To slay something can mean to kill it or to amuse it. The past tense of the first meaning is slew, while the past tense of the second meaning is slayed. The popularity of the word slayed has grown considerable in the last century, and my guess would be that the colloquially usage of …
Word to the wise is a shortened version of the phrase a word to the wise is sufficient. Bascially meaning that I’ll say one word and you will be wise enough to know exactly what I’m talking about. There is a connotation of the information being passed in a secret way. It …
To be knee-high to a grasshopper means to be very short or very young. Though the second meaning is heard more commonly. The idiom literally means to reach a grasshopper’s knee. It is usually used in reference to a time long ago when someone was younger/littler than the present. The first term is always …
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The traditional distinction between good and well is that good is an adjective describing something as pleasing or of acceptable quality and well is an adverb meaning the action is done in a pleasing or acceptable way. However, both good and well work as adverbs in informal speech and writing. A caveat to this is that well can also be an adjective and …
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North American fries (or French fries) are sticks of fried potato served hot. Outside of North America, namely the U.K., Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand, these fried pieces of potato are called chips. (Side note: a chippy is a place that sells fish and chips.) However, to North Americans chips are thin slices of potato served cold. In …
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While there is some debate in the world of psychology, clinically the terms psychopath (or its abbreviation psycho) and sociopath are relatively interchangeable. Both refer to a clinical diagnosis of someone without guilt, who also has violent tendencies and disregard for others and laws. The slang term psycho is used as an insult meaning something or someone …
To throw the baby out with the bathwater is an idiom which means to lose something important while trying to get rid of unwanted things. The idiom is undefined as to whether the act of discarding the ‘baby’ is intentional or unintentional. In other words, you could choose to throw away the …
The idiom to cut off your nose to spite your face means you shouldn’t do something out of spite or revenge that will end up causing more harm to you than to the person with which you are angry. In other words, do not let your overreaction lead to self-harm. The phrase …
Legally, a conflict of interest is a conflict between a person’s personally interests and their professional obligations. Generally, the phrase is used when it seems a person’s personal interests interfere with an impersonal matter. The generally accepted plural is conflicts of interest; however, since the word is describing the situation and not the two …
To flip one’s lid and flip one’s wig mean to suddenly lose control of yourself or your emotions, either in anger or excitement. The phrases are rarely used in the plural, but the generally accepted forms are flip their lids and flip their wigs. The verb flip is used in all its conjugations. Flipping your wig is more commonly …