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Keep your eye on the ball
English Idiom: Keep your eye on the ball If you keep your eye on the ball, you remain focused on the matter at hand. Keeping your eye on the ball is quite important. The holidays are coming up, and it is very easy to become distracted at this time of year. However, they have not…
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Inkling
Word of the Day: Inkling Inkling has nothing to do with ink, printing, or writing. An inkling is a feeling that something is going to happen or that something is true. When I first started university, I had no indication of how hard I would have to work, how much I would have to write,…
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The fruits of one’s labours
Idiom: The fruits of your labours Ah, yes, the fruits of your labours. I’m sure that on Christmas morning, Santa sits down to breakfast very satisfied with the fruits of his labours or the results of all the work that he, his eight reindeer and the elves had done during the year, ending with Santa’s…
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Sweatshop
Word of the Day: Sweatshop We mustn’t take any wooden nickels during the holiday season. We must also consider where the gifts we buy are made. For example, sometimes we think we are buying an authentic product, but then again, it may be counterfeit goods made in sweatshops. These places are often small factories (but…
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Don’t take any wooden nickels
English Idiom: Don’t take any wooden nickels The expression don’t take any wooden nickels means that you should not let yourself be cheated. This advice is often given to young, naive people moving to the city for the first time. This is the gift-buying season, and it’s important that we only use our credit card…
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Put yourself in another’s shoes
English Idiom: Put oneself in another’s shoes If you put yourself in another’s shoes, you try to understand a situation from that person’s point of view. This idiom is often used in adverse situations such as sickness, job loss, war, etc., where it’s quite difficult to understand another person’s plight because we have never experienced it.…
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Plight
Word of the Day: Plight A plight is a very difficult or dangerous situation. People who suddenly lose their jobs or refugees trying to live in war zones are in a plight. You could even find yourself in a plight if you drive along a deserted road at night and have a minor accident. You…
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Sitting duck
Word of the Day: Sitting duck If you’re a sitting duck, you are in a very vulnerable or dangerous position. In other words, you’re an easy target. If you park your car but do not lock the doors or have a car alarm, your vehicle is a sitting duck waiting for someone to steal it.…
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Have your cake and eat it too
English Cliché: Have your cake and eat it too Have your cake and eat it too is often used negatively. It means to want to do two things at the same time that are impossible to do simultaneously. For example, you want to study for a test and play online video games with your friends.…
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Fit the bill
English Idiom: Fit the bill Fit the bill means having the qualities or characteristics required for a particular purpose. When a company is looking to hire a new employee, it looks for someone who fits the bill. The company wants to hire someone with the education, experience or other qualities required for the job. Another…
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