Baseball

Baseball is often referred to as America's favorite pastime.  A nine inning baseball game on average runs over 3 hours long, so a lot of time does pass during the game.  Many expressions from baseball have been transferred into common conversation.

To hit a Home Run, is to hit the ball over the outfield fence in fair play.  That would be to the right side of the third and left side of the first base line.  A home run scores one point for the team, if no one else in on base.  If the bases are loaded, with players on first, second and third base, that is a Grand Slam, scoring 4 runs.  So, if someone does well, and enjoys success, you might say, "He hit a home run."

On the other hand, a baseball player may fail completely to even hit the ball.  If a batter swings and misses 3 times, then he has struck out.  So, when somebody fails, you may say, "He struck out." 

There are other expressions connected to baseball, such as getting to first base, which means getting started with something, possibly a romantic relationship.

There are too many idioms derived from baseball to list here, and Wikipedia already has a good entry for it.

Low Hanging Fruit

Low hanging fruit is the expression often applied by marketing professionals for easy sales. Easy wins, gained without a great amount of effort.  In business planning it is a method of prioritizing tasks that may be addressed and solved quickly, to get them out of the way of greater progress to larger, more difficult goals.

Easy pickings is a related agricultural style idiom, as you may imagine.  In this case, easy pickings often refers to duping of innocent people, pick pocketing or a theft that was very easily executed.  I'd prefer to think of easy pickings as a successful yield and harvest in your garden.

The Last Straw

The straw that broke the camel's back is an idiom known to humanity worldwide.  Other languages often refer to a similar expression, "The drop that made the cup overflow."  The drop in a cup is a simpler experiment to reproduce, since very few of us have camels and large supplies of straw.  (Related, see also Half Empty or Half Full)

Shortened to, "That's the last straw!" the expression in American English usually refers to the final event that causes a failure, a breakdown.  Often it is thought of as the last of many events that build up and then breaks one's will or patience, causing an emotional reaction of anger or resignation.  At this point, the individual has "had enough" and is ready to give up on the problem.

Sailing Expressions

San Francisco has the America's Cup sailing races coming up soon, and local newspaper writer Al Saracevic came up with an article listing various expressions with their origins from the world of sailing and sea faring.  http://blog.sfgate.com/saracevic/2013/06/30/sailing-mother-of-cliches/

Al describes the origins of often used phrases such as

• know the ropes
• over a barrel
• three sheets to the wind

Others that come to mind would be, "you put the wind in my sails," meaning someone or something has given you energy, new enthusiasm.

Also related to whaling is the exclamation, "There she blows!" meaning the sight of a faraway whale spout.  The whalers then must hastily pursue the Leviathan.  "There she blows!" may be used whenever a signal of some significance is spotted.

Can of Worms

Sometimes when planning or discussing a project, someone may make a complicated suggestion, or have an idea that introduces many difficult problems.  "We don't want to open a can of worms," would be an appropriate response.

Opening a can of worms is a common idiom, similar to saying, "there will be too many factors to sort out in order to solve this problem.  It's not worth the effort to do it."

Imagine opening a can of worms and staring into it.  You cannot distinguish the start of one worm from its other end!  It's just a confusing jumble. 

Today's entrepreneurs look at a seemingly impossible problem, such as organizing a can of worms, and use the power of computers and software algorithms to sort out and solve difficult problems.  They might say, "Ah, it's only a can of worms!  What's so bad about that?"

Horse Sense

Many American Expressions originated on the ranches and farms across the country.

Don't beat a dead horse, is advice given for someone to stop arguing, because the decision has been made. If a deal has already been settled, it does not matter any more. So, why beat a dead horse?

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. This expression means that you can provide an opportunity to somebody, but there is no guarantee that he or she will accept it.

Here is a web page with many more horse idioms, such as these:

• Don't put the cart before the horse.
• Don't change horses midstream.
• Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.
• Horsing around

Carrot and Stick

In President Bush's December 4, 2007 press conference, he said, "that was the sticks-and-carrots approach." He later corrected this improper use of the phrase by saying, "One thing is for certain: The NIE talks about how a carrot-and-stick approach can work." (See full transcript of the press conference here.)

The idiom refers to the image of a horse or donkey being led in the master's desired direction, by dangling a carrot on a stick in front of the animal from the carriage seat.

The President is not known for his diplomacy, assumes a posture of a superior, paternalistic empire while insulting another country, in this case, Iran.

Another subtle insult was the use of the term regime for the Iranian government. No one refers to the U.S. regime. It is a term for a government, but often with a negative connotation, a government that is perhaps new, unstable, or criminal, such as a fascist regime.

In politics we see the subtle use of language and terminology making differences in perception and opinion, right on down to who is an "enemy combatant" or "terrorist". In the press conference Bush would say, "the most disappointing thing about Washington has been the name calling." Strange to hear from one whose buddies, the right wing talk show "pundits" such as Rush Limbaugh, Don Imus (see previous article) and Michael Savage revel in assigning negative labels such as "femi-Nazis" to those they have chosen to make their enemies.

False Alarm

false-alarm gps
Originally uploaded by jennybach

At the JFK airport baggage claim, a young man was speaking on his cell phone. With an Eastern European accent he shouted, "It was a false alarm! Don't you know what false alarm means?" I assume his friend thought there was trouble, and this guy was telling him that everything was really OK.

The term false alarm originates from a mistaken call to the fire department reporting a fire, when there really is no fire. Also called a nuisance alarm, it could be a deceitful prank, or just worry over something that did not actually happen. A similar instance is the classic anecdote of someone yelling out, "Fire!" in a crowded theater, causing a dangerous stampede by the panicked crowd.

Another example would be the Aesop fable of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf", but that's another story.

Chinglish

Tony Hicks writes And Another Thing, a very funny column in the Contra Costa Times. His recent article, "Humor not lost in translation" about preparations for the 2008 Olympics in Bejing points out a number of humorous errors in translation from Chinese to English, such as a park celebrating diversity named, "Racist Park."Hicks goes on to explore the phenomenon known as "Chinglish" and provides a few helpful links. The link to Flickr's Chinglish section devoted to photos of awkwardly worded Chinese signs and labels is very good. [Note: After repeated failed attempts to Blog This Photo from the Flickr group to Google's Blogger, which is under maintenance, I gave up.]

Scratching Each Other's Backs

To do somebody a favor, or mutual favors, we use the expression, "You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours." Another simpler way of saying this is, "One good turn deserves another."  Yet another variation of this common agreement, is "one hand washes the other."

It's in the Bag

It's in the bag, means that it is a sure thing, a done deal, a slam dunk. The origin of this expression is most likely a hunting reference, in which the prey has been killed or bagged. Many states have hunting bag limits, such as how many deer, moose or bear you are permitted to bag per season. Brown bagging it, usually means carrying your lunch to work or school.

A related bag expression is, "The cat is out of the bag," meaning someone has revealed a secret, or gossiped widely about a secret.

Baggage

Everyone carries their own history. This may also be referred to as "baggage." Somebody's reputation is their baggage. If you have been married three times already, and are looking for number four, then number four must know that you bring with you a great amount of baggage, a "backstory" as they say in Hollywood.

"What's your bag?" is a slang way of asking, "What are your interests, what do you like to do?"

What's in my bag?
Originally uploaded by megpickard.

Half Empty or Half Full

I See it Half Empty
Originally uploaded by *B.G. Lewandowski*.

If you look at a glass and say that the glass is half empty, then you may be a pessimist. You are focusing on the empty, negative space.

shots!
Originally uploaded by urbandude.

Or, if you say the glass is half full, then you are being an optimist by appreciating the good half of what you have.

This is a common expression of one's attitude towards life, probably with parallels throughout the world's cultures.

Fly and Flies: Singular and Plural Usage

My little honey trick
Originally uploaded by Q8LT.

A common error in English usage is to use singular and not plural. This error reveals the speaker's poor grammar, and English as a second language. For example, you should say, "there is a fly in my soup." Do not say, "there is fly in my soup." That is incorrect and sounds wrong to the trained American and English ear.

Another example would be to say, "there are bugs in my code," and not, "there is bug in my code." Either there is one bug, a bug, or there are two bugs, many bugs.

Cloud Nine

Camera in the Clouds2
Originally uploaded by [trevor].

To say you are "on cloud nine" or "walking on air" are expressions for feeling highly inspired, in love with life and existence. In an NPR radio interview with the Reverend William Sloane Coffin the chaplain of Yale University explains the expression as a spiritual state of grace. As human beings "our value is a gift, not an achievement, that love does not seek value, but creates it." He explains that we do not climb up to Cloud Nine ourselves, we are levitated there by the love of others, that somebody else did for you what you could not do for yourself.