Idioms Thursday

I don't know when I started doing Idioms on Thursday, but whenever I do blogs, Thursday seems the day.

So here we are.

One of my favorite idioms of all time is "batting a thousand: To have a perfect record, good or bad. From baseball scoring system, 1.000 being a perfect batting average."

In my family it usually is meant disparagingly...like "When it comes to driving tests, John is batting a thousand."

And here is how I would sign that sentence, if you are interested.


See you Monday with another tip or trick!

PS: some people are having trouble getting the file to open in internet explorer. It is an mp4, so quicktime should open it. If ie doesn't have the plug in try Firefox. It works great there.

ASL Idioms

Many people have asked me about idioms in ASL. My teachers have preferred the term "idiomatic expression."

An idiom: A speech form or an expression of a given language that is peculiar to itself grammatically or cannot be understood from the individual meanings of its elements; a group of words whose meaning cannot be predicted from the meanings of the constituent words; an expression with a meaning that cannot be guessed from the meanings of the individual words.

There are some items called "idioms" by those of us who are not native users because of what we perceive as separate parts. An example is one of the signs for "forever" which resembles the sign for cow, then extended in movement away from the forehead. To English speakers, it looks like "COW-ON" and so is idiomatic. But most Deaf I ask laugh when I bring up its resemblence to "COW" - they've never thought about it6 that way.

If you would liket os ee one group's translation of several English idioms, try ASLPro.com and their phrase dictionary. Not all of them are produced the same way in every part of the country, so be sure and verify local differences within your Deaf comnmunity.

More Idioms

I am just having a time getting started this morning. I have looked all over the net for something interesting to share.. and nothing leapt at me and said "Me! Me! Pick me!"
So I fall back to idioms. I feel in a horsey mood:



across the board

- applying to all (in horse racing a bet where an equal amount of money is placed on a horse to finish in any top winning position)
The workers received an across the board wage increase and most of them were happy.
I would sign this with #A-L-L


first out of the gate
- be the first person to begin a project
He was first out of the gate in the effort to raise money for the new concert hall.
Eh, just emphasize FIRST


in the homestretch
- be close to completion (used often to describe the last furlongs of a horse race)
The project to build the new bridge is now in the homestretch.
I would modify CLOSE with a cs grammar marker.


These came from the website called "The Idiom Connection"

If you are not sure of the signs I use, try the green books, "American Sign Language" by Cokely and Baker-Schenk. I try to use their transcritpion system wherever possible.

Idioms Thursday

While I wait for a dreaded appointment with my dentist I decided an idiom or two about mouths and teeth could be appropriate.

give your eye teeth for something (informal) also give your eye teeth to do something (informal)
if you would give your eye teeth for something, you would very much like to have or be that thing I'd give my eye teeth for a house like that. Most women would give their eye teeth to be tall and thin like you.

(source: give eye teeth for)

I would probably sign this using one of the various signs for DESIRE, modified to show the superlative. ASL-Pro.com uses HUNGER. I have also seen THIRST and a sign that resembles someone drooling. To each your own.

take the bit in one's teeth and take the bit between the teeth
to put oneself in charge; to take charge. Someone needed to direct the project, so I took the bit in my teeth. If you want to get something done, you've got to take the bit between your teeth and get to work.

(Source: take the bit in teeth)

This I would use the sign for TAKE-OVER which I cannot currently find in any of the online dictionaries. It is produced by starting with the palms down, and hands crossed in front of you. As you pull your hands up, uncross them and close them into fists. It sorta looks like PRESIDENT but in front of you instead of at the forehead.

Hope that helps and ya'llhave a great day.

Idioms Tuesday

You may have noticed my schedule changed again so I lost fridays for posting hmmm.. I will have to think on how to shift. In the meantime, we will alternate Idioms, links and History on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

So now to today's idiom:

fancy footwork
1. Lit. clever and intricate dance steps. The old man was known for his fancy footwork when he was on Broadway.

2. Lit. adroit movements of the feet that help someone retain balance or move through treacherous territory. It took some fancy footwork to get down the mountain carrying the injured child.

3. Fig. a clever and intricate strategy that helps someone get out of trouble. The governor did some fancy footwork to keep from getting blamed for the scandal.

I believe in the first two instances I would modify DANCE or TIPTOE (see www.aslpro.com)

For the third definition, I expect it to be more signs like EXPLAIN, or COVER UP with the tongue wag that shows it is slimy.

For the sign COVER UP, think two CL:B hands dominant brushing palm down past the non-dominant, which is palm up. (sorry, best I can do - if you find the sign in a video let me know)

Idioms Thursday

neither here nor there
Cliché of no consequence or meaning; irrelevant and immaterial.

Whether you go to the movie or stay at home is neither here nor there.
Your comment—though interesting—is neither here nor there.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

neither here nor there
if a fact is neither here nor there, it is not important
Whether they go or not is neither here nor there as far as I'm concerned.

Cambridge Idioms Dictionary, 2nd ed. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2006. Reproduced with permission.


neither here nor there
not of any importance

Whether we take the train or drive is neither here nor there as far as I'm concerned.

Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2006. Reproduced with permission.


I actually got these definitions and usages from idioms.thefreedictionary.com

As I hope you all would agree, I would sign this either DOESN'T-MATTER or UNIMPORTANT.

The first I found at "signingsavvy.com"

The second is the sign for IMPORTANT, then let go of the "F" handshape as if dropping whatever was important. I can't find it in the online dictionaries.

Yet another project for me eh?

Oops forgot to tell you : Idioms!

be out for the count

to be sleeping deeply

Usage notes: When boxers (= men who fight as a sport) are still not conscious after ten seconds have been counted they are described as 'out for the count'.

I was out for the count so I didn't hear any of it going on.

This reminds me of another idiom: out like a light.

in a deep sleep or unconscious Stu was out like a light, so I threw a blanket on him and turned out the light.

Either way I think I would sign it "SLEEP - ROCK". aslpro.com does ROCK with their palm up. I never do, my dominant palm is always down. Especially in this compound sign, the dominant hand completes "SLEEP" then converts to an "S" handshape to complete the movement of "ROCK"

"Idioms" Thursday

The pot calling the kettle black
Meaning

The notion of a criticism a person is making of another could equally well apply to themself.

Origin
This phrase originates in Cervantes' Don Quixote, or at least in Thomas Shelton's 1620 translation - Cervantes Saavedra's History of Don Quixote:

"You are like what is said that the frying-pan said to the kettle, 'Avant, black-browes'."

The first person who is recorded as using the phrase in English was William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, in his Some fruits of solitude, 1693:

"For a Covetous Man to inveigh against Prodigality... is for the Pot to call the Kettle black."

Shakespeare had previously expressed a similar notion in a line in Troilus and Cressida, 1601- "The raven chides blackness."


(Source: www.phrases.org.uk)

So I chose this idiom mostly because I happened upon it in a british phrase site. I love the site, for giving the origin as well as its meaning and usage.

If I were asked to translate this axiom, I would do the following:

ACCUSE (you to me)(topic) SIMILAR- 2h(you and me) (comment)

This may be one I have to do a video for - I will let you know.

ACCUSE and SIMILAR are directional, and available in neutral space at ASLpro.com

Idioms Thursday

(like) two peas in a pod

very similar two of a kind

We were two peas in a pod – we liked all the same things, and we did everything together.

(source: two peas in a pod)

I would sign this "similar" and "strong" as signed at ASL Pro

If instead the sentence used:

chip off the old block
Fig. a person (usually a male) who behaves in the same way as his father or resembles his father.
John looks like his father—a real chip off the old block. Bill Jones, Jr., is a chip off the old block. He's a banker just like his father.

(source: chip off the old block)

I would specifically use "face" and "strong" again, as signed at ASL Pro , except maybe with a smile on my face.

Idioms Thursday

I am feeling this one rather personally...woke up with every joint cranky from the weather. Sigh.

Anyway, this definition comes from an ESL site.

have a hitch in your getalong: limp; to walk with a limp

Since he broke his ankle, he's had a little hitch in his getalong.


The video at ASL Pro and ASL Browser both use the flat hand bodypart classifier for feet and show the walk as lopsided. I prefer to do the same thing, using index fingers pointing down.

Idioms Thursday!

Wow touchy screen - it published before I typed anything!

I guess you can call that an "itchy trigger finger?"

(idiomatic) a tendency to act in haste or without consideration
Given any remote chance to gun down an effective spokesman for conservative economics as a secret fascist and torturer, even Nobel laureates can, we see, succumb to an itchy trigger finger.

The sign I prefer for this is in itself idiomatic - I don't know I have ever seen it on line. Forefingersclose to the face (like in "famous")then circling in alternating movements to palm in as the hands move away from the face. I'll try and get a video up when I sort out my website problems.

Anyway,I might also translate it as "without thinking".

If you find a video of the sign on line, let me know.
Thanks!

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!

Idiom Link

See it is this close to finals and my brain si fried. So I was looing around for something to do with idioms - needing inspiration you might say, when I found this site.

"Paint By Idioms".

I wish I had thought of it.

Choose a theme, a game option, the character you wanna paint and have fun!

Anyone who knows me knows I think coloring is a wonderful way to relax - and here you can learn something at the same time? How kool is that?

Idioms and Idiomatic expressions

Back to my favorite sport: Baseball.


Batting A Thousand: To have a perfect record, good or bad. From baseball scoring system, 1.000 being a perfect batting average.

After making the Dean's list for her third straight semester, she felt like she was batting a thousand.

I would probably sign this: FEEL "thumbs=up" or FEEL PERFECT.
Go To Bat For: To help out in trouble or need, to give aid to. From the baseball convention of sending up a pinch hitter when the team is in need of runs, to replace a pitcher who is tiring or a player who is injured.

I was really worried the boss was going to fire me, thanks for going to bat for me.

This one is a little tougher, but I would probably sign SUPPORT.

ASLpro.com has these signs, although I prefer PERFECT to not be initialized.

Remember, if you would choose a different sign, feel free to comment. I will approve them all, as long as they are real people, not spambots.

Idioms and idiomatic expressions

Another form of idiomatic expression is the proverb or adage. These are statements used so often their origins may be lost are forgotten at least by the user.

An example? "Sour Grapes."

Many people will say just those two words to imply someone is a poor loser, has a bad attitude, is just pretending not to care about something previously valued.

And it all comes from an Aesop Fable:

One hot summer's day a Fox was strolling through an orchard till he came to a bunch of Grapes just ripening on a vine which had been trained over a lofty branch. "Just the thing to quench my thirst," quoth he. Drawing back a few paces, he took a run and a jump, and just missed the bunch. Turning round again with a One, Two, Three, he jumped up, but with no greater success. Again and again he tried after the tempting morsel, but at last had to give it up, and walked away with his nose in the air, saying: "I am sure they are sour."

It is easy to despise what you cannot get.

How would I sign it? I think of the word "envy". This fable does not include that someone else holds that which is unattainable, but I think most often when I hear the adage, it is in reference to soemthing another has possession of.

The sign ENVY is available at the ASL Browser.

Idioms and Idiomatic Expressions

I've been discussing this topic with some colleagues recently. They wanted to know what I mean by "idiomatic expressions".

First off, an idiom is a phrase that means something differnt than the obvious. "You missed the boat" has nothing to do with rtravel, or boats. It has everything to do with impatience of one person to go back and fill in details another person missed.

Now let's talk about the ASL expression "TRAIN-GONE". I would also define this one as an idiom. The two signs clearly articulated are "TRAIN" and a sign sometimes glossed "ZOOM" (dominant handshape l to g as moving from non-dominant to dominant side along the back of two fingers). Yet the phrase means the same as :you missed the boat." It is not used to mean I've missed my connecting metro, it means I walked up in the middle of a conversation and that's just too bad for me.

So what do I mean by an idiomatic expression?

Let's use the commonly glossed ASL sign "COW-ON". It means "to take forever."

I went to renew my driver's license and the line went out the door - it took forever!"

True, it has nothing to do with COW, but the only real thing the expression has in common with COW is the start of the sign resembles the sign for COW from the same place near the forehead. So really, we tried to capture a concept in a non-native environment and instead claimed it was an idiom. If anything , it is a short form of the standard sign "FOREVER" which is a combination of ALWAYS and EVER.

So, anyway, that's my story and I am sticking to it.

(Signs available at the ASL Browser except the idiomatic "COW-ON" and idiom "TRAIN-GONE". I haven't found them on line yet.)

Idioms and Idiomatic expressions

This was a week for watching poker on television - mostly because my baseball team has disappointed me mightily.

I decided that meant we should discuss a couple of English Idioms that relate to card playing. The source is a personal collection.

According To Hoyle: Strictly by the rules, in the usual and correct way. One of the earliest and most popular companies to produce cards (and card games ) was Hoyle. They also published books which explained the rules of each card game.
"We will settle this dispute strictly according to Hoyle"


Ace In The Hole: Someone or something important that is kept as a surprise until the right time so as to bring a victory. From the card game "Black Jack", where to have an ace turned down so other gamblers cannot see it allows one with a ten to win the game without dispute.
"Little did my team know, our opponent still had an ace in the hole."


The first I would sign RULE FOLLOW with emphasis on FOLLOW (sign sharply).

The second I would sign SECRET HOLD.


All signs available at ASL Pro

Idioms and Idiomatic expressions

Beware Greeks Bearing gifts
Meaning
Don't trust your enemies.
Origin
An allusion to the story of the wooden horse of Troy, used by the Greeks to trick their way into the city. It is recorded in Virgil's Aeneid, Book 2, 19 BC:
"Do not trust the horse, Trojans. Whatever it is, I fear the Greeks even when they bring gifts."
Of course that English version is a translation. Another translation, by John Dryden, has "Trust not their presents, nor admit the horse."
The same thought was also recorded by Sophocles (496 - 406 BC), in Ajax:
Nought from the Greeks towards me hath sped well.
So now I find that ancient proverb true,
Foes' gifts are no gifts: profit bring they none.
The Classics are no longer widely taught or read, so this phrase is now little used, although it was resurrected in a sideways reference during a 1990s copyright dispute. There was considerable discussion then,in Internet chat rooms etc., regarding the company Compuserve, who owned the copyright to the GIF image format, and their possible intentions to restrict its use. Some people feared that they might be taken to law by Compuserve if they received and viewed GIF images without permission. The phrase "beware of geeks bearing gifs" was coined to sum that up.


There - isn't that fun? I love when I find a really thurough explanation of a phrase. So , how would I sign it? CAREFUL. Then I would set up a person on the non dominant side, sign (topic) AGAINST-ME (comment) TRUST NOT.

What do you think?

Thanks to The Phrase Finder for such a great explanation!

Idioms and Idiomatic expressions

Years ago I did an e-zine with a tip for improving interpreting, idiom, and suggested resource of the week. It had 52 entries, and was pretty popular for its time. I eventually gave up because it was so hard to keep coming up with every week. I put it together as a cd so if you want the whole thing sometime, just email me and ask for "tips and tricks". It is in html format so you can read it in any browser. This version has no video, although eventually we might redo it with suggested ways to sign the idioms.

What made me think of it? I was sitting in class today as an instructor spoke of greek mythology and "Achilles' Heel" came to mind:

Achilles Heel:
The one weak spot in an otherwise strong character or position. In Greek Mythology, Achilles was the most powerful of all the greek fighters at Troy. His mother was immortal and tried to pass that on to her son by dipping him into the River Styx (the sacred river by which all the gods swore). Where she held him by the heel was the only place not invulnerable and ultimately the source of the wound that killed him.
"She is quite a distance runner, but sprints are her achilles' heel."

I guess you can see I suggest WEAK as the sign. It doesn't seem to have as much color, but then there are ASL phrases that we don't do justice to as well.


Turn about is fair play. Proverb
It is fair for one to suffer whatever one has caused others to suffer.
So, you don't like being made fun of! Well, turnabout is fair play.

Again, one of those phrases that have one sign as a semantic equivalent (EQUAL) although, even with grammar markers and emphasis it seems to lack a little color.

Any other suggestions?

Both signs are available at the ASL Browser .

Guest Blogger!

Ok not really - but as I was looking for my idioms to post today, I saw a friend had already put together a post on Holiday Signs and idioms.

Since she links you to the you tube channel and videos, I see n o reason to replicate such wonderful work.

So please stop by Emily World and see what she has to share with you.