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Friday, November 15, 2013

Food Idioms for a Friday

It's pretty simple to see that food rules our lives. Not necessarily in a bad way either, it's just that we need, and relate to food so well that it ends up running our lives. For example, we have mornings which are scheduled around breakfast, we have a break in the middle of our days for lunch and then we have dinner at the end of our day. It's how we structure our day. Our lives and schedules revolve around food and meal times. Not just that; most holidays are built around eating. Thanksgiving, we have a feast; Fourth of July, again, we have food. So what about our language? Surely we have food inspired sayings too. We have lists and lists of food idioms!
We've all used a food idiom in our daily speech at one time or another. If you think you haven't, you just might not know what a food idiom is. Here's an example: "as flat as a pancake." Sure, some areas of the world probably use different ones, but we've all got them. Food is so much a part of our lives that we use it to relate to something else so someone can understand what we're trying to say. As flat as a pancake means it's completely flat. There's no bumps, no mounds, no hills, nothing. Most of the time it's used to describe a landscape and when you say this, people know exactly what you mean. There's no confusion.
As flat as a pancake is just one of these sayings. But there's many, many more. "Take it with a grain of salt" is a great one. There's so many that we all know, we don't even realize we're relating something else to food. Pay attention the next time you have a long conversation with people. Try to see how many of these sayings pop in without even realizing it. Here's a list of our favorite food idioms:
As cool as a cucumber.
As slow as molasses
Bad apple/Bad egg
Bite off more than one can chew
Bite that hand that feeds you
Bring home the bacon
Like Taking Candy From a Baby
Like Two Peas in a Pod
Piece of cake
Sugarcoat (something)
Too many cooks in the kitchen
The whole enchilada
Couch Potato
Cream of the Crop
Don't cry over spilled milk
Not my cup of tea
Living High off the hog
Eat like a bird
Have a lot on one's plate
Icing on the Cake
In a nutshell
Packed in like sardines
Spill the beans
Walking on eggshells
It's great to see how much food influences the rest of our lives and our speech is no different. Which is your favorite food idiom or do you have one that should be added to this list?

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