Friday, January 17, 2025

Loving Me Some Idioms

All languages use idioms for communication. My favorite idioms in English include:

Bite the dust.

A drop in the bucket.

The root of the matter.

Killing time.

Kick the bucket.

Throw in the towel.

Eat your heart out.

German too has some classic idioms:

You can put your poison on it (= You can bet your life on it).

Hit two flies with one swat (= Kill two birds with one stone).

Demand an extra sausage (= Demand special treatment).

I only understand train station (= It's all Greek to me!).

Have a pig (= Be lucky).

If you ever move to Hawaii, prepare to be met with a number of words and phrases that won't make any sense to you at first:

Talk story (= Catch up with friends).

Slippahs (= Flip flops).

Shishi (= Go pee).

Grinds (= Food).

Pupus (= Appetizers).

When you study Greek, learning Greek idioms is a fun and effective way to boost your language fluency. While some Greek idioms sound similar to their English equivalents, others are entirely different. My favorite Greek idioms are:

Speak mouth to mouth (= Speak face to face.)

Have in the womb (= Be pregnant).

Their eyes were weighed down (= They became very sleepy).

What to you and me? (= That's your business, not mine).

Eat your own bread (= Work for a living).

Kick against the goads (= Hurt oneself by active resistance).

Have it badly (= Be sick).

By the way, some of these idioms occur so often in the Septuagint that they might be considered Septuagintalisms. 

Just thought I'd share that you!