; Idioms from other varieties of English — In this book we focus mainly on idioms which are widely understood throughout the English-speaking world. However. there are many other idioms which ase typical of specific English-speaking countries. The idioms in this unit from Scotland and the US arc included mainly for interest, but you may hear them if you visit, or watch a film from, one of these countries, Idioms from Scotlanc My brother's really messy. His bedroom has been stirred with a stick. [is very untidy] The old woman who lives next door is wned to the moon. [eccentzic] Anather new pair of chews! That's Caroline over the back! [that’s typical of Caroline] Idioms from the US Many US idioms originate irom baseball. For example, if you do something right off the bat, you do i immediately: and if you throw someone a curveball, you surprise them with, something difficult or unpleasant to deal with. If someone is batting a thousand, they are doing something extremely well, better than they bad hoped. If someone drops the ball, they do something stupid or careless Other examples of US idioms: He’s trying to catch some 25/zs-s’. [sleep ¢informa})] ‘The store is fresh out of tomatoes. [has just finished or sold all its supply] His advice isn’t worth a dime, [has little or no value] Regional variation There are sometimes slightly different forms of idioms in US and British English, Here are some examples British English idiom —_| US English iiom meaning the icing on the cake | the frosting on the | something shat makes a good thing even better cake fight like cat and dog | fight like cats and dogs | argue violently all the time donkey work grunt work hard boring work take the biscuit take the cake used informally to describe somvecting, ie speaker finds vary annoying weep buckets ery buckets cry a le (informalp hard cash cold cash money in the form of eath or notes, not a cheque or credit card like the cat that got | like the eat that ace | vary pleased with onecelf (informal, usually the cream the canary collocates with look,grin’ or ‘stile’ Idioms that are used mail in one specific country wil often not be easily understood by native English speaiers irom otter parcs ol the warlc. You may not see or hear chem ouside the couneries they originate from, so i's safer to use che ‘coune'y, jams in this unit when you are in the annrnprare 18 English Idioms in Use Advanced