battles the almighty euphemism in today’s post!
In one corner, we have the humble idiom, rising from uncertainty to confuse English Language Learners and put pepper in our gumbo (for example).
 |
See? that one is “straight from the horses mouth” aka my “Butter my butt and call me a biscuit” country sayings calendar I got for deep deep discount… can’t imagine why…
Idioms pop up more than we probably notice, and definitely more than is easy to control… I manage to have used two or more already without trying, then explaining them into context afterwards. Idioms are silly ways of saying things, in my opinion, and have a range of feelings about. If they are quite unique, as in the above example, they put a pep in my step. If they are quite cliched, I can tolerate them. If you can easily see where they come from, I usually don’t notice them. If they seem to have nothing to do with the real meaning, I will on occasion research them. I’ve found, though, that there is almost ALWAYS someone who already knows the story behind them, and all you have to do is ask enough times and someone has already done the research for you! Here are some I can’t quite figure out…
“in a pickle”
“cold feet”
“piece of cake”
“the bee’s knees” (is this one as simple as just because it rhymes???)
“true blue”
“break a leg”
“the big cheese”
“wet blanket”—well, this one is kind of in between. we’ll call it a stretch, and use it to segueway into the next category…
more obvious ones :
“up a creek without a paddle”
“barking up the wrong tree”
“raining cats and dogs”
“sharp as a tack”
Idioms seem to be a different way of saying something that you could easily say in more plain language. Euphemisms, on the other hand, generally are strange ways of saying things for the more specific purpose of avoiding saying something. Sometimes this is because we’re in the presence of children, sometimes we want to “slip something past someone” by using less harsh language, and sometimes we just want a little pepper in our gumbo, much like other slang!
Here are some of my favorites. I mean in NO WAY to offend anyone here… but these topics do tend to be a bit more… colorful (there, I used a euphemism already!) In the interest of delicacy, I’ll let you figure out what the “subject” of each is…
-Going to third base/ spending the night together/ horizontal mambo/ mile high club/ beast with two backs… and then there are choking the chicken, spanking the monkey, even “going to the bathroom.”we get it. If you would like to add your own, by all means I think there are a “few” more on this subject.
-Prairie dogging/ using the powder room/ dropping the kids off at the pool/ visiting the porcelain gods/ the throne/ or my new favorite, the biblical “cover one’s feet.” um, ew… next…
-pushing up daisies/ sleeping with the fishies/ passed on/ gone to another place/ six feet under
-batting for the other team (second category with baseball examples… very creative, us english speakers…)
-Aunt flo/ Surfing the crimson wave/ time of the month (a weak one, to be sure)/ shark week/ on the rag (clearly we NEED euphemisms on this topic, to be illustrated by the euphemistic “blue liquid” of tv adverts…)
-bun in the oven/ in the family way/ expecting/ with child
-in the slammer/ in the clink/ doing time (these are all pretty weak, I guess this topic isn’t too delicate for “mixed company” as these feel more like slang than euphemisms)
and some miscellaneous ones;
female escort, indisposed, “good personality,” “on a vacation/ at the spa,” between jobs, under the weather (i’m pretty sure this ALWAYS means hungover…)
What else is there? Anyone have a favorite?
My closing statement/ purpose/ mission statement is this:
In terms of usefulness, and in my opinion, value- these types of expressions range from:
cliches——–>idioms——->euphemisms——–>original/colorful language
Obvs, it would be great to continually invent new ways of saying things each time we speak. But sometimes, we just have better things to do, or don’t want to spend the valuable time in communication with people that this might take. I find these new and original euphemisms and figures of speech tend to originate during time spent with friends and family, when we are comfortable enough to say something stupid, and when we live free from the fear that our “newspeak” will land us with a “nice family that lives on a farm” (final euphemism, i promise)
As sure as the forecast is dark, I’ll be back tomorrow
(oops, one more…)
Share your favorite euphemism or idiom! Bonus points for other cultures/ languages!
2 Responses to the village idiom…