IDIOM ADVENTURES
These 8 idioms will upgrade your everyday vocabulary
Published on December 20, 2023
Credit: Pieter Brueghel the Elder, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
While some idioms are as familiar as old friends, others lurk in the linguistic shadows, waiting for their moment in the spotlight. These idioms might be rare guests in our everyday repertoire. Still, their colorful histories and unique imagery serve as potent reminders that the challenges people encounter today often echo those faced centuries ago. In this exploration, we unveil eight rare gems that may raise eyebrows, tickle your fancy, and perhaps even inspire you enough to include them in your next conversation.
To put a spoke in someone's wheel
Credit: Jon Toney
Meaning: To make something difficult.
This idiom takes us back to the days when wagon wheels had wooden spokes. Inserting a spoke would jam the wheel, causing chaos for the unsuspecting traveler. Unfortunately, you can still experience the same thing with a bicycle (don’t try it!).
Today, using this phrase signifies throwing a wrench into someone's plans, causing an unexpected obstacle.
To make a spoon or spoil a horn
Credit: James Lee
Meaning: To do whatever it takes to achieve something.
Hailing from Scotland, this idiom refers to the ancient practice of fashioning spoons out of cattle or sheep horns. It means that you are so determined to accomplish your objectives that unwittingly ruining something in the process—or even failing completely—is part of the cost you are willing to pay. You might want to question, though, if you really need that spoon so badly.
To carry fire in one hand and water in the other
Credit: Aziz Acharki
Meaning: To be two-faced or deceiving.
This expression is actually one of the many represented in the famous painting Netherlandish Proverbs by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (pictured at the beginning of this article). Among the many curious characters that inhabit the oil painting, a keen eye can spot a lady carrying a bucket of water in one hand and a hot ember on the end of a metal tong in the other.
To be born on the wrong side of the blanket
Credit: Michal Bar Haim
Meaning: To be born out of wedlock.
In the olden days, a child born out of wedlock was deemed quite scandalous, as bearing children outside the institution of marriage was considered illegitimate. Many parents would have terrible headaches just thinking about the possibility of their children engaging in this kind of behavior. As a curiosity, the word wedlock is a thirteenth-century way to say "marriage," from the Old English root word wedlac or "marriage vow."
To know which side your bread is buttered on
Credit: Seriously Low Carb
Meaning: To know how to better benefit yourself.
This idiom has roots tracing back to the mid-1500s. Its essence lies in the wisdom of discerning one's best interests—recognizing where to channel efforts for personal gain, understanding advantageous choices, and identifying those who can be of help. The metaphor refers to the notion that the buttered side of the bread is undoubtedly the best part of it (even in an allegorical bread, apparently), and that identifying the most advantageous aspects of a situation is much like savoring the richness of the buttered side in the realm of life's choices.
To give (one's) head for the washing
Credit: Mario Heller
Meaning: To submit passively to a reprimand or punishment.
An old English proverb, this one refers to the act of yielding without resistance, tamely surrendering to someone else, or a difficult situation, as if you were bowing your head to be washed. It sometimes appears in literature as "to put one’s beard to the washing," but the meaning is unchanged.
To bite the bullet
Credit: Cody Wingfield
Meaning: To force yourself to do something unpleasant.
Biting the bullet is a metaphor used to depict a situation where an unavoidable impending hardship is acknowledged, and a decision is made to staunchly endure the associated pain. This metaphor draws its inspiration from the practice of providing soldiers with an object to clench in their teeth before a painful surgical procedure on the battlefield. This phrase was first recorded by Rudyard Kipling as "bite on the bullet," in his 1891 novel The Light that Failed.
To bury the hatchet
Credit: Markus Spiske
Meaning: To make peace.
To bury the hatchet means to end all hostilities. The expression originated in the symbolic—and sometimes literal—practice of burying or caching weapons in times of peace among Native Americans. The custom is notably associated with the formation of the Iroquois Confederacy and was prevalent in Iroquois traditions.