Read Webster's New World American Idioms Handbook Online
Authors: Gail Brenner
Webster's New World American Idioms Handbook (6 page)
Generation Gap
Each generation has its own unique set of ideals, attitudes, and experiences. So, communication and understanding between generations is sometimes lacking. The
generation gap
is the difference (or gap) in understanding between older and younger generations. When parents and their children disagree, they sometimes blame the
generation gap.
Or, parents might say “I don’t understand my kids,” or “What’s the matter with kids today?” demonstrating that the
generation gap
is widening.
Some expressions that are often said in reference to the
generation gap
are
child of the ’60s
(or ’
70s
or ’
80s,
and so on) and
child of the twenty-first century.
Just about any decade or period of time can follow the words
child of,
for example,
child of the Depression.
This idiom is used to convey that a person’s values were shaped by a particular period in American history. For example, “She’s truly a
child of the ’60s
with a strong belief in equal rights and world peace.” You can see how a
generation gap
could exist between a
child of the Depression
and
a child of the ’60s,
for example!
CHAPTER 3
CARING FOR THE BODY: EATING, SLEEPING, AND GROOMING
What more basic needs exist than to eat and sleep? There are plenty of idioms to talk about these necessities of life, as well as idioms to discuss bathing, dressing, and personal hygiene. This chapter includes approximately 150 different expressions that can be used to talk about taking care of basic needs and personal grooming.
Eating and Enjoying Food
Eating, drinking, and sharing a meal are so much a part of everyday activity that many idioms and idiomatic expressions exist to talk about them. There are expressions for hunger, thirst, food and food preparation, eating, and dining at home or at a restaurant. This section includes the most common of these idioms.
Eating
Speakers of American English often use the French expression
“Bon Appetit!”
or maybe the Italian
“Mange!”
to invite diners to enjoy the food. Or they may simply say “
Let’s eat!”
Here are a few other informal expressions that mean “You are invited to start eating, and enjoy the food.”
dig in
♦
Okay, everyone! Let’s
dig in! ♦
We had just started
digging in
to our food when the phone rang.
chow down
♦
The food at the party was great. We really
chowed down.
eat up
♦ Eat up!
There’s plenty more.
♦
Kids, stop talking now and
eat up.
Eating Like a Bird, a Horse,
or
a Pig!
Some idiomatic expressions describe the manner in which people eat. For example, some people are said to:
eat like a bird:
to eat very small portions, only big enough for a bird
eat like a horse:
to eat large quantities, enough to fill a horse
eat like a pig:
to eat huge portions, with poor table manners; to be a sloppy and noisy eater
be a light eater:
to eat small portions and often light food
be a big eater:
to need to eat a lot of food; the opposite of a light eater
be a picky eater:
to like only a few specific foods, and not eat anything else
It’s acceptable to be a
big eater
or to
eat like a horse
, but it’s rude and unacceptable to
eat like a pig.
To describe how quickly or slowly someone finishes his or her meal, a person might say, “I’m a
fast eater”
or “I’m a
slow eater.”
The act of eating is sometimes expressed as one of the following:
feed one’s face
(n)
to eat; implies to satisfy hunger rather than eat to enjoy a meal; also said as
stuff one’s face
♦
Eric can’t come to the phone right now. He’s
feeding his face! ♦
When we finish
feeding our faces,
let’s go downtown.
Grammar Note:
This idiom is most often used in a progressive (verb + -
ing
) tense.
Note:
This expression is often used as an answer to a question like “What are you doing?” or “Where were you?”
break bread
(n)
to enjoy a meal together, especially with friends or family or at a holiday meal ♦
Thanks for inviting me to
break bread
with you and your family.
♦
Let’s plan to
break bread
together during the holidays.
eat someone out of house and home
to eat up someone else’s (or the family’s) food supply very quickly; to eat so much as to deplete the host’s financial resources (usually said as a light scolding or complaint) ♦
Our teenagers are
eating us out of house and home! ♦
They nearly
ate us out of house and home
when they came for the weekend.
Note:
This idiom generally refers to another person, not to oneself.
Hunger
Idioms that express hunger range from the mild statement
I could eat
to the dramatic
I’m starving,
or even
I’m starving to death!,
even though only people who have never known starvation would use it so lightly. A very hungry person might also say
I’m so hungry I could eat a horse.
When people are no longer hungry (when their hunger is satisfied), they might use one of the following expressions:
I’m full
(informal) ♦
I only had a small salad, but
I’m
already
full.
I’m stuffed
(slang) ♦
After Thanksgiving dinner,
we
all
were stuffed.
I can’t eat another bite
(said when there is still more food to eat; also put more politely as
I couldn’t eat another bite.
) ♦
Everyone ate until
they couldn’t eat another bite.
Note:
This expression is never said in the affirmative as “I could eat another bite!”
A few expressions that use the word
fill
refer to satisfying hunger in a specific way:
fill up on
(v)
to become full, generally by eating one specific food or snack ♦
Don’t
fill up on
candy before dinner.
♦
There was no food at the party, so we
filled up on
chips.
to eat one’s fill
(v)
to eat until one is full; to be able to eat as much as one wants of a particular, possibly scarce or expensive, food. Also put as
to have one’s fill.
♦
After we’d
eaten our fill,
we sat around the table and talked.
♦
There were so many blackberries on the vine that we
ate our fill.
Being Full
and
Filling Up
Language learners often have trouble knowing whether to use
full
or
fill.
The two words sound similar, and both mean the opposite of
empty,
but here’s the difference:
Full
, as in the expression “I’m
full”
(no longer hungry) is an adjective: It describes a state of being.
Fill,
as in the expression
“
We
filled up
on snacks” (satisfied hunger), is a verb: It describes an action.
Expressing Thirst
Saying “I need a drink” implies that a person wants a strong alcoholic drink to steady his or her nerves. So, for general thirst, people usually say “I need (
or
want) something to drink.” Intense thirst can be expressed with one of these idioms:
dry as a bone
♦
After the hike, we were all
dry as a bone.
dying of thirst
♦
I’m
dying of thirst!
Where can I get some water?
[For idioms on alcoholic drinks and drinking, see Chapter 4.]
Eating at a Restaurant
Eating at a restaurant, particularly for dinner, is often expressed with the general idioms to
eat out
and to
go out to eat. Dine out
is similar to these idioms, but it implies dinner at a nicer restaurant. Here are examples in sentences:
- Let’s
eat out
tonight. - We
go out to eat
every Friday night. - We don’t
dine out
very often. It’s too expensive.
A variation of
go out to eat
is
go out for
something
,
such as dinner, breakfast, a pizza, coffee. This expression can mean to go to a restaurant or bar, or to go and buy take-out food. Here are some examples:
- We
go out
for breakfast every Sunday. - Would you like to
go out
for a drink? - Brian
went out
for pizza, but he’ll be back soon.
Following are a few other restaurant and fast-food related idioms:
take an order
(v)
for a waiter or waitress to write down or hear what a patron wants to eat and drink ♦
May I
take your order? ♦
Your waiter will be here soon to
take your order.
place an order
or
give an order
(v)
to tell a waiter or waitress what one wants to eat or drink ♦
Are you ready to
place your order? ♦
May we
give you our order?
doggie bag
(n)
a container in which to carry home food from one’s restaurant meal ♦
Waiter, may I have a
doggie bag? ♦
Shall I bring you a
doggie bag
for that chicken?
Note:
This idiom refers to a custom of taking leftover meat home to give to one’s dog. Today, people usually take the food home for themselves, not their dog.
for here or to go?
the typical question asked to all patrons at a fast-food or take-out restaurant. It means, “Do you plan to eat the food here, or eat it away from the restaurant?” The patron’s answer tells the server whether to put the food on a plate or in a bag; also (in some states) it determines whether to charge tax (for food eaten in a restaurant) or no tax (for food taken out). Also said by the patron as
make that to go
or simply
to go,
as shown in the second example that follows. ♦
Do you want that
for here or to go? ♦
I’d like a cheese sandwich
to go,
please.
Food and Food Preparation
In this section, you’ll find idioms for describing certain types of food, preparing and serving a meal, setting the table, and sitting down to eat. Also included are expressions to use at the table to ask for more and ask that an item be passed your way.
Food
Considering the importance of food in daily life, one would expect to find many idioms for the word
food,
but there are only a few common ones. Here are two slang expressions for food:
grub
♦
I’m hungry. I’m going to make some
grub.
chow
♦
The
chow
is ready. Let’s eat.
These are old expressions, but they’re still used sometimes. And people sometimes say “
Chow time!”
instead of “Time to eat.” A common expression that refers to a small meal or snack is
a bite to eat,
as in, “Would you like
a bite to eat?
” or “I’m hungry; I think I’ll have
a bite to eat.
”
A large, delicious meal might be called a
feast
or a
banquet,
as in “What a great meal. It was a
banquet!”
(Literally, feasts and banquets are large dinners or celebrations involving lots of people and food.)
Preparing Food
Typically, the verbs
make
and
fix
are used to talk about food preparation, as in these examples:
- It’s time to
make
dinner. - He
fixed
a great meal.
Here are a few other idioms that refer to preparing food:
put in (
or
on)
(v)
to place food in the oven to cook, or to place a pot or kettle on the stove to heat ♦
I
put
the casserole
in
at 5:00, so it’s almost ready.
♦ S
he
put
the kettle
on.
Grammar Note:
Put on
and
put in
are separable phrasal verbs; they can be separated by a direct object.
nuke
(v)
to cook something in a microwave. Alludes to the term “nuclear,” jokingly, as a source of fast heat. ♦
For how long should I
nuke
this potato?
♦
If I want to cook something fast, I just
nuke
it.
throw together
(v)
to quickly prepare a meal or dish; to compose a meal with little planning or few ingredients ♦
We’ll just heat up some soup and
throw together
a salad for dinner.
♦
She can
throw
the best meal
together
in less than an hour.
♦
There’s not much food in the house, but let’s see what we can
throw together.
Grammar Note:
Throw together
is a separable phrasal verb; it can be separated by a direct object.
whip up
(v)
to prepare a meal or dish very quickly and easily ♦
My grandmother often
whipped up
some cookies before we came to visit.
♦
I need at least an hour to make dinner. I can’t just
whip
something
up.
Grammar Note:
Whip up
is a separable phrasal verb; it can be separated by a direct object.
slave over a hot stove (all day)
(v)
to work very hard, long, and diligently (like a slave) to complete a task; to spend a lot of time and effort preparing a big meal. Often used jokingly when someone has actually spent little time preparing a meal, as in the second example that follows. ♦
I don’t enjoy
slaving over a hot stove all day.
I’d rather go to a restaurant.
♦
I’m glad you like the sandwiches.
I slaved over a hot stove all day
making them!