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? |
Friday, November 15, 2013
Food Idioms for a Friday
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment