Idioms/Expressions and their use (Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies) Language Learning Forum

Idioms/Expressions and their use
Tags: Idiom
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18 messages over 3 pages: 1 2 3

schoenewaelder
Diglot
Senior Member
Germany
Joined 5565 days ago
759 posts - 1197 votes

Speaks: English*, French
Studies: German, Spanish, Dutch

Message 17 of 18

07 February 2013 at 5:56pm | IP Logged

Medulin wrote:

''Idiomatic usage'' has more to do with using right collocations (and phrasal verbs) than overusing idioms (and other fixed expressions), proverbs, and witty comparisons (like ''drunk as a skunk'').
Saying ''Hold your horses!'' can be fun, but you should know 1. when to use it (in what kind of situation); 2. and with whom...

Idioms, like slang words come and go quickly.
It's very easy to get ''too quaint [of] a style'' if you don't use only the most up-to-date expressions.

Furthermore, L2 users of English tend to neglect the abbreviations.
Americans just love their abbreviations, like DWI...

Oops, I now have to contradict my previous ppost. I had forgotten how common some idioms were, especially regarding getting drunk.

(We don't use initialisations much in the UK though, FWIW.)
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akkadboy
Triglot
Senior Member
France
Joined 5413 days ago
264 posts - 497 votes

Speaks: French*, English, Yiddish
Studies: Latin, Ancient Egyptian, Welsh

Message 18 of 18

07 February 2013 at 7:42pm | IP Logged

cmmah wrote:

In a French-learning book, I read that the phrase "moulin a paroles" roughly translates as "chatterbox" or "someone
who talks constantly".
(...)
Another few expressions (all of which I got from French learning material) which got me a similar reception with
French speakers are "avoid des atoms crochus", "ce n'est pas la mer a boire" and "se croire sorti de la cuisse de
Jupiter". (...)

As a French speaker from France, none of the above mentioned expressions strikes me as outdated.
I would maybe say that "se croire sorti de la cuisse de Jupiter" is the less common of the four but from what I hear (and say), the other three are pretty common.
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