meaning”.

Idioms (along with fixed expressions and phrasal verbs) make up a big bulk in the vocabulary of language students. We want our language to sound natural and idiomatic it is often said. And for foreign learners this may mean a hard time devoted to remembering sets of different idioms. Learning them can be fun – as there are often idioms that “ring a bell” as they may be similar to those used in your own mother tongue. At the same time, you always have to be on the alert – there are plenty of false friends (expressions that look very similar to those which exist in your mother tongue but mean a completely different thing.

To make matters worse (or may-be more fun?), the origins ( and thus the original meaning) of idioms is often difficult to trace down even for experienced native speakers. Jack (2007) points out:  
“ The  English language is full of phrases and sayings. These are used on a daily basis by all of us, but sometimes we need to take the time out to find out where on earth these familiar utterances come from. Students of our language often struggle with these eccentric modes of expression as they have no obvious connection within the context of an otherwise perfectly innocuous conversation.”

What´s more – idioms cannot be neglected.  As they form such a natural part of the language, you need them for understanding your collocutors and for making yourself understood. Wright (2002:9) asks the question: “Why are idioms and metaphors so important?”. And gives the answer (ibid.): 
“Firstly, they are important because they are very common. It is impossible to speak, read, or listen to English without meeting idiomatic language. This is not something you can leave until you reach an advanced level. All native speaker English is idiomatic.  Every newspaper is full of metaphorical language. You cannot avoid it or leave it till later”.

The second point Wright  makes is as important as the high frequency of metaphors and idioms in the living language: the metaphorical meaning may be even more important than the literal meaning of the word. Cf. Wright 2002:9:
“The second reason is that very often the metaphorical use of a word is more common today than its literal use. For example, we know that farmers plough their fields, but you can plough through  a long novel or report; you can plough on with your work; you can plough money into a business; profits can be ploughed back into a company; a lorry can plough into a row of parked cars. Using plough in its literal farming meaning is now much rarer than all its other non-literal uses. But it is important for you to know the literal meaning. Often the literal meaning creates a picture in your mind and this picture makes the other meanings easier to understand”.

As idioms are so varied, linguists and scientists often group them according to certain characteristics. For example, idioms can be grouped into: idioms using adjectives, idioms using nouns, idioms using verbs, idioms using prepositions, “special category” idioms an “special topics” idioms. Idioms can also be organised by metaphor, topic and key word.

Whatever their classification, idioms are a fun area to learn. When you hear a new idiom, the imagery the words carry is usually envisioned in your mind´s eye. This helps you to memorise the right phrase. Sometimes, the “literal” descriptions of idioms would make the picture rather bizarre. This is why word-lists and textbooks of idioms are often illustrated with rather funny and distorted pictures. But one of the best (and classic!) visual images to describe proverbs is definitely Pieter Breughel’s “Netherlandish Proverbs” (http://lunday.com/?p=1154), where a wide range of different proverbs is illustrated all in one painting.   We hope that the course you have chosen will support you on your way of discovering, learning and consolidating new and exciting idioms and metaphors. Learning another way of seeing the world is supposed to enhance tolerance and understanding. So be it!:)