Your friend says, "you can’t teach an old dog new tricks." And you’re wondering, "what? We weren’t talking about dogs. What’s he talking about?"
You’ve just heard an animal idiom. One of many.
Make your study time relevant and interesting by learning some animal idioms. You’ll find that many of these idioms have little meaning or relation to the animals themselves. Remember, idioms often don’t have literal meanings at all - they only have figurative meanings.
You won’t be so confused when friends use them in the future, and you’ll have a fun new way of expressing yourself in English.
Неотъемлемой частью обиходного английского языка являются английские идиомы. Идиомы не следует понимать в буквальном смысле. Чтобы понять этот пласт языка, необходимо ознакомиться со значением и употреблением каждой конкретной идиомы. На первый взгляд, это может показаться трудоёмкой задачей, но изучать идиомы очень интересно, особенно если сравнивать английские идиомы с фразеологизмами в вашем родном языке.
- White elephant = something that is expensive, but has no use: "People say the stadium is a white elephant and a waste of money."
- A memory like an elephant = have an excellent memory: "She won’t forget, you know. She has a memory like an elephant."
- Play piggy in the middle = be caught between two sides of an argument: "Because they aren’t talking, I’ve been playing piggy in the middle."
- Make a pig’s ear of something = make a complete mess of something: "You’ve made a right pig’s ear of this. Let me do it!"
- In hog heaven = be very happy: "We gave him flying lessons for his birthday – he was in hog heaven!"
- Pigs might fly! = something is as unlikely as pigs being able to fly: "Do you think the government will cut taxes?" "Pigs might fly!"
- Have butterflies in your stomach = be very nervous about something: "She’s got butterflies in her stomach – it’s her driving test today."
- Til the cows come home = do something forever: "I can tell him till the cows come home not to be late, but he never listens."
- Take the bull by the horns = face a problem and take action: "I’m going to take the bull by the horns and tell him I’ve changed my mind."
