Book of Idioms, Episode 22

CRY WOLF: to give a false alarm intentionally, to spread fear for one's own benefit. New York Times: <<Some seem to think that public health officials pull a microbe “crisis du jour” out of their proverbial test tube when financing for infectious disease research and control programs appears to be drying up. They dismiss warnings about the latest bugs as “crying wolf.” This misimpression could be deadly. >> "Du jour" is a French expression meaning "of the day."


KISS AND MAKE UP: reconcile. No kissing is necessarily involved. Time International: <<So where does it all go from here? The experts see three possible scenarios. One is a kiss-and-make-up strategy: in other words, [French president François] Hollande and his team will try to patch up relations with [German chancellor Angela] Merkel. The second possibility is that the French government essentially waits to see what happens in the German national elections this fall ...>>


CAUGHT RED-HANDED: apprehended (caught) in the act of committing a crime. Bermuda Sun: <<A mother of two today admitted stealing two tubes of lip gloss from the Phoenix Pharmacy after she was caught red-handed.

Donita Maxine Smith, 23, pleaded guilty in Magistrates’ Court to stealing two tubes of Maybelline Super Stay ten-hour Stain Gloss from the Phoenix on March 26. The items were valued at $20.


BANG FOR YOUR BUCK: value for your money. AnnArbor.com: <<
By approving the ordinance changes, Pollay said, the city would be losing all the revenue the DDA captures from other taxing authorities — money that gets put into projects that benefit the city.
"The city gets double the bang for its buck by having the DDA fully funded," she said. >>


LOW BLOW: in boxing, a low blow is an illegal punch below the waist. But idiomatically it can mean any unscrupulous attack. Daily Beast: <<South Carolina politics is a full-contact spectator sport, and the 18-candidate special election on Tuesday is shaping up to be a scrum for the ages, with low blows and high expectations.>>


MARCH TO THE BEAT OF ONE'S OWN DRUMMER: habitually follow one's own conscience or inclinations, rather than conforming to societal norms. San Jose Mercury News: <<When we meet Wendla in [the musical] "Spring Awakening," she doesn't yet know if she will fall in line or march to the beat of her own drummer.>>


If you do something BY THE SEAT OF YOUR PANTS, you do it in an improvised manner, you do it without having thought it through. CNN International, in a story about a plan to reduce the snake population in Guam by dropping poisoned mice for them to eat: <<"We have a site where there's a population of snakes that nobody can get into. It's a controlled population," Vice told the Pacific News Center. "This is being done in a very rigorous, scientific manner. This isn't just something that we've just kind of come up with by the seat of our pants.">>


ON THE FRITZ (U.S.), ON THE BLINK (Britain): not working properly. The washing machine's on the fritz again—it will wash and rinse, but it won't spin. These are colloquial.


COMFORT ZONE: familiar parts of life where you feel at ease, free of stress. If you're going to really master English, you have to get out of your comfort zone and try to converse with native speakers! Common inspirational quote: "Life begins where your comfort zone ends." (attributed to Neale Walsch)


LOW-HANGING FRUIT: simple steps, easy measures. Detroit News: <<Finding some low-hanging fruit to pick in a city where everything is broken should be easy.

But the one fix Detroiters are desperate for — a safer community — won't come quickly or cheaply.

To become a more secure city, Detroit needs a better-working police department.>>

➤ Read more idioms and phrases, English grammar and vocabulary at Basic English Grammar And Vocabulary . You might also like ⏬

➤ Book of Idioms

➤ Idioms about Animals

➤ Idioms of Expression

➤ Idioms on Food

➤ Idiomatic Expressions

➤ Origin of Idioms

➤ Proverbs

➤ Idioms on Situation

➤ Idioms on Temperature