Book of Idioms, Episode 5

"Make yourself at home." (English Idiom) A host standing in his or her personal residence may say to a guest, "Make yourself at home." This means, make yourself as comfortable, as welcome, and as relaxed as you are in your own home. Politeness still demands that the guest treat another person's house and home with due respect, however. "Please, make yourselves at home. I'll have tea for you in five minutes."


"Leaving a bad taste in (someone's) mouth. (English Idioms) To "leave a bad taste" in someone's mouth (usually a specific person) is to give a negative impression that lingers like a bad aftertaste. "That guy left a bad taste in my mouth. I can't prove anything, but he's acting very suspiciously."

"Selling like hotcakes." (English Idioms) If a product is "selling like hotcakes," or in the past tense, "sold like hotcakes," it is selling etremely well; the product can be easily sold, and sold in large quantites. Thus, it is a popular product. "iPods sell like hotcakes. You can't make enough of them!"


"Eat your heart out." (American Idioms) This is said to someone else as a taunt, urging them to be jealous or envious of you. "I'm going on vacation to Maui, and you're not. Eat your heart out!" Ironically, this is false mockery used as a joke; it is not generally used to be mean-spirited or nasty in any way.


"The thought never entered my mind." (English Idiom) This means, an idea never occured to the speaker; the person never considered the idea, nor even realized that the idea was an option.


"As scarce as hen's teeth." (American idiom; also used in Australia) Also heard: "as rare as hen's teeth." Hen do not have teeth; they have beaks. Figuratively, something as rare as hen's teeth is something that is VERY rare. "In this town, a taxi is as scarce as hen's teeth." Taxis rides are rare and difficult to obtain in this town.

"Reading between the lines." (English idiom) To read between the lines is to examine the implied meaning, not the literal meaning of the words. To understand idioms, a person must "read between the lines" and realize the hidden messages.

"Music to my ears." (English idiom) Something that is "music to (your) ears" is something that you hear that is very positive, encouraging, and pleasing. "The weather report gives 'sunny' for this weekend." "Music to my ears!"


"Comparing apples and oranges" (English idiom): to wrongfully compare two things which are not supposed to be similar to begin with. If you compare an apple to an apple, you can say, "This apple is good, but that apple is bad." To compare an apple to an orange and say, "Look at this orange! This apple is so much better," is wrong; the orange is no proof of anything.

"Blind as a bat" once meant to have very poor vision, but in the West, speaking about "actual" blind people like this is out of fashion. Instead, "blind as a bat" is said about people with good eyes, but who still manage to not see what is in front of them!


Figuratively, a "spring chicken" is a person who is new on the scene, often the political scene. This idiom is usually used in a negative way, such as in this example: "He was certainly no spring chicken, having been active in party politics for over twenty-five years." For an example from a real article, see the first comment below.


A friend of mine explained he would be unavailable for three hours because his business (towing/ salvage) had received a call (for assistance), and no one else was available to answer it (except him). I thanked him for the heads up (the notice that he gave me). Does this example help with a few aspects of English?


To "Hit the fan" is to become publicly known, revealed as in:

The scandalous plot had finally hit the fan, people have now come in the know of who actually hold accountable for this long-unsolved Prime Minister's murder case. Totally appalling!


Americans use "heat" as a synonym for "pressure." This is psychological, mental, and social pressure. Example: "The Attorney General is feeling the heat over his role in a controversial Department of Justice operation." (The subject is real, but I invented the sentence above.) Feeling the heat = feeling the pressure.


There are other idioms that mean the same thing as "giving your attention":
- Paying attention to someone
- Focusing one's attention on someone
- Directing one's attention towards someone
These phrases do not mix. "Paying attention on someone" is a mistake. You pay attention to someone.
➤ Read more idioms and phrases, English grammar and vocabulary at Basic English Grammar And Vocabulary . You might also like ⏬

➤ Idioms about Animals

➤ Idioms of Expression

➤ Idioms on Food

➤ Idiomatic Expressions

➤ Origin of Idioms

➤ Proverbs

➤ Idioms on Situation

➤ Idioms on Temperature