Grammar Grinch

GRAMMAR GRINCH By: Sarah M. Booher

Garza Law Firm

STRAIGHT FROM THE HORSE’S MOUTH: THE CHALLENGE AND MEANINGS OF IDIOMS

Alongside onomatopoeias, idioms are my linguistic guilty pleasure.

“What, pray tell, is an idiom,” you ask. “More importantly, what’s an onomatopoeia?”

Tsk, Tsk. Unfortunately, the onomatopoeias will have to wait for another article, but I’ll let the cat out of the bag1 on idioms and why they are so interesting.

Idioms are phrases or expressions that are common to a particular population or region. In fact, it is estimated that the English language alone has about 25,000 idiomatic expressions.2 Some idiomatic phrases once held a literal meaning, but eventually evolved into a strictly figurative concept that makes the literal composition of the words melt into a gooey pile of verbal nonsense. This is called folk etymology. In other instances, the idiom was always figurative. This mental gymnastics routinely makes idioms especially difficult for both exceedingly literal thinkers (like my sister) and people who haven’t grown up in the expressions (like non-native speakers). Personally, they’re exciting because they reveal a great deal about our respective backgrounds. It’s likewise incredibly endearing when someone misses the mark3 in boldly using them during conversation, so I turn a blind eye4 to their mistake.

Essentially, idioms are hard. They defy the principle of compositionality. In other words, even if you understand the individual words that make up the whole idiom, you are still probably confused.5 Or the literal words make no sense within the larger context of the discussion. They also don’t translate well. Sure, “to get on one’s nerves” is estimated to have the same figurative meaning in more than fifty European languages. The phrase “to shed crocodile tears” is also pervasive not only in European languages, but in Asian languages, too.6 But by and large7, cultures create their own idioms, “collocat[ing] words that become affixed to each other until metamorphosing into a fossilized term.”8 This fossilized term is also what complicates idioms for people - the phrase is often so stiff that flip-flopping or substituting words in the phrase raises eyebrows for listeners or fails to convey the speaker’s proper meaning.

Let’s go through some together.

Butter Someone Up: Ancient custom in India required throwing butter at statues of gods to seek favor and good fortune. Now, we take less of a Paula Dean approach and use flattery to gain someone’s support or good graces.

Feeling Under the Weather: This is another nautical idiom. If a sailor felt sick, he would go below the bow. There he was protected from the elements, or literally protected from the bad weather that was likely making him ill or exacerbating his sickness. As such, ailing sailors were described as “under the weather.”

Giving the Cold Shoulder: Back in the day of the English having their best friends over for actual feasts, hosts would subtly signal to their guests that it was time to leave by serving a cold slice of beef or pork shoulder. Today the expression has expanded beyond unwanted guests to being intentionally unfriendly to anyone.

Hands Down: In 19th century horseracing, a jockey who was so far ahead of his competition had the luxury of being able to remove his hands from the reins and still win, which evolved into a something being clear, decided, or obvious.

Proof is in the Pudding: The word proof was synonymous with test in 16th century England, and their version of pudding was something more akin to minced-meat pie. Therefore, the true test of the pie was not how it appeared, but how it tasted! We now use the expression to mean we can only assess the true value of something by putting it to its intended use and seeing if it works. Reading the Riot Act: In 1714, King George I and his government feared being overthrown by supporters of Stuart’s previous dynasty, so they passed the Riot Act. Authorities would read excerpts of the full act where crowds of 12 or more had assembled, at which time they must disburse or face imprisonment. Today, we “read [someone] the riot act” if we need to correct their improper behavior. Steal Someone’s Thunder: English dramatist John Dennis invented a device that mimicked the sound of thunder for his plays in the early 1700s. Not long after, his play flopped, and then he discovered another play in the same theater was utilizing his invention without his permission. “That is my thunder, by God; the villains will play my thunder, but not my play!” His declaration became an idiom that means using someone else’s idea or words for your own advantage or to preempt the attention from going to them.

As a bonus, in reviewing the literal translations of some foreign idioms, here are a few of my favorites:

Pay the Duck: This Portuguese idiom means you are taking the blame for something you didn’t do or wasn’t your fault.

Slide in on a Shrimp Sandwich: A Swedish idiom implying someone didn’t have to work to get where they are.

The Thief Has a Burning Hat: This Russian idiom implies someone has an uneasy conscience that betrays itself.

You Have Tomatoes in Your Eyes: This German idiom means someone isn’t seeing a physical object that everyone else sees.

What’s your favorite idiom?9 Chances are you use idioms so often that you have no idea you’re using them for their figurative, not literal, meaning.

1 Pre-1800, valuable piglets were often sold bagged. A common scheme was to fraudulently put less-valuable cats in the bag, wherein the buyer wouldn’t know they had been duped until they got home and opened it (assuming meows weren’t heard from the bag first?). Thus, the jig is up and the secret is told. 2 Ray Jackendoff. 3 They get close but no cigar, if you will. In the late 19th century, carnival games were geared toward adults, not children. Therefore, the prizes weren’t stuffed animals or trinkets, but cigars. So if they almost won the game, they were “close but no cigar.” 4 Attributed to British Admiral Horatio Nelson who ignored his superior’s visual command to retreat in battle by placing the telescope up to his blind eye because he was sure he could win. 5 Igor Mel’cuk. 6 Elizabeth Piirainen. 7 A nautical idiom, “by” is a shorting of “full and by,” an indication that the boat was entering the wind. “Large” refers to the wind being behind the boat. Therefore, the combination “by and large” indicates the wind is from any direction, and now means “in general.” 8 John I. Saeed. 9 My mother appreciates the irony that her favorite – Goodnight, sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite - was literal, then idiomatic, and is now largely literal again. Ewww.