Idioms and Idiomatic expressions

Last night during the Silent Dinner at Woodland HIlls Mall, a colleague asked me about the sign "STUCK" (available at the ASL Browser.)

Mostly we were talking about it because she and some colleagues had been listing optional translations. After all, we do get tired of "STUCK" as a gloss.

What came up was a fun conversation itself. If you think about it, the following English Idioms can be used to translate that sign:

"Catch 22": a situation where one thing must happen in order to cause another thing to happen, but because the first thing does not happen the second thing cannot happen.

"between a rock and a hard place": Fig. in a very difficult position; facing a hard decision.

"in a fix": Fig. in a bad situation.


Now as we continued I was reminded of the day I saw a young man use it in reference to his girlfriend. He was using it as a way to say she was pregnant, unexpectedly.

Now that is idiomatic!