Idioms—phrases that come to mean more than each word's "literal meaning" on their own—have been a part of spoken language for a long time. They may change as the years go by and often vary from ...

A group of teenagers playing guitar and hanging out in August 1972. From the Renaissance to the Age of Enlightenment, there has been no shortage of periods in history that have shaped society in terms ...

TO many, idioms and proverbs are just another lesson in English grammar to get over with, however, they can be powerful tokens of symbolism and expression. When used effectively, a handful of these ...

One of my favorite greeting cards has a picture of two women on the front. One woman is asking the other: “Is it ‘butt naked’ or ‘buck naked’?” The inside reads: “These are the kinds of questions I ...

Have you sometimes wondered where some commonly-used English idioms came from? I have, and many of them emerge from delightful stories. One of my favourites is “turning a blind eye” to something, ...

“Right then, mate. I’ll meet you at the marsh just after sparrow-fart.” Or sparrowfarts, depending on whether the marsh is in Australia or the United Kingdom. Either way, it’s a common English idiom ...

Many of us are trying nowadays to be more thoughtful and inclusive in the way we use language as our world becomes ever more diverse. But is it possible to take this stuff just a bit too far? Don't ...