Idiom
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- For criticism see Criticism of Idiom
Ab Directo Explanation of Idioms
An english idiom is an expression which conveys a meaning contradicted by the referents within the language used to communicate it. For example, "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink" asserts you cannot make a horse drink water you have led it to; however, the same expression depicts the 'o' in "horse" moving forward to the 'o' in "to" where "water" is met - this in turn is followed by vowel expressions hidden in the words that sound as if the person, the person leading the horse, is insisting 'u u' (insisting 'you'), 'a a' (commonly meaning think again) 'i i' (as in 'i, i' led you responsibly).
You can look for these contradictions in any idiom. Just pick an idiom and then think of an explanation displayed in the letters which would suggest that the opposite meaning is intended (for English idioms at least). For example, why do Australians say "too, right!" when it sounds as if they are saying "too right!"? A clash, once again.
Why does "tall story" contain "all or" as if any option is accounted for (the mark of a true story)?
Why does someone say "I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help me God" when to swear by anything is against God's law?
English idioms are peculiar in this compared with some other languages (I believe Chinese idioms are intonation vs referent contradictions, as opposed to statement vs representation contradictions in English). Even within English there are peculiarities depending on the nation of origin. For example, American English will conceal the glory of a statement, whereas British English will conceal the importance of the words used moreso.
As cultures change the idioms change to reflect more lasting values, in keeping with the demystification of the universe.
Points for research
Interesting questions to ask:
- Why does the brain remember contradictions more readily in everyday language? - Why do we not speak in contradictory terms all the time? - How do you forget a contradiction that has proven itself useful? - How do you remember what you want to say if you are only thinking of contradictions? - When do idioms change? - When do idiomatic structures become popular?
Anecdote on idioms
There is a man who once got a huge compliment for a job he was doing. Being a clever man he thought he would say thanks in a curt way so that the person complimenting would not think he was seeking compliments and start to compliment him all the time, so he said "Thanks for that!" (circa 2003). The word "thanks" was meant to be positive, but what was thanked for was named "that", a much shorter less appreciative word that swallowed up the hearing of the "for" in between - it seemed to imply that he was not actually grateful, even though he overtly was saying he was.
Soon everyone was saying it and he would never be able to put that compliment completely out of his mind!
Adapted from the Wikipedia article, "Idiom" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiom, used under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Search for "Idiom" on Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, Wiktionary, Wikiquote, Wikibooks, Mediawiki Wikia, Wikitravel, Google Advanced Search, Yahoo Advanced Search, WorldCat Advanced Search, Amazon, Recent NY Times, Older NY Times.
