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    Fun with Idioms: Book 1
    Fun with Idioms: Book 1
    Fun with Idioms: Book 1
    Ebook262 pages59 minutes

    Fun with Idioms: Book 1

    By John Smithback and Ching Yee Smithback

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    About this ebook

    What is an idiom? It can be an insult — “He’s full of hot air!”— or a compliment — “She’s the life and soul of the party!” Idioms can make your head swim, or they can arouse your curiosity. But no matter how they function, idioms color your language and add punch to your vocabulary. Have FUN WITH IDIOMS, and improve your command of English at the same time!
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherIdiom Magic Publications
    Release dateDec 20, 2013
    ISBN9781625361141
    Fun with Idioms: Book 1
    Author

    John Smithback

    For more than twenty-five years, the writer-illustrator team of John and Ching Yee Smithback have been explaining idioms and proverbs to the world with more than fifty published books and a daily newspaper column that has appeared throughout Asia and Europe. Meeting in Hong Kong while John was teaching English and Ching Yee was studying nursing, their initial books — entitled ©IDIOM-MAGIC and published by the Chinese University of Hong Kong — met with such immediate success that it quickly changed the course of their lives. Shortly thereafter, they created a daily newspaper column designed to explain English idioms to their readers in Asia. Aimed principally at students who were learning English as a Second Language, it wasn’t long before the Idiom-Magic column was of interest to nearly everyone — including native speakers — curious to know more about these odd and sometimes curious constructions within our language. John and Ching Yee estimate that they have illustrated and defined close to 8,000 English idioms, proverbs, catch-phrases and slang terms, in the course of which they have also produced several books defining and explaining Chinese idioms for English speakers. Describing themselves as “literary gypsies” they have lived in various countries — Hong Kong, Portugal, Singapore and France — while producing their column and books. For a number of years they lived in England close to Shakespeare’s birthplace at Stratford-upon-Avon, and they are now living in the USA.

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      Book preview

      Fun with Idioms - John Smithback

      Table of Contents

      Title Page

      Copyright

      Preface

      Idioms

      Fun with Idioms

      Book 1

      John and Ching Yee Smithback

      A collection from the Idiom-Magic series

      www.idiom-magic.com

      Fun with Idioms

      Book 1

      All Rights Reserved © 1995, 2013 by John B. Smithback and Ching Yee Smithback

      No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the permission in writing from the author.

      First Edition published 1995 by Cove Press. This digital edition published by Idiom Magic Publications c/o Authors Guild Digital Services.

      For more information, address:

      Authors Guild Digital Services

      31 East 32nd Street

      7th Floor

      New York, NY 10016

      ISBN: 9781625361141

      Preface

      Have you ever had one of those days, done something on the spur of the moment, played your cards right or talked a blue streak?

      What’s wrong with you if you can’t hit the broadside of a barn? Do you know what it is to live the life of Riley or come up smelling like a rose?

      If you have dishpan hands and weep crocodile tears, is it because you have recently been struck by a bolt from the blue? Or if something is the real McCoy, would that make you want to blaze a trail or rest on your oars/laurels? And if someone you know is the talk of the town, would that tickle your funny bone?

      All of these might make your head spin, for these are idioms, and the difference between knowing or not knowing what they mean can be the difference between understanding or not understanding English.

      The nuts and bolts of something, note perfect, off the cuff, with no strings attached, and a touch of class are idioms too, and every language has them. But English has more. They are like a language within a language, adding color and dimension to the way we speak and think. Idioms make our language more expressive, more fun to use; but they also give anyone learning English his or her greatest challenge.

      A cock and bull story, get down to brass tacks, of the first water, an old chestnut and a lick of paint are word combinations you either know or you don’t. And you’d really find yourself in a fog and worn to a frazzle if you tried to guess their meanings. Yet as sure as God made little green apples, each and every one of them is a very common idiom known and understood by almost all native speakers of English, wherever they are in the world and whatever their occupation or their level of education.

      The wealth of idioms in the English language is almost beyond belief, but this book containing 256 of them is unique. Created by the husband and wife team of John and Ching Yee Smithback (he’s a teacher and a writer; she’s an artist, a translator and a registered nurse), these humorous illustrations along with their witty definitions are almost guaranteed to make learning English idioms as easy/simple as ABC.

      What does that mean? It means you can stop being a worry wart, because Fun With Idioms is a new way to make learning easy! In fact, read this and its companion book and we think you’ll be thrilled to the core.

      P.S. You’ll be having fun and dying of laughter, but you should be forewarned: you’ll also be learning!

      AFTER/WHEN THE DUST CLEARS/SETTLES

      Timothy was exploring an old building when a particular stone caught his attention. I’ll take that, he said, and then the building collapsed. After the dust had settled, he realized he had removed the stone that kept the building standing. The stone is called a keystone, and after/when the dust clears/settles means when a troublesome, confusing or disastrous event is over.

      ALIVE AND KICKING

      "Go to the Egyptian Room and do some dusting, the museum boss said to Ralph. And don’t worry about the mummies, he laughed. I doubt you’ll find them alive and kicking, ha, ha." You can imagine how terrified Ralph was when someone in the room sneezed, for alive and kicking means to be very much alive—and very active!

      (ALL) SWEETNESS AND LIGHT

      "I attended a wonderful convention last week, Agatha smiled. Everything was sweetness and light, and I have to say even my enemies were all sweetness and light." When something is (all) sweetness and light it is pleasant and reasonable; and when people are (all) sweetness and light, they are good-tempered and friendly.

      (AND) THAT’S FLAT

      Vasco came home from a long voyage. The earth, he said, "is round, and that’s flat. His boss was startled. Spreading false information like that isn’t going to earn you any rewards, he frowned. On my oath, that’s flat!" (And) that’s flat is an emphatic way of saying ‘that’s the truth’ or ‘that’s a fact.’

      AROUSE ONE’S CURIOSITY

      "I’ve been watching that thing out there for a long time, Weemote said. It arouses my curiosity. Shall we visit it? I must be getting old, it takes more than that to arouse my curiosity," Bitmote replied. The Mote brothers are using a term that means to awaken, excite, or stimulate one’s interest in something.

      AS SURE AS GOD MADE LITTLE GREEN APPLES

      This is an interesting and informal way of saying that something is an absolute certainty. "As sure as God made little green apples,

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