Animal mad!

They say that the British are a nation of animal lovers. Whilst this may not be completely true, we do love a good animal related idiom.

An idiom is a collection of words used as a common expression, which may not be clear if you examine the words individually.

So this blog is all about animal idioms and their meanings.......here are 6 such idioms.

Like a bull in a china shop

So what does it mean? To behave in a reckless and clumsy way, which is likely to cause damage, or to handle a delicate situation too strongly.

"He's so disorganised, always rushing around like a bull in a china shop".

Hold your horses

It basically means 'wait a moment'! Slow down, be patient, think.

"Just hold your horses for a moment. Lets wait until we have all the information."

A wild goose chase

This is a search for something which is a waste of time or is unobtainable.

"He sent me on a wild goose chase to look for a key, only to discover he had it in his pocket all the time"!

A little bird told me.....

This is used to show that the speaker knows something but doesn't want to say who told them or how they know the information.

"A little bird told me (that) you're thinking about quitting your job"!

To open a can of worms

This is about a complicated problem, where doing something to correct a situation or gain information will lead to many more problems. If this is the situation, it's sometimes best to do nothing.

"My advice would be not to ask him about his past as that will just open a can of worms".

To make a pig's ear of something

This means that someone has done or managed something very badly.

'You've made a pig's ear of this project. I'm never trusting you again!"

Above are just a few examples. There are many, many more....

So if you want to improve your English, look out for idioms, they're very much part of the day to day English language.

#nativespeaker, #lekcjeangleskiego, #idioms