Idioms: Differences And Usage In American English

1748 Words7 Pages
IDIOMS: Differences and Usage in American English and British English G.Shoimova Gulistan State University If you look up the word idiom in Webster, you will be given the following definition: Idiom is an expression whose meaning is not predictable from the usual meanings of its constituent element as kick the bucket, hang one's head etc., or from the general grammatical rules of language, as the table round for the round table, and which is not a constituent of a larger expression of like characteristics. This definition seems a bit dry and doesn't really tell anything about the function of idioms in English language. What really is an idiom? One more definition is that an idiom is “the assigning of a new meaning to a group of words which already have their own meaning. Idioms are informal in nature and although they appear in literature, they are not necessarily considered to be “literary”. They are often colloquial, often slang, and through overuse can become clichés. Idioms may be adjectival, adverbial, verbial, or nominal. They also may take the form of traditional sayings and proverbs. English is a language particularly rich in idioms -those modes of expression peculiar to a language (or dialect) which frequently defy logical and grammatical rules. Without idioms English would lose much of its variety and humor both in speech and writing. The background and etymological origins of most idioms is at best obscure. This is the reason why a study of differences between the idioms of American and British English is somewhat difficult. But it also makes the cases, where background, etymology and history are known, even more interesting. Some idioms of the "worldwide English" have first been seen in the works of writers like Shakespeare, Sir Walter Scott, Lewis Carroll or even
Open Document