On Idioms.

I've been meaning to blog about idioms for some time now. (No, enoch, not dumb people. "You idiom!") I think I've been thinking about it every day for the past... 2 or 3 weeks. Now, I have no idea what in fact I want to say about idioms... I just want to blog about them, hammer something out. So now that finals are over, I'm back on my feet. And since I've gotten everything squared away, here goes nothing.

Let's start from square one. What is an idiom?

id·i·om (noun),/ˈɪdiəm/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[id-ee-uh m]: an expression whose meaning is not predictable from the usual meanings of its constituent elements.

Now, I'm not one to use many idioms in my daily speech. I do so only once in a blue moon. And when I do try to use one, it usually comes out kind of skewed. I never actually hit the nail on the head. You know, it's always a "close but no cigar" kind of situation.

OK, OK. Hold your horses. I really do have a point here.

Idioms are the kinds of things that you have to play by ear. You can't really force them, because then people start noticing. Can't pull the wool over anyone's eyes nowadays.

When you do use them, you've got to make sure you use them in the right context. And you just have to bank on the fact that someone knows what you're talking about. For example, this weekend, while hanging out with some friends, I said, "A stitch in time saves nine." They looked at me like I had two heads.

As I mentioned above, I'm not an authority on this matter. I probably won't try to correct you on your misuse of idioms, because that'd be like the pot calling the kettle black.

Lalalala...

Alright, fine. So maybe I don't have a real point. I should stop babbling. Clearly I'm beating a dead horse here (excuse the graphic nature of this one).

I'll just cut to the chase: Idioms are cool.