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Make a good fist/poor fist of something
English Idiom: Make a good/poor fist of (something) This is an idiom that my students and I came across in one of our classes. It is a British and Australian idiom, and I must admit that even though I had spent quite a bit of time in Oz, I had not heard it used before.…
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Digress
Word of the Day: Digress Digress is a lovely, formal word for suddenly starting to discuss another topic in a conversation. For instance, you may be talking with your friend about buying groceries and how the price of vegetables will increase because of all the damage Typhoon Lionrock caused in Hokkaido. Yes, although Japan uses a…
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Bird’s-eye view
English Idiom: Bird’s-eye view Sometimes, it helps to understand how something looks if you get a bird’s-eye view of it. Before we viewed our property, my wife and I made sure to get a bird’ s-eye view of it on Google Earth. It was a way to understand where the roads and neighbours are about the…
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Dust bunny
WotD: Dust bunny OK, so just for the people who read this blog, I went on a perilous adventure. I went hunting dust bunnies this afternoon! Dust bunnies are very elusive because my wife and I maintain a spic and span house. After much searching and hours of waiting quietly and patiently, I managed to…
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Spic and span
WotD: Spic and span A spic and span house is free of dust, dirt, and clutter. The floors are polished, the furniture is dusted, and the countertops are gleaming. The bathrooms and kitchen are spotless, and the appliances are shining. The term spic and span means neat, clean, and tidy. It is often used to…
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Make-believe
Word of the Day: Make-believe When children play, they often make-believe. Have you ever watched little children having a tea party with empty plastic cups and an imaginary friend or play-fighting with invisible swords and guns? They are playing make-believe. Adults can do this, too. We can often talk about a world without war or…
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Cliché
Word of the Day: Cliché Every cloud has a silver lining is a cliché. A cliché is a phrase or expression used so often that it is no longer unique or special. If an idiom or expression is used too much in society, it stops being effective. When it’s used, people roll their eyes and…
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Like taking candy from a baby
English Cliché: Like taking candy from a baby If the Canadian national ice hockey team played the Japanese national ice hockey team, of course, the Canadian team would win. It would be like taking candy from a baby. It would be incredibly easy for Canada to beat Japan on the ice, which is what the…
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Believe in (someone)
WotD: Believe in (someone) In August, I wrote about ‘believe in (something).’ Today, I will write about believing in someone. Believe it or not, the meanings are different. If you believe in someone, you trust in them and think that they are a good person. If your boss puts you in charge of a significant project, it means…
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Low-hanging fruit
English Idiom: Low-hanging fruit Low-hanging fruit could mean apples or oranges on the lower branches of trees, but it would not be an idiom. The idiom low-hanging fruit refers to the easiest tasks to complete or the easiest customers to catch. For example, person A and person B are doing housework. Person A starts with the…
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