Ain’t got no home,
[There’s] no use in worrying,
‘Cause the world’s going wrong.”
So said the band the Mississippi Sheiks. I imagine that they had bigger problems to
worry about than many today, since they lived in the era of the 1930s Great
Depression and in the American South before the civil rights reforms of the
post-war period.
Still, we all have our problems. Today I’d like to look at a few idioms in
English used to talk about difficulties and troubles. Hopefully you won’t have much need to use
them...
1 - A problem shared is a problem halved
The meaning of this idiom is clear
enough. Getting advice about your problems
from another person can take a weight off your mind.
On the other hand, people sometimes twist
the idiom around and say ironically, “A problem shared is a problem doubled.”
2 - That’s an accident waiting to happen.
We use this idiom when we see a potential
danger, such as a wet floor without a warning sign or a piece of furniture
placed in a way that somebody could trip over.
For example: “You had better move your bicycle. It is sticking out into the road. It’s an accident waiting to happen.”
3 – (He’s) asking for trouble.
Similar to the idiom above, this is a
warning about a potential danger or future trouble. Imagine that an office worker regularly
arrives late on Monday mornings with a hangover. His boss hasn’t complained about it yet but if
this behaviour continues, the worker will likely face the sack or other disciplinary
action. His colleagues say, “He had
better stop coming late. He’s asking for
trouble.”
4 - He’s bitten off more than he can chew.
I hate to swallow large chunks of
food. I like to chew my food into small
pieces. So I don’t like eating raw
octopus or squid, which are tough and stringy. So this idiom is quite appropriate for
me. I sometimes take a bite of food and
regret it.
But we use this idiom more generally, to
mean that someone has taken on a problem too large for them to handle. For example, someone pushes to get a
promotion and becomes manager. Then they
find that they can’t handle the extra workload and responsibilities. They might say regretfully, “I think I bit
off more than I could chew taking this job.
I wish I had stayed where I was.”
Vocabulary:
the Great Depression – The period after the
1929 stock market crash which greatly damaged the world economy
post-war – after the war
to halve – to reduce in size, number etc.
by 50 per cent
a hangover – a feeling of illness,
headaches etc. experienced the day after drinking a lot of alcohol
(to get) the sack – to be sacked or fired
from work; to be removed from your position of employment
disciplinary action – formal punishment for
improper behaviour
a chunk – a big piece
stringy – thin and tough like string. About food, containing tough fibres; hard to
eat
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