Branches of linguistics. Synchronic vs diachronic approaches to the language study. Lexicology – ‘the science of the word’ Lexicon

Sources of Phraseological Units

Phraseological units based on real events:

-everyday life, e.g. to be packed like sardines; to play cat and mouse; to be wet behind the ears; to go to bed with the chickens;

professional jargon, e.g. to be in deep waters, to be in the same boat with sb (nautical sphere); to nip sth in the bud (agriculture and gardening); to keep one’s finger on the pulse (medical sphere); fair play (sports); to come up against a brick wall (building); flavour of the month (cooking) etc.;

-historic references: to throw someone to the lions (Roman entertainment of putting people in the arena with wild animals); Baker’s dozen (to guard against miscounting, bakers habitually gave thirteen loaves when selling a dozen), red tape (legal documents were bound with a red tape), white elephant (a precious gift given by a Thai King to a sub-king to ruin the latter) etc.