Skip to main content

Popular Idioms and Usages Part S

By VJ
Here comes the Sth part of the popular idioms and usages series.

Sacred Cow: Somebody or something believed to be superior and above blame.

Safe pair of hands: A reliable person.

Safe sex: Sexual intercourse with the protection mechanisms such as condoms used.

Salad days: The days in one’s youth when he could be carefree.

Saved by the bell: Saved by an interruption at the eleventh hour (see Part E).

Savoir faire: Translated from French, meaning the ability to well deal with any situation.

Scot free: Completely free, without any consequences.

Sea change: A mystical change of circumstances. Arises from Shakespeare’s The Tempest.

Sent to Coventry: To be disregarded and persecuted.

Sex and shopping: A sort of novel or fiction in which the characters make a lot of sexual mating.

Sexton Blake: Fake. Cockney Rhyming slang

Shake a leg: To rise from bed.

Shank’s pony: Your own feet. Comes from the word ‘shank’, which is applied to the lower part of the leg.

Share and share alike: To share equally with all.

Sherman tanks: Yanks. Cockney Rhyming slang

Shit for brains: Stupid.

Shot across the bows: A warning shot

A shot in the arm: a Stimulant.

A shot in the dark: An effort at something

Shoot through: To leave or pass quickly.

Shuffle off this mortal coil: To die.

Shut your cake hole: To be quiet.

Skin and blister: Sister. Cockney rhyming

Sleep tight: Sleep well

Smiling like a Cheshire cat: Broad smile

Smoke and mirrors: Trickery or deception

Sold down the river: Cheated

Sour grapes: Performing meanly after disappointment

Spend a penny: Go to the toilet.

Spill the beans: To divulge a secret.

Spitting image: A dead ringer or exact image.

Square meal: A big meal

Stand and deliver: Stop giving advice

Stand up guy: A reliable friend

Star crossed lovers: Unlucky lovers

Steal a march: To gain an advantage.

Sticky wicket: A difficult situation

A stone’s throw: A short distance

Stool pigeon: A police informer

Straight from the horse’s mouth: From the highest authority

Straining at the leash: To be enthusiastic at something

Strike a deal: To engage in a deal

Stump up: To pay a debt

Stumped: With no way to proceed

Survival of the fittest: The theory that the fittest survive in any area.

Swan song: A final gesture

Syrup of figs: Wig. Cockney Rhyming slang

More of the idioms and usages will be added in the coming days, as the post gets refinement. I am in the process of rewriting and refining some of the old posts in CuteWriting that attract high readership. This is a process in every blog, to deliver the best content and refine the content over time, to include links to any relevant posts made recently and to correct any unforeseen errors.

Copyright © Lenin Nair 2008

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Comments are moderated very strictly

Popular posts from this blog

En Dash, Em Dash, and Hyphen

By VJ
We have three types of dashes in use: The hyphen, En Dash, and the Em Dash. In this post, we will see how to use them all correctly. Hyphen (-) The hyphen is the minus key in Windows-based keyboards. This is a widely used punctuation mark. Hyphen should not be mistaken for a dash . Dash is different and has different function than a hyphen. A hyphen is used to separate the words in a compound adjective, verb, or adverb. For instance: The T-rex has a movement-based vision. My blog is blogger-powered. John’s idea was pooh-poohed. The hyphen can be used generally for all kinds of wordbreaks . En Dash (–) En Dash gets its name from its length. It is one ‘N’ long (En is a typographical unit that is almost as wide as 'N'). En Dash is used to express a range of values or a distance: People of age 55–80 are more prone to hypertension. Delhi–Sidney flight was late by three hours. In MS Word, you can put an En Dash either from the menu, clicking Insert->Symbol or by the key-combinatio...
11 comments
Read more

Unethical Business Practices by Associated Content (AC)

By VJ
Useful Resources Freelance job at Constant Content Freelance for a 6 figure income Get paid to write on the Internet 25 Ways to write for income on the Internet Work from home as a virtual assistant Freelance for fortune 500 companies Today’s Internet slogan is ‘Content is King’ . If you have well-written, keyword rich content, without grammatical errors, then you can rank very high on search engine results, thus making a lot of money. With this business idea, several companies have sprung up, and Associated Content (who call themselves, People’s Media Company) is one among them. Here, we will try to find answers to these questions: 1. What exactly is Associated Content (if you don’t already know this)? 2. Is it really worthwhile to work with them? 3. Why should you steer right clear of them? What is Associated Content (AC) Associated Content (AC) is a website, in which you can earn money submitting content (text, video, audio, or images) . Anyone from anywhere in the...
53 comments
Read more

Power of Short Sentences

By VJ
Post dedicated to Thomas Hardy (see History Today below). There are monster sentences like the one you encounter as the first paragraph of Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens . One of my friends, whom I am getting equipped for his IELTS ( what is this? ), told me that the examination recommends long sentences. In writing classes also, I guess it’s longer sentences most tutors promote. But indubitably shorter sentences are more powerful . We will see why. Take a long sentence for instance: Tom Cruise, one of the finest actors in the whole world, is perhaps the most powerful celebrity to exist ever according to Time Magazine, but many people still dispute this fact and point out that there are more powerful and popular actors than Cruise, though they were unsuccessful in providing the total number of fans, who liked the films of those actors. This is a long sentence and it is very confusing . Though it has a logical construction and conveys a meaning, it falters in many occasions and seems ...
1 comment
Read more