Have you come across these idioms before, which are all related to plants and flowers?
See if you can decide which idiom fits in which sentence and then post below what you think the idioms mean.
Do you know any other idioms that are related to flowers and plants?
Barking up the wrong tree - to be wrong about the reason for something.
This cartoon is based on the idiom, rub it in.
rub it in - if someone rubs it in, they keep talking about something or doing something that makes you upset or embarrassed.
"We all know she made a mistake, but you don't have to rub it in."
Murphy’s law?
This so-called ‘law’ says that ‘Anything that can go wrong will go wrong’.
The ‘Murphy’ in the expression is commonly believed to be a certain Captain Edward A. Murphy, who was an American aerospace engineer back in 1949.
salt of the earth
Being described by someone as ‘the salt of the earth’ is quite a compliment...it means that you are a person of great worth and reliability. The expression is Biblical in origin (Matthew 5:13), and it is believed that the use of ‘salt’ in the expression is a reference to the value of salt, which was supposedly quite a valued commodity back then!
Lots of idiomatic expressions come from things people say to each other in sports. For example in fishing,'to get off the hook' means literally, for the fish to escape! These phrases have been adapted and, as idioms, can be used in a variety of circumstances. In each of these sentences, can you decide which idiom is needed?
Caroline Devane
If you are in a pickle, you are in a difficult position, or have a problem to which no easy answer can be found.
The word ‘pickle’ comes from the Dutch word ‘pekel’, meaning ‘something piquant’, and originally referred to a spiced, salted vinegar that was used as a preservative.
In the seventeenth century, vegetables like cucumbers or gherkins that were preserved took the name.
The ‘in difficulty’ meaning of the expression alludes to the idea of being as mixed up and disoriented as the pickled vegetables in the jar!
If you get your just deserts, you get what you deserve.
The word ‘deserts’, in the sense of ‘what you deserve’, has been used in English since the thirteenth century.
‘Just’, of course, means ‘fair’.
It should be noted that the pronunciation of deserts in this expression is stressed on the second syllable, as in ‘desserts’.
The spelling, however, is correct.
A desert is an arid and desolate region of land, and its use as ‘that which is deserved’ is now limited to this single phrase.
Today, let’s focus on some idioms that we can use to talk about how we are feeling emotionally.
All you need to do is match the idioms with their literal meanings. How are you feeling today?
Lesson by Caroline
To Get The Upper Hand
If you get the upper hand, you take a dominant position.
There is still some question as to where this saying comes from, but it is generally acknowledged that the phrase originated from American children in playgrounds.
In order to determine who gets first choice of player for their teams when playing baseball, one team captain grabs the bat at the bottom, and then the other captain takes hold above the first’s hand.
