Idioms and their usage                                                   
How did idioms originate

The English language sure is an Aladdin’s cave, it keeps throwing these treasures at you, the more you explore the more you will dig up. The dictionary defines an idiom as a group of words whose meaning is different from the meanings of the individual words, like ‘over the moon’, which would literally mean physically going above the moon but idiomatically means ‘to be overjoyed’. Idioms also represent forms of language and grammar used by particular people at a particular time or place. Like the language, idioms too keep evolving according to the times. In addition, idioms represent a style of expression in music or art that is characteristic of a particular group or place. Languages abound with colourful idioms and gradually they become ingrained in the usage and become common and you know them inside out which means to have a complete and full understanding of a subject.

According to some, an idiom is a phrase whose meaning cannot be determined by the literal definition of the phrase itself, but refers instead to a figurative meaning that is known only through common use. The connotation of many idioms is driven by their innovative, factual usage. This presents the possibility of knowing idioms in ways that encourage perceptive learning rather than mere memorisation. Correlating an idiom with its etymology augments retention. Familiarity with the origin of idioms can help one comprehend their symbolic meaning.

Idioms like ‘horsing around,’ for example, do not involve any activity with a horse. The common constituent of sense is a playful, informal interaction. Idioms are part of our everyday language and people have a large inventory upon which to draw for every day interactions. You not need be aware, imaginative, or prosaic in order to make use of idioms.

‘Going Dutch’, is another such idiom which has no correlation with its literal meaning. A modern day idiom, which simply means everyone, will pay their share on an outing.

Shakespeare has contributed many idioms to the English language and many of them gained a lot of popularity in his time and several of them continue to be in use even now.

Idioms like ‘Fool’s Paradise’, ‘Et tu’, ‘Brute’, ‘dead as a doornail, ‘fair play, ‘Frailty, ‘thy name is woman’, ‘in the twinkling of an eye’,’ love is blind’, ‘pound of flesh’, ‘salad days’, ‘rhyme nor reason’, ‘heart’s content’…of course the list is long. I am sure none of us realised the inventor of these oft used idioms.
The sea has also contributed immensely to the world of idioms. Some of the commonly used nautical idioms are — ‘All at sea’, ‘chock-a- block’, ‘high and dry’, ‘walk the plank’, ‘by and large’, ‘tide over’, ‘shiver my timbers’, ‘taken aback’, ‘in the offing’, ‘close quarters’, ‘plain sailing’, ‘fathom out’, ‘between the Devil and the deep blue sea’. Biblical idioms are most commonly used. Idioms like’ a bird in hand is worth two in the bush’, ‘a thorn in the flesh’, ‘ashes to ashes’, ‘dust to dust’, ‘born again’, ‘fall from grace’, ‘flesh and blood’, ‘forbidden fruit’, ‘Good Samaritan’, ‘how are the mighty fallen’, ‘sour grapes’, ‘The apple of his eye’, ‘spare the rod and spoil the child’, ‘the fly in the ointment’, ‘the root of the matter’, ‘the writing is on the wall’… are understandingly moralising and instructive at the same time. The contemporary world has its new set of idioms. We have innovative idioms like ‘knee jerk reaction’ which means an initial and unconsidered reaction and we have ‘urban myth’ which means a story, generally untrue but sometimes merely exaggerated or sensationalised.