PODCAST · society
Idiom America
by Semevent
A podcast that takes a look at the origin and history of some of those gems of language, idioms, and then goes from there.
Episodes
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Sheep Idioms
Ram in the thicket; Sacrificial lamb; Scapegoat; Whipping boy; Like a lamb to the slaughter; Wolf in sheep's clothing; Separate the sheep from the goats; Lost sheep; Black sheep; Dyed-in-the-wool; True blue; Pull the wool over someone's eyes; Make sheep eye's at someone; Counting sheep; All cry…
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Insect Idioms, Part II: Nits make lice; Nitpicking; Flyspecking; Fly on the wall; Bug; Fly on the wheel; The ant and the grasshopper; Fly in the buttermilk; Fly in the ointment; Ants in your pants
Antsy; Knee-high to a grasshopper; Knee-high to a junebug; Like a duck on a junebug; Crazy as a junebug; Not enough brains to saddle a junebug; Cuter than a Junebug; Cute as a bug; Cute as a bug's ear; Crickets...
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Hill and Mountain Idioms: Over hill and dale; Make a mountain out of a molehill; What in the sam hill; King of the hill; Over the hill; Old as the hills; Move mountains; Mountain oysters; Mountain Dew
If the mountain won’t come to Mohammed, then Mohammed must go to the mountain; Willing to die on that hill
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Flower Idioms: Gild the lily; Paint the lily; Lily-white; Lily-livered; Pushing up daisies; Whoops-a-daisy; Ups-a-daisy; Fresh as a daisy; Shrinking Violet; Wallflower
Pigeon-livered; Oops-a-daisy; Oops; Whoops.
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Butterfly and butter idioms, and suck it up buttercup! -- Butterflies in your stomach; social butterfly; the butterfly effect; suck it up buttercup; butter wouldn't melt in one's mouth;
Gaudy as a butterfly; break a butterfly on a wheel; kill a gnat with a sledgehammer; bread always falls on the buttered side; bread and butter; butterface; butter someone up
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Hook Idioms: By hook or by crook; On tenterhooks; Hooking up; Hookers; Get you hooks into somebody; Meathooks; Swallow something hook, line, and sinker; Wriggle off the hook; Off the Hook; On the Hook
Let someone off the hook; Ringing off the hook; Wriggle out of
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Pig Idioms: Pig in a Poke; Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered; Hogwash; You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear; Lipstick on a pig; wrestling with pigs; Happy as a pig in mud
Don't cast your pearls before swine; Like pigs in clover; Go hog wild; Hog heaven; Greedy pig; Pig out; Eat like a pig; Make a pig of oneself; Selfish pig; Go whole hog
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Cycling Idioms: Along for the ride; Backpedal; Freewheeling; Take off the training wheels; Fifth wheel or third wheel; Shift gears; Spin one's wheels; Back in the saddle; Handlebar moustache;
Woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle; Just like riding a bike; Soft-pedal; Cyclopath
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Stick Idioms: Short end of the stick; Get hit with the stupid stick; Fiddlesticks!; Wrong end of the stick; Stick in the mud; Beat them off with a stick;
Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick; Speak softly and carry a big stick; More XYZ than you can shake a stick at;.
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Moon Idioms: Moonstruck; Moonshine; Once in a blue moon; Moonlight; Hang the moon; Shoot for the moon; Mooning away, over, around, or about;
Over the moon; The moon is made of green cheese; Love you to the moon and back; Shoot the moon; Moonshot; Ask for the moon; Moon on a stick; Cast beyond the moon; Barking at the moon; Harvest moon; Blood moon; Moon-faced; Moongazing
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Pots and Pans Idioms, Part II: Pot calling the kettle black; Melting pot; Stirring the pot; Jackpot; Crackpot; Different kettle of fish; Tempest in a teapot; Keep the pot boiling; Potluck
Potpourri; Perpetual stew; Potlatch; Pot of gold at the end of a rainbow; Tosspot; Fusspot; Honeypot; Sexpot; Pretty kettle of fish
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Pots and Pans Idioms, Part I: Flash in the pan; Out of the frying pan into the fire; Pan out; Pan over; Pan as criticism; Deadpan; Going to pot; Potshot
Pothunter; Down the pan; Down the toilet; Cast iron skillets
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US President Idioms, Part 6: Bloviation; Normalcy; America First; Lightning in a bottle; Americanism; Founding Fathers
Dollar Diplomacy; Panda Diplomacy; Writing history with lightning; Bottled lightning; THE Congress
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Gauntlets, Gamuts, and Gloves: Run the gauntlet; Run the gamut; Throw down the gauntlet; Take up the gauntlet; Step into the breach; Take off the gloves; Rule with a velvet glove
Once more unto the breach; More honored in the breach than the observance; Drop the gloves; Gloves are off; Iron fist in a velvet glove; Next into the breach; Run the gantlet
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Foreign Idioms: Neither the fuzz nor the feather; When the crawdad whistles on the mountain; Boondocks; Thresh empty straw; Once upon a time and other fairy tale endings
Ни пуха ни пера, Break a leg; Когда рак на горе свистнет, When pigs fly; Делать из мухи слона, Make a mountain out of a molehill; Не в своей тарелке, Not in one’s element, or like a fish out of water; Первый блин всегда комом; Prvi se mačići u vodu bacaju; Bogu iza nogu; Ne traži dlaku u jajetu;...
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Sick Idioms and Slang: Under the weather; Green around the gills; To turn a blind eye; Frog in the throat; Feeling groggy; Off-kilter; Out-of-sorts; Down in the dumps; Sick as a dog
Slang: Bussin'; Slappin; Slay; 'Sup; Aight; Word; Hella; Shiznit; The bomb; Booyah; Oh snap; As if; Not!; Whatever!
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Veggie Idioms: Can't squeeze blood from a turnip; Fell off the turnip truck; Cornfed; Corny; Carrot-and-stick; Like peas and carrots; Two peas in a pod
Can't get blood from a stone; Fresh off the boat; Cabbage-head; Turnip-head; I don't boil my cabbage twice; I'm not so green as cabbage looking; Cornbread; Cornball; Hokey; Easy as shelling peas; Thick as pea soup
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Tool Idioms: Wrench in the works; Monkeywrench; If all you have's a hammer everything's a nail; Hit the nail on the head; Go at it hammer and tongs; Bring the hammer down
Use a sledgehammer to crack a nut; Throw a spanner in the works; Bodies upon the gears; Maslow's hammer; Between the hammer and the anvil; Between a rock and a hard place; Drop the hammer on; Go under the hammer; Dumb as a bag of hammers; Dumb as a box of rocks; Not the sharpest tool in the shed;...
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Coincidences and Rubbing Idioms: There's the rub; Shuffle off this mortal coil; Rub it in; Rub someone the wrong way; Rub salt in someone's wound; Rub elbows with; Rub off on
Rub shoulders with; Rub your hands with glee; Rub of the green; Rub out; Rub someone's nose in it; Ruffle someone's feathers
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Bean Idioms: Spill the beans; Bean counter; Doesn't amount to a hill of beans; Full of beans; Cool beans; Politics ain't bean bag
Old bean; Bean time; Bean wagon; Not have a bean; String bean; Beanpole; Bean head; Not know beans; Boring as beans
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Heel Idioms: Well-heeled; Down-at-the-heels; Achilles' heel; Dig in one's heels; Bring someone to heel; Under the heel; Take to one's heels; Show one's heels; Kick up your heels; Cool one's heels;
Out at elbows; Out at heels; Drag your heels; Set back on your heels; At someone's heels; Hard on someone's heels; Hot on someone's heels; Under the thumb; Show a clean pair of heels; Cop a heel; Spin on one's heels; Turn on your heels; Fall head over heels in love; Head over heels in debt; Real...
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Hat Idioms, Part II: I'll eat my hat; Feather in your cap; Tip of the hat; Doff one's hat; Pass the hat; With hat in hand; Hat trick; At the drop of a hat; All hat and no cattle
Hats off; Old hat; All sizzle and no steak; All bark and no bite
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Hat Idioms: Mad as a hatter; Hang one's Hat; To throw your hat into the ring; Keep something under your hat; Put your name in the hat; Put your thinking cap on; Dunce cap
Hang up one's hat; Tin foil hat; Hang on to your hat; To wear more than one hat; Pooh-bah
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Egg Idioms: Egg on your face; Egghead; Baker's dozen; Egg someone on; Nest egg; Can't make an omelet without breaking some eggs; Good egg; Go suck an egg
Bad egg; Don't put all your eggs in one basket; Egg money; Bald as an egg; Which came first, the chicken or the egg; Over-egg the pudding; Egging; Teaching your grandma to suck eggs; Rotten egg; Last one in is a rotten egg; Can't boil an egg; Can't unboil an egg.
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Smoke Idioms: Smoke and mirrors; Put that in your pipe and smoke it; Blowing smoke; Smoking gun; Where there's smoke there's fire; Get smoked; Pipe-dream
Blowing smoke up someone's ass; Smoke the peace pipe; Smokescreen; Holy smoke(s); What have you been smoking
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Duck Idioms: Lucky duck; Sitting duck; Dead duck; Lame duck; Duck and cover; Have one's ducks in a row; Duck soup; Like a duck to water; Milkshake duck
Since one was knee-high to a duck; Lovely weather for ducks; Like water off a duck's back; Duck face; If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and swims like a duck, then it must be a duck.
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Bird Idioms: Birds of a feather; Bird in the hand; A little bird told me; Sing like a bird; Boobird; Odd bird; Rare bird; Kill two birds with one stone
Flip the bird; Tough old bird; Yardbird; Snowbird; Anapodoton; Black swan
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Blade Idioms: Sword of Damocles; Hang by a thread; Fall on one's sword; Beat swords into plowshares; Saber-rattling; Bury the hatchet; Hatchet job;
Take up the hatchet; Hatchet man; Hatched-faced; Scalpel, not an ax
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White idioms: White elephant; white knight; white lies; white knuckle; white hat hacker
White as a ghost; white as a sheet; White Christmas
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Cutting Idioms, part 2: Cut it out; Cut out for; Work cut out for; Cut from whole cloth; Cut a deal; Cut against the grain; Cut the cord; Cut to ribbons; Cut corners;Cut both ways; Cut it with a knife
Cut a figure; Knock it off; Cut a check; Double-edged sword
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Idioms from US Presidents, Part 5
Rock the boat; bully pulpit; mollycoddle; muckraking; pull yourself up by the bootstraps; lunatic fringe; loose cannon
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Cutting Idioms: Cut one's teeth; Cut of someone's jib; Cut the mustard; Cut a rug; Cut to the quick; Cut and run; Fish or cut bait; Cut a wide swathe
Cut off your nose to spite your face; Unkindest cut; Cut to the bone; Cut and dried
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Gem Idioms: Hidden Gem; Diamond in the rough; The world is your oyster; Clutch one's pearls
A cut above; Casting pearls before swine; Pearl of great price; Pearls of wisdom; Idaho the gem state
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Bell Idioms: Ring in the New Year; Death knell; For whom the bell tolls; Ring a bell; Be there with bells on;
You can't unring a bell; Ring somebody's bell; Saved by the bell; Wear the cap and bells; All the bells and whistles; Sound as a bell.
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Silver idioms: Silver lining; Silver-tongued; Silver bullet; Magic bullet; 30 pieces of silver; Silver screen
Sell the family silver; Sell one's birthright for a mess of pottage; Born with a silver spoon in one's mouth; Serve something on a silver platter.
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Idioms from US Presidents, Part 4
Spoils system; cronyism; strange bedfellows; pork-barrel; To the victor go the spoils; Buffalo x 8; Kid gloves.
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Thanksgiving Idioms: Talk turkey; Go cold turkey; Gobble up; To be stuffed, etc.
Gobble, gobble; Eat like a bird; Stuffed shirt; The rest is gravy; Ride the gravy train; As American as apple pie.
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Goose idioms: Wild goose chase; One's goose is cooked; Goosebumps, etc.
Killing the goose that lays the golden eggs; Golden goose; Goose up; Goose-stepping; Loose as a goose, loosey goosey; Silly goose; Take a gander
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Idioms from US Presidents, Part 3
Two-faced; Contronyms; Sugar-coated; Demonyms; Michigander; House divided, Illeism; Come in handy; Corporation; Do the math.
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Idioms from US Presidents, Part 2
Keep the ball rolling; Booze; Peculation, defalcation, and condign; 54-50 or fight!; Bed of roses; Twiddling one's thumbs; Dark horse; Confirmed bachelor.
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Idioms from US Presidents, Part 1
Ok!! Washington, Jefferson, administration, nip it in the bud, squatters, gag rule, worth one's salt etc.
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Cat idioms, Part III: Raining cats and dogs
Cat on a hot tin roof; Pussyfooting; Cat burglar; Bell the cat; Scaredy cat; Copycat; Catnap; Dead cat bounce; Fat cat
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Cat idioms, Part II: There's more than one way to skin a cat
Curiosity killed the cat; A cat's nine lives; Let the cat out of the bag; Not enough room to swing a cat, etc.
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Cat idioms, Part I: Catcalls, hepcats, cats that swallowed the canary, etc.
The cat's pajamas, looked what the cat dragged in, caterwauling, cathouses and more.
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"Red" idioms: red herring; caught red-handed; red-blooded; red meat; red-baiting; red tape and more.
In addition to the above, looks at idioms like better dead than red, red alert, raise a red flag, see red, not one red cent, red-letter days, roll out the red carpet, and paint the town red.
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To tide one over, and other "tide" idioms
Takes a look at idioms involving "tide," as well at the tide that shows up in words like yuletide and tidings. Also visits the topics of tidal power and the moon's wobble.
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Fit to be tied and other "tying" idioms
Looks at idioms involving the act of "tying," as well as "cat got your tongue," typography, and knots.
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Pulling out all the stops
This second episode looks at idioms such as "pulling out all the stops," "bats in the belfry," "dead ringer," and more, and features a Josh Ritter lyric, pipe organs, and coffins.
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Full of vim and vigor
Looks at idioms like "full of vim and vigor," "long in the tooth," and "playing hooky," as well as digging a hole for a trampoline.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Idiom America have?
Idiom America currently has 50 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Idiom America about?
A podcast that takes a look at the origin and history of some of those gems of language, idioms, and then goes from there.
How often does Idiom America release new episodes?
Idiom America has 50 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Idiom America?
You can listen to Idiom America on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Idiom America?
Idiom America is created and hosted by Semevent.
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