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Local municipality tightens the noose around my neck: idiom origin
A noose around the neck is an expression that means you are out of options. As the noose, a tightening rope knot moves closer to the throat, the subject is close to death, the deathknot, if you like.
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‘Répondez s’il vous plaît’: French influence on English
Most people who use RSVP today don’t speak French, many not realising it’s French at all allowing it to blend into the language. The letters have effectively become a universal shorthand for, ‘Let us know if you’re coming.’
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Labour of love comes at a life-threatening cost
Writers are still told to do it “for the love of it,” as if affection for the craft can pay the electricity bill or justify the hours spent on rewrite after rewrite. Passion is powerful, but it has limits. When the industry begins to rely on passion as a substitute for fair compensation, the phrase…
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Promethean: Firing changes that shift reality: origin of words
What I love about the English language is its collaborative flair. It borrows from Germanic and many other linguistic arrangements, some of which add to the richness of my mother tongue. And when I learn a new word, I rejoice that the potential for vocabulary is endless. Today’s word is Promethean. It has its roots…
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I was just six years old: The die was cast: idiom origin and usage
Today, we use the idiom for any moment of irreversible action. You resign from a stable job to start your own business. You press “send” on an email that might change everything. You sign the contract, make the announcement, book the one-way ticket, say “I do”. The die is cast.
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A Red Letter Day is cause for celebration: idiom
Idiomatic use is everywhere, even in the lyrics of famous rock groups, especially Queen and the like. Many of the lyrics cite idioms, also noted is another one bites the dust. Blog discusses idiom usage.
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Champing at the bit for the year to normalise. Not so.
An illustration of the correct usage of the idiom Champing at the bit. It provides history and commentary.
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Tail ’em, Nail ’em, Jail ’em – not so fast in our (cry) beloved country
The phrase features in academic papers, policy memos and newspapers from the 1990s onward — usually as shorthand for a surveillance-first approach to community supervision. Probation and parole officers used it (sometimes ironically, sometimes proudly) to describe a mindset: monitor closely (“tail”), document non-compliance (“nail”), and respond with incarceration (“jail”)
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****Madlanga Commission is the idiomatic cat among the pigeons***
A discussion of the idiom cat among the pigeons
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How a productivity slump led to a boost in vocabulary
Gen Z and Alpha have added new words to the language. These words are now in the regular English dictionary. This means the words are here to stay and now common in daily conversations.
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