Reference · module 34
Idioms and understatement
Everything this module explains, on one page.
The ones you will hear
Understand the idioms that come up in ordinary conversation.
- It's not rocket science. That's a piece of cake. Let's play it by ear. These come up daily and none of them is about rockets, cake or ears.
- They are frozen: you cannot say a slice of cake or play it by the ear. Change one word and the idiom stops being one.
- Understand them first and use them later. An idiom said slightly wrong is more noticeable than a grammar mistake and harder to recover from.
The mistake you are about to make
a slice of cake
a piece of cake
Idioms are frozen, so a synonym breaks them. A piece of cake means easy; a slice of cake is just dessert.
Not bad means good
Hear what a British speaker actually means.
- Not bad usually means good, and sometimes very good. British English praises by not criticising, which surprises almost everybody.
- In the other direction: a bit of a problem can mean a disaster, and I'm not entirely sure often means you are wrong.
- The tone carries it. The same words with a different voice mean the opposite, which is why this is heard rather than read.
The mistake you are about to make
Not bad. (meaning: mediocre)
Not bad. (meaning: good)
The literal reading is lukewarm. In British English not bad means good, and with the right tone it means very good indeed.
Two Englishes
Notice the differences that matter.
- flat and apartment, lift and elevator, holiday and vacation, autumn and fall. Both sides understand both words, and each uses its own.
- Spelling splits too: colour and color, centre and center, realise and realize. Pick one and stay with it inside a single text.
- A few differences can confuse: in Britain the first floor is one above the ground. In America it is the ground floor itself.
The mistake you are about to make
Meet me on the first floor. (in London, meaning street level)
Meet me on the ground floor.
In Britain the first floor is one above the entrance. Street level is the ground floor, and this is the difference that actually strands people.
Humour and irony
Hear when somebody does not mean what they said.
- Lovely weather, said in the rain, is irony and is not a joke exactly. It is a way of sharing a situation with somebody.
- Self-deprecation is the other habit: I'm not very good at this from somebody who clearly is. Modesty is expected and is not always meant.
- The signals are the tone and the mismatch with the facts. When the words do not fit what everybody can see, the words are not the message.
The mistake you are about to make
Lovely weather! — Actually, it is raining.
Lovely weather! — Glorious, isn't it?
Irony is answered with irony, not with a correction. Pointing out that it is raining tells everyone you missed the move.