Intermediate

Idioms – some interesting meanings and histories

bored stiff (Unit 27) turn a blind eye to something (Units 1 and 24)
If something is stiff it is rigid, and not easily bent. If you
have done more exercise than usual and your muscles
ache, you can say you are feeling stiff; you can also feel
stiff if you’ve been sitting in one position for too long.
In the expressions bored stiff and scared stiff the word
stiff is used to give extra emphasis: it means you are
extremely bored or scared. The idea is that you are so
bored or scared that you cannot move.

get to grips with something (Unit 10)

A grip is a tight hold or grasp of something with your
hand. The word is also used figuratively to mean power
or control. So if you get to grips with something, you
manage to control or deal with it. (But you can also
lose your grip if you let a problem or difficulty become
too much for you.)

packed in like sardines (Unit 39)

Sardines are small, silver fish that are often preserved
in oil or salt water and sold in tins in which they are
packed tightly together. If people are
packed in like sardines, they fill Nelson’s Column, London
an overcrowded space.
This phrase is thought to have originated with Horatio
Nelson, a British admiral who died in 1805. He is said
to have deliberately put his telescope to his blind eye
in order not to see a signal from his commander to
discontinue action (the signal was made by waving a
flag). He is said to have exclaimed ‘I really do not see the
signal’! If you turn a blind eye to something, usually
something bad, you pretend not to see or notice it.

Activity
glad I had a big bottle of water with me.
Complete the sentences with the idioms above. train to Delhi, and it was so hot! I was so
4. We were packed in like sardines on the
1. That was the worst film I’ve ever seen! Nothing his homework, I can’t make him.
interesting happened in two hours. I was can I do? He’s 16, if he doesn’t want to do
through most of it. he’ll keep on doing it. ~ I know, but what
2. I’ve got to this new 3. If you turn a blind eye to Ian’s behaviour,
computer system. I don’t even know how to send an email! to send an email!
computer system. I don’t even know how
3. If you Ian’s behaviour,
2. I’ve got to get to grips with this new
he’ll keep on doing it. ~ I know, but what can I do? He’s 16, if he hours. I was bored stiff through most of it.
doesn’t want to do his homework, I can’t make him. Nothing interesting happened in two
4. We were on the train 1. That was the worst film I’ve ever seen!
to Delhi, and it was so hot! I was so glad I had a big bottle of
Answers
water with me.