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Aktualisiert am
21 Jun 2021
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Englisch (US)
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Englisch (UK)
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Vereinfachtes Chinesisch (China)
Frage über Englisch (UK)
What are idioms for?
What are idioms for?
In any language.:)
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21 Jun 2021
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- Englisch (UK)
- Englisch (US)
I would say that people use idioms for two main reasons. First, they can express complex ideas in a very simple way. For example, rather than saying "These two things are impossible to compare to one another, because they possess different properties or meanings.", you could just say "it's comparing apples to oranges". In that way, they can make your writing/ speech more efficient.
Secondly, they make things more interesting. They can add humour. For example, instead of saying "he's stupid" you could say "It's like the lights are on but nobody's home" or "he's not the sharpest tool in the shed".
Having said that, I personally don't use idioms much lol. I am a very literal thinker so they don't come naturally to me. It's a personal choice. But they definitely do have benefits.
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- Englisch (UK)
They sometimes shorten ways of saying things, and at other times are just how the language has evolved - in the same way as grammar has evolved, and the way things are said has evolved.
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- Englisch (UK)
- Englisch (US)
I would say that people use idioms for two main reasons. First, they can express complex ideas in a very simple way. For example, rather than saying "These two things are impossible to compare to one another, because they possess different properties or meanings.", you could just say "it's comparing apples to oranges". In that way, they can make your writing/ speech more efficient.
Secondly, they make things more interesting. They can add humour. For example, instead of saying "he's stupid" you could say "It's like the lights are on but nobody's home" or "he's not the sharpest tool in the shed".
Having said that, I personally don't use idioms much lol. I am a very literal thinker so they don't come naturally to me. It's a personal choice. But they definitely do have benefits.
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- Japanisch
- Englisch (UK)
- Englisch (US)
@learning257 No, I just have experience working as an English teacher and I'm interested in language/ writing~
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- Englisch (UK)
- Englisch (US)
@learning257 There are two main characteristics of idioms.
Firstly, the meaning is not usually predictable from the words (they are not literal).
Secondly, they are easily understood by a certain group of people but not others (for example foreign people).
Some idioms have become everyday language, while others retain more power and imagery than their literal counterparts.
I noticed when I was working, that in meetings, people with a wider grasp of language were much more persuasive than others. For example, to dismiss a proposal as "a drop in the ocean" works better than "it wouldn't make much difference". As soon as I noticed that, I learned as many idioms as I could. 😊
I had a lot of success with things like "hollow gesture" and "empty words".
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