English Idioms and Sayings

[Tdol]

They're the best of friends.

How about 'like chalk and cheese'?

[RonBee]

Originally Posted by tdol

They're the best of friends.

How about 'like chalk and cheese'?

I don't know that one.

:?

[RonBee]

Re:

• Out of the blue

Meaning: without warning or preamble

Examples:

• Out of the blue, she mentioned that Tom was going to be in town.
  Out of the blue, I got a phone call from my brother.
  That phone call came from out of the blue.
  Out of the blue, she said she was pregnant.

[RonBee]

Re:

• Walking on eggs

Meaing: behaving so as not to annoy or upset somebody.

Example:

• I get tired of walking on eggs around her.

[RonBee]

Re:

• On cloud nine

Meaning: to be quite happy about something.

Example:

• He's been on cloud nine ever since Jenny kissed him.

(Similar is walking on air.)

[Tdol]

http://www.usingenglish.com/profiles...es/000080.html

[bmo]

Originally Posted by RonBee

I have decided that it would be useful to ESL learners for them to learn some idioms and popular sayings. Please feel free to post one or more yourself.

Dear teachers:

May I suggest we open a new forum "Idioms and Sayings" where teachers and ESL learners can post idioms and sayings, definitions, and examples. and where we can have our writings edited. We learn new idoms and sayings and grammar.

Eventually, we can have these idioms and saying indexed. Here are my three examples:

1. (As) sick as a dog.
Very sick.
Origin: Proverbs 26:11 “As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.
Example: “Linda, Brian is on the phone, he is asking if you are going to the Sunday school?” “Mom, please tell him it is something I ate at the party last night; I am sick as a dog, I can’t make it.”

2. Tie the knots.
Get married.
Example: Statistics shows couples tied the knots in church stay together longer and the divorce rate among them is lower.

3. A blessing in disguise.
A bad happening with a good ending.
Example: Attending a divinity college and vowing to serve God after his graduation, my son said having been laid off from his high paying engineering job two years ago was a blessing in disguise.

Thanks.

BMO

[RonBee]

Those are good. However, the expression is tie the knot (not knots).

How about:

• There's a silver lining behind every cloud.

And:

• You can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar.

:)

[bmo]

Originally Posted by RonBee

Those are good. However, the expression is tie the knot (not knots).

How about:

• There's a silver lining behind every cloud.

And:

• You can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar.

:)

Thanks. Anything wrong with my examples? BMO

[RonBee]

Originally Posted by bmo

Thanks. Anything wrong with my examples? BMO

For the second one, try:

• Statistics shows couples that tied the knot in church stay together longer and are less likely to divorce.

Re:

• There's a silver lining behind every cloud.

Meaning: some good can be found in every situation, no matter what.


Re:

• You can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar.

Meaning: you are more likely to be able to get somebody to do what you want if you "sweet talk" them than if you threaten them or otherwise make negative remarks.

:)