Plan: History of idiomatic sentences

Plan:

1. 
   History of idiomatic sentences
   
2. 
   Notable idioms in English
   
3. 
   Phrases
   

An idiom is a phrase that is common to a certain population. It is typically figurative and usually is not understandable based solely on the words within the phrase. A prior understanding of its usage is usually necessary. Idioms are crucial to the progression of language. They function in a manner that, in many cases, literal meanings cannot. We use them every day, sometimes without even realizing that what we’re saying is nonsensical without the implied and widely accepted meaning behind it. Many linguists have dedicated themselves to finding the origins of these idioms, seven of which are featured on this list.

“Turn a blind eye”

Lord Nelson, detail of an oil painting by J.F. Rigaud; in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, Eng.

Lord Nelson, detail of an oil painting by J.F. Rigaud; in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, Eng.

Courtesy of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, Eng.

Meaning: To refuse to acknowledge a known truth

Example: I’ll turn a blind eye once, but next time you’ll be in trouble.

Origin: While many proposed origins of this phrase are disputed, it is commonly accepted that turning a blind eye comes from a comment made by British Admiral Horatio Nelson. In 1801 he led the attack alongside Admiral Sir Hyde Parker in the Battle of Copenhagen. Nelson was blind in one eye. Parker communicated to Nelson at one point, via flags, that he needed to retreat and disengage. Nelson, however, was convinced that he could prevail if they pushed onward. Nelson then, holding the telescope to his blind eye, pretended not to see the signal—making a sly comment to a fellow officer about reserving the right to use his blind eye every now and again.

“Feeling under the weather”

A commercial salmon fishing boat pulls in its catch in Alaska.

Alaska: commercial fishing

A commercial salmon-fishing boat in Alaska.

© wildlife—iStock/Getty Images

Meaning: To feel ill

Example: My son was sick yesterday, and now I’m feeling a bit under the weather.

Origin: This idiom is believed to be nautical in nature. When a sailor was feeling ill, he would go beneath the bow, which is the front part of the boat. This would hopefully protect him from adverse conditions, as he was literally under the bad weather that could further sicken him. Therefore, a sailor who was sick could be described as being “under the weather.”

“Beat around the bush”

Grouse. Ruffed grouse North American game bird sometimes called a partridge. Bird, ornithology.

ruffed grouse

Ruffed grouse (Bonasa umbellus).

© Index Open

Meaning: To circle the point; to avoid the point

Example: Stop beating around the bush and tell me what really happened.

Origin: This common phrase is thought to have originated in response to game hunting in Britain. While hunting birds, participants would beat bushes in order to draw out the birds. Therefore, they were beating around the bush before getting to the main point of the hunt: actually capturing the birds.

“Read the riot act”

George I, detail of an oil painting after Sir Godfrey Kneller, 1714; in the National Portrait Gallery, London

George I

George I, detail of an oil painting after Sir Godfrey Kneller, 1714; in the National Portrait Gallery, London.

Courtesy of The National Portrait Gallery, London

Meaning: To reprimand someone for behaving badly, with the intention of improving that person’s behavior

Example: Taylor was being too loud in class, so I read her the riot act.

Origin: This idiom most likely comes from the real Riot Act, an act passed by the British government in 1714 to prevent unruly assemblies. In the 18th century King George I and the government were fearful of being overthrown by supporters of the previous Stuart dynasty. If crowds of more than 12 assembled, authorities could read them a portion of the Riot Act, upon which they must leave or be imprisoned. Thus, if someone is behaving in a manner that we find inappropriate, we “read them the riot act,” intending to get the unruly person to stop what they’re doing.

“Spill the beans”

Marble bust of Alexander the Great, in the British Museum, London, England. Hellenistic Greek, 2nd-1st century BC. Said to be from Alexandria, Egypt. Height: 37 cm.

Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great, marble bust, 2nd–1st century bce; in the British Museum, London.

Meaning: To leak a secret

Example: Stop being so coy. Just spill the beans!

Origin: This one’s a bit tricky, as there is no clear-cut answer. The consensus is, however, that this is most likely derived from an ancient Greek voting process, which involved beans. People would vote by placing one of two colored beans in a vase, white typically meaning yes and black or brown meaning no. This meant that should someone spill the beans, the secret results of the election would be revealed before intended. Hence, spilling the beans is related to revealing secret information.

“The proof is in the pudding”

Steak and Kidney Pudding from Rules, London's oldest restaurant in Covent Garden. Diced steak, onion, and kidney (lamb or pig kidneys) in gravy, wrapped in suet pastry and steamed. Considered one of Britain's national dishes.

steak and kidney pudding

Steak and kidney pudding typically is made with either lamb or pig kidneys.

Scott B. Rosen/Eat Your World

Meaning: Depending on who you ask, you’ll actually find an array of definitions for this odd idiom. Here are some of the most commonly used definitions:

1. There is evidence to back up a previously made claim, specifically evidence intrinsic to the object in question. (Example: Of course this project will be successful, the proof is in the pudding.)

2. The process of achieving something isn’t important as long as the end product is good. (Example: I may have had to walk 1,000 miles to find this treasure, but the proof is in the pudding.)

3. The success of something can only be measured by putting it to its intended use. (Example: You’ll have to try it out before you buy it, since the proof is in the pudding.)

Origin: The reason for the plethora of definitions is most likely the Americanization of the old British idiom, which reads “the proof of the pudding is in the eating.” Whereas the British version makes at least some sense, the shortened American version is nonsensical. This led to the varied use of the idiom in a multitude of situations, with varying understandings of the definition. The British version, however, is closest in definition to the third listed above. The word proof was synonymous to test in the 16th century, which is when this idiom is thought to have surfaced. Pudding was also far different from today. It was most likely a minced-meat dish. Therefore, the true test of the success of a pudding dish is in how it tastes, not any ornamentation or appearance. More generally, the success of something can be measured only by putting it to its intended purpose. It is unknown where the more American definitions came from, though they are used very commonly.

“I’ve got it in the bag”

Meaning: Secured success

Example: I’m not even worried about the interview. I’ve got it in the bag.

Origin: Although there are other recorded uses, the version of this idiom that has become so widely accepted came about thanks to the old New York Giants (now San Francisco Giants) baseball team. It began as a superstition. In 1916 the Giants had a run of 26 consecutive wins. A bag filled with 72 extra baseballs would be put on the playing field at the beginning of each game. These balls were used to replace any that were hit into the seats or any that became too dirty. The Giants, during this crazy winning streak, fell under the impression that if they were in the lead during the ninth (last) inning, carrying the ball bag off the field would ensure their win because, according to the team, they had captured the game in the bag.

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Literature

9 Countercultural Books

The word counterculture generally refers to any movement that strives to achieve ideals counter to those of contemporary society. While counterculture itself is not a genre per se, the concept has intertwined itself into numerous fictional and nonfictional accounts of the 20th century and beyond. From the hippie rebellion of the 1960s to the persistent struggles of minority groups for equality, these books embody counterculture each in their own way, each with their own take on an ideal society.

On the Road has become a staple of the countercultural canon. Jack Kerouac based the novel on his relationship with fellow Beat poet Neal Cassady, who appears in the book as Dean Moriarty. Kerouac himself is the basis for protagonist Sal Paradise, and a number of other characters are representative of people in Kerouac’s life. The novel, told in five parts, details various adventures taken by Sal and Dean. Sex, drugs, and jazz are the foundation from which characters like Dean grow, forcing Sal to contemplate the implications of freedom and contempt for conformity. Sal begins to travel across the United States, sometimes with Dean by his side, and broadens his perspectives through the situations he encounters. As the novel progresses, Sal begins to understand the complexity of freedom, ending with a reflection on his journeys and Dean’s role in his life.

The novel was written in just three weeks and came from journals kept by Kerouac while traveling the country with Cassady. It was first typed on one continuous scroll, which spans 30 feet (9 meters). Kerouac employed a stream of consciousness technique while writing On the Road, approaching it casually as if it were a letter to a friend.

Similar to Kerouac’s On the Road, Hunter S. Thompson’s novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is autobiographical in nature. The story is based on two trips to Las Vegas taken by Thompson and his attorney, Oscar Zeta Acosta, in an attempt to gather information for articles commissioned by Sports Illustrated and Rolling Stone. Protagonist Raoul Duke, Thompson’s literary double, goes to Las Vegas with attorney Dr. Gonzo, Acosta’s fictional counterpart. While there, Duke and Dr. Gonzo are meant to report on the Mint 400 motorcycle race, but they are constantly interrupted by their intensive use of recreational drugs including LSD, cocaine, cannabis, and alcohol. During bouts of hallucinogenic experiences, the two ponder the meaning of the “American Dream” and the counterculture.

Thompson’s recounting of the past in a manner than blends both fact and fiction gave rise to the genre of gonzo journalism, an inherently countercultural method of reporting.

Alice Walker’s The Color Purple proves countercultural in a manner different from the works of Kerouac and Thompson. While they fought against implicated societal confines of how to live life, Walker fought against the institutional racism and sexism of 20th-century America. The Color Purple is a compilation of a series of letters from protagonist Celie to God. Celie is an impoverished African American girl who, at age 14, is constantly beaten and raped by her stepfather. She is forced to marry a man who is also abusive toward her. She eventually meets Sofia, a strong woman who stands up for herself on numerous occasions when confronted with sexism and racism. As an intimate look at the trials, tribulations, and strengths of African American women like Celie and Sofia, The Color Purple is an oft-cited example of both civil rights literature and feminist literature.

Walker won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1983 for The Color Purple, and it was later adapted into a film (1985) and a musical (2005) of the same name.

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut (1969)

Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five is a satirical semiautobiographical account of World War II. The novel follows, by use of an unreliable narrator, the story of American soldier Billy Pilgrim. Pilgrim’s life is recounted in flashbacks, making the story appear out of chronological order. He begins as a chaplain’s assistant, hating war and refusing to fight. He is then captured by German troops during the Battle of the Bulge and survives a series of events that eventually lead to his rescue on V-E Day. After being treated for PTSD and settling down with a wife and children, Pilgrim is abducted by Tralfamadorians, aliens from the planet Tralfamador. He is placed in a zoo exhibit with Montana Wildhack, another human. They fall in love and have a child, but Pilgrim is sent back to Earth immediately after. Pilgrim is eventually shot and killed by a hit man years later, after giving a speech on death, at a baseball stadium. The novel counters war in a satirical manner while also promoting a fatalistic view, one that was held by the Tralfamadorians who abducted Pilgrim and eventually by Billy himself at the end of the novel.

Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein (1961)

Robert A. Heinlein autographs books at the 1976 World Science Fiction Convention in Kansas City, Missouri.

Heinlein, Robert A.

Robert A. Heinlein autographing books in Kansas City, Missouri, 1976.

Dd-b

Stranger in a Strange Land is a science fiction novel by Robert Heinlein that follows the life of Valentine Michael Smith, a man who was born in space and raised on Mars. Smith arrives on Earth for the first time at 25 and encounters a society far different from that of the Martians. In a post-World War III United States, organized religion holds immense power. Smith befriends Gillian, Ben, and Jubal, who help him to escape from government officials. Smith eventually creates the Church of All Worlds in response to the corrupt religions he encounters. Within this church is a familiar sort of counterculture: open sexuality and rejection of commonly accepted laws of conformity. Members of the church learn the Martian language under Smith and eventually develop psychokinetic abilities. Smith is killed by a mob of protesters who insist his new church is blasphemous. The book ends with the implication that Valentine Michael Smith was, in fact, an incarnation of an archangel.

The original name of the novel was The Heretic, which furthers the implications of a divergence from contemporary religion and, therefore, cultural structure. In 2012 the Library of Congress named it a “Book That Shaped America.” An uncensored version of the novel was published in 1991, containing even more countercultural statements that had been removed by publishers on account of the shocking nature of their implications.

The Fire Next Time contains two essays that challenge race relations. The first, “My Dungeon Shook: Letter to My Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of Emancipation,” details the treatment of African Americans in American history. The letter serves to educate the nephew, but it also subtly becomes a call to action for African American people, that they must continue to push for true freedom. The letter culminates in a profound argument: that the 100th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation is being celebrated 100 years too early. The second essay, “Down at the Cross: Letter from a Region in My Mind,” recounts James Baldwin’s experiences with Christianity, the relationship between race and religion in general, and the Islamic ideals of African Americans in Harlem. Baldwin, through these epistolary essays, sought to counter the culture that had oppressed African Americans for centuries.

One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey (1962)

Ken Kesey, statue in Eugene, Ore.

Kesey, Ken

Ken Kesey, statue in Eugene, Ore.

Cacophony

Ken Kesey’s One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest provides an allegorical approach to counterculture. The novel, set in an Oregon psychiatric hospital, is narrated by “Chief” Bromden—a half Native American who recounts the story of patient Randle Patrick McMurphy. McMurphy faked insanity to keep himself out of jail, allowing him to serve his sentence in a psychiatric hospital. He is constantly stirring the pot and creating chaos between the patients and the nurses. After one of the patients commits suicide, McMurphy is blamed by a nurse with whom he has constantly clashed. He lashes out and attacks her, which results in him receiving a lobotomy and being condemned to a vegetative state. Chief escapes the hospital, smothering McMurphy in an act of mercy before fleeing to freedom. The novel is seen as an antiestablishment allegory, with the hospital and the nurses representing the overbearing government and McMurphy the counterculture.

The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan (1963)

Betty Friedan, feminist and American author of "The Feminine Mistique"

Betty Friedan

Betty Friedan.

Smithsonian Institution

Widely regarded as the spark behind second-wave feminism in the United States, The Feminine Mystique attacked the 20th-century understanding of a woman’s function in society. Betty Friedan conducted and recorded a plethora of research, eventually publishing the book because no magazine would publish her original article. The nonfiction book introduces the problem that has no name, which is described as the unhappiness felt by the majority of American women in the 20th century. She argues that this feeling was perpetuated by the slow narrowing of the lives of women into solely domestic roles. The following 14 chapters detail her extensive research, explaining in layperson’s terms the function of Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Freudian theory, and other complicated psychological agents that affected the widespread feelings of women in the 1950s and onward. She ends by suggesting ways in which America can prevent itself from falling further into this trap.

Steal This Book by Abbie Hoffman (1971)

Abbie Hoffman published Steal This Book as a guide to acting against the government. The book is divided into three sections—“Survive!”, “Fight!”, and “Liberate!”—with multiple subchapters. Written in the style of a “how-to” manual for members of the counterculture, Steal This Book is a snapshot of the hippie movement and the ideals it perpetuated. Subsections include information detailing how to successfully grow cannabis, protest, live in a commune, and even shoplift. It was so provocative that Hoffman eventually created his own publishing company, Pirate Editions, in order to sell the book, as other publishers were too afraid to attach their names to it. Though it was scarcely advertised, Steal This Book became very successful and was immortalized by the Woodstock Nation, who adopted Hoffman’s term for America, “Pig Nation,” as their own.

Hoffman cofounded the Youth International Party—the “Yippies,” a countercultural political party.

Literary critics, historians, avid readers, and even casual readers will all have different opinions on which novel is truly the “greatest book ever written.” Is it a novel with beautiful, captivating figurative language? Or one with gritty realism? A novel that has had an immense social impact? Or one that has more subtly affected the world? Here is a list of 12 novels that, for various reasons, have been considered some of the greatest works of literature ever written.

Anna Karenina

Anna Karenina (1935) Actress Greta Garbo as Anna Karenina in a scene from the film directed by Clarence Brown. Movie. Leo Tolstoy

Greta Garbo in Anna Karenina

Greta Garbo in Anna Karenina (1935), directed by Clarence Brown.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.

Any fan of stories that involve juicy subjects like adultery, gambling, marriage plots, and, well, Russian feudalism, would instantly place Anna Karenina at the peak of their “greatest novels” list. And that’s exactly the ranking that publications like Time magazine have given the novel since it was published in its entirety in 1878. Written by Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy, the eight-part towering work of fiction tells the story of two major characters: a tragic, disenchanted housewife, the titular Anna, who runs off with her young lover, and a lovestruck landowner named Konstantin Levin, who struggles in faith and philosophy. Tolstoy molds together thoughtful discussions on love, pain, and family in Russian society with a sizable cast of characters regarded for their realistic humanity. The novel was especially revolutionary in its treatment of women, depicting prejudices and social hardships of the time with vivid emotion.

To Kill a Mockingbird

Book cover (circa 2015?) To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee. Hardcover book first published July 11, 1960. Novel won 1961 Pulitzer Prize. Later made into an Academy Award winning film.

To Kill a Mockingbird

This book cover is one of many given to Harper Lee's classic work To Kill a Mockingbird (1960). The novel won a Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and the next year was made into an Academy Award-winning film.

Grand Central Publishing/Hachette Book Group

Harper Lee, believed to be one of the most influential authors to have ever existed, famously published only a single novel (up until its controversial sequel was published in 2015 just before her death). Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird was published in 1960 and became an immediate classic of literature. The novel examines racism in the American South through the innocent wide eyes of a clever young girl named Jean Louise (“Scout”) Finch. Its iconic characters, most notably the sympathetic and just lawyer and father Atticus Finch, served as role models and changed perspectives in the United States at a time when tensions regarding race were high. To Kill a Mockingbird earned the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1961 and was made into an Academy Award-winning film in 1962, giving the story and its characters further life and influence over the American social sphere.