communication

definition of idiom

An idiom is a phrase or word that is part of informal language. In other words, an idiom is a word or set of words whose meaning must not be interpreted literally but as a singular expression with its own meaning. It could be said that idioms are a language game, since they are terms or phrases that say something specific but are actually saying something different.

Examples of idioms

If I say "my friend gave me long teeth" I am not referring to my teeth, since I am using an expression, that is, an idiom (in this case, putting long teeth is the same as being envious).

In Spanish we use idioms very often. Thus, pouring rain is equivalent to raining in abundance, having birds in your head is the same as fantasizing excessively or doing something at face value means following detailed instructions.

If a Spanish student hears the idiom "to touch one's nose" he might think that someone is touching his nose and in reality its true meaning is very different. Something similar would happen with idioms such as "eat your head", "stay so wide", "take your hair", "drown in a glass of water", among many others.

Each community of speakers has its own idioms

Although Spanish is spoken in many Latin American nations, each country has its own idioms. In Mexico the exclamatory expression "Vamos, órale" which means "hurry up" or ´ "come on" is very common, but also some words or expressions that are not understood outside the Mexican context (such as chido, neta, no pex, chance , naco, dagger ...).

Argentines also have their own idioms (a rat is someone selfish, a pucho is a cigarette and a quilombo is chaos). In Spain "ni de coña" means not even jokingly, "working" is equivalent to working, "how cool" is the same as saying that something is very good or interesting and the "colleagues" are friends. Venezuelan Spanish presents its singularities ("chevere" means interesting or attractive, "give it lead" means go ahead or do it and a "chama" is a girl).

Idioms, phrases and sayings

Idioms can be confused with phrases or sayings, but they are not the same. A phrase is a set of words that substitutes for another (an adjective phrase replaces an adjective and an adverbial phrase replaces an adverb, as happens with the phrase "a flag woman" or "in the blink of an eye ").

In the case of proverbs, these are popular anonymous sayings that convey some kind of teaching or advice and that have some kind of rhyme (who gets up early, God helps him or tell me what you brag about and I'll tell you what you lack).

Photos: iStock - Tetyana Rusanova / Diane Diederich

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