Idiom of the Week: Easy as Pie

“Don’t worry; it’s as easy as pie!”   But baking a pie is hard, isn’t it? It may be easy for an experienced baker, but something that’s “easy as pie” is easy for anybody! “Easy as pie” refers to eating pie, not baking a pie. Eating a pie is usually easy and fun!...

Idiom of the Week: Straight from the Horse’s Mouth

“Are you sure this information is reliable?” “I got it straight from the horse’s mouth.” The best information comes from people who are directly involved. In horse racing, who is more directly involved than the actual horse? This saying means the information comes...

Idiom of the Week: A Close Call

“That was a close call! I almost hit that cyclist.”   “A close call” is an accident, injury, or other bad thing that almost happens but is just barely avoided. It could be very serious: you almost died, but survived through luck. It could be a small thing: you...

Idiom of the Week: Get the Hang of It

“It’s tricky at first, but once you get the hang of it, it’s easy.” Getting the hang of something is suddenly being able to do something that was difficult before. It’s like an insight that you get from a certain amount of experience, but it usually can’t be explained...

Idiom of the Week: Cross That Bridge When We Come to It

“But how will you get back home afterward?” “I don’t know. I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.” We use this phrase to put off a decision or problem until later. When travelling, you don’t need to figure out how you will cross a certain bridge until you actually...

Idiom of the Week: Take it on the chin

“The committee criticized his paper, but he took it on the chin.”   Imagine being punched in the face. If you stand there and accept the punch, you “take it on the chin”. We use this to mean accepting something bad, such as an attack or misfortune, without...