[Idiom] idiom vs colloquial English

[elenah]

Hello everybody,
I'm confused. Can you please tell me what is the difference between idioms and colloquial English?
Aren't idioms a part of colloquial English?
For example

• look blue -look sad
• buzz off – go away = are classified as colloquial phrases

but '' over the moon'' = as idioms
'' see the light''

Could you please tell me why?

 

[GoesStation]

The editors of the dictionary you're citing feel that the phrases they describe as idioms have become permanent parts of the language and are used by highly educated people in all kinds of situations. They believe that such people would not use the other phrases or would use them only in casual circumstances.

There is no firm dividing line. The current editors' predecessors would have described many of today's idioms as colloquial, fifty or a hundred years ago.

 

[teechar]

I'm confused. Can you please tell me what is the difference between idioms and colloquial English?

Have you looked up "colloquial" and "idiom" in the dictionary first?

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com

Aren't idioms a part of colloquial English?

Yes, they can be.

 

[jutfrank]

An idiom is a phrase that has a non-literal meaning, a bit like a metaphor. Over the moon is a clear example of this, as are on top of the world and down in the dumps. Idioms can cause problems for learners when encountered for the first time because their meanings are often not immediately obvious from the individual words themselves.

Colloquial language is that which is limited to informal, conversational use. It's not appropriate for formal writing.

Idioms can be either colloquial or formal, and colloquial language may or may not be idiomatic but there is a clear distinction.

 

[elenah]

Thank you for the replay and the link. Yes, I have I always do but still it's not very clear for a foreigner. Didn't really show the difference. But thank you for your help

Have you looked up "colloquial" and "idiom" in the dictionary first?

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com


Yes, they can be.