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We’ve all been there at one time or another. We’re out of options, we’re out of ideas, we’re out of patience, we don’t know what to say or what to do. We’re at our wits’ end. English is an endlessly fascinating language loaded with vivid idioms, phrases that have a meaning that cannot be easily deduced from its words. At our wits’ end is just one of them. Many of these idioms, like this one, originate in the Bible—the King …
It is the season of olive branches. At least, it is the season of metaphoric olive branches, of people offering peacemaking gestures, though whether these are genuine or opportunistic remains to be seen. My interest is more in the expression than the gestures themselves because this is yet another neat little idiom that is derived from the Bible. We offer olive branches because of a very important olive branch in a very important story in the most important book. The …
We have many ways to express our love for others. We have many words and phrases to express affection for those we hold dearest. Some of them are clear and obvious: I love you. I treasure you. You complete me. But other expressions are less obvious because they are idiomatic. One of these expressions that is unusual yet in common usage is “apple of my eye.” This is an expression that has deep roots in English because, like so many …
It’s election season and millions of Americans are weighing and evaluating the character of the candidates. Why would they examine a person’s character when deciding how to cast a vote? Because a leopard doesn’t change its spots. What those candidates have been in the past is a predictor of what they will be in the future. This is yet another phrase, another beautiful little idiom, that has been passed to us from the Bible—the King James Bible. The Expression A …
In election season there are always many candidates who announce their intention to run for office. But inevitably, many of them come to realize that they stand no chance. They see the writing on the wall and drop out. In the fall, television networks debut many new shows. Some of them attract few viewers, little buzz, poor reviews. The actors see the writing on the wall and are not surprised to learn their show has been canceled. We all know …
You’ve heard of people who have experienced a fall from grace. The celebrity said something foolish, the media ran with it, and she never quite recovered. “You like me. You really like me.” The athlete was found to have used substances that enhanced his performance, earning him stolen medals, records, and victories. He lied about it, the truth came out, he became a punchline. “I have been on my deathbed, and I’m not stupid. I can emphatically say I am …
There are all kinds of phrases and idioms we use day to day even though we have lost their origins. We know what they mean, we know when to use them, but we don’t know where we got them. In so many cases they come to us by way of the Bible, and especially the King James Bible. This is exactly the case with the common little phrase “Give up the ghost.” The Expression We use the expression “give up …
William Shakespeare wrote some pretty mean plays and poetry in his day. Along the way he inadvertently helped form the English language, coining hundreds of words and expressions that have entered into common parlance. Second only to Shakespeare in this regard is the Bible, and especially the King James Version. My love of language, my love of words, and my love of the Bible beautifully intersect in these expressions, idioms like “By the skin of my teeth.” The Expression We …
I love words. I love language. I love the Bible. I especially love it when these 3 friends meet. This happens often because the Bible—the King James Bible—played such a pivotal role in the development of English. Over the next little while I’m going to take a few Sundays to discuss some common English idioms that have their origin in the Bible. (Do I need to define idiom first? An idiom is an expression that has a meaning unrelated to …