Idioms—phrases that come to mean more than each word's "literal meaning" on their own—have been a part of spoken language for a long time. They may change as the years go by and often vary from ...

Idioms are an often invisible barrier to understanding and inclusion for second-language speakers because their meanings rely ...

For native speakers of a language, idioms can capture just the right nuance of a particular situation. But for those who aren't intimately familiar with that language and culture, idioms often sound ...

Don’t give up on cherished idioms that seem ‘fossilized.’ They might be some of the most important to pass along to future ...

Has someone pulled the wool over your eyes? Was your annual review a bitter pill to swallow? Or was it an ace in the hole? These quirks of speech aren't limited to English speakers. Everyone has their ...

One of my favorite greeting cards has a picture of two women on the front. One woman is asking the other: “Is it ‘butt naked’ or ‘buck naked’?” The inside reads: “These are the kinds of questions I ...