Wacky English idioms that don't make sense (at first glance)

There are a lot of idioms and phraseological units in the English language. And the meaning of many of them is impossible to understand if you do not know the meaning of the phrase.

In this material, we have collected a small selection of seemingly stupid phraseological units, which at second glance are no longer so stupid. Go.

Piece of cake

A very, very common idiom that means something extremely simple or requires a minimum of effort.

The test was a piece of cake.
This test was as easy as shelling pears.

Even many native people think that this idiom is about cake. After all, what could be easier than eating a piece of cake?

There really is a cake here, but in a slightly different sense, which literally makes the phraseological unit racist.

“Cake” here is short for “cake walk”. This was the name of the dance of black Americans in the 19th century. Very simple, with a minimum of movement, and more like driving to music. Like that:

But why cake walk? It’s all about the history of this dance. It was very popular among the slave owners of the 18th century to organize dance competitions among slaves, the prize for which was a huge pie. Often for this “competition” the shackles were not removed from the blacks to make it look even more comical.

Due to the stiffness of the movements, the dances were more like a walk, so they began to be called “cake walk”.

And after 2020, more and more people are learning about the hidden intolerance of this simple idiom, so use it carefully.

Once in a blue moon

And no, Boris Moiseev has nothing to do with it. “Blue Moon” in English has no sexual connotations and others like them. But the idiom is still weird.

It means “extremely rare event”. If something should happen “on the blue moon”, it means that it will take a long time to wait. In Russian, the closest analogue is “after the rain on Thursday.” And unlike when pigs fly, there is still a chance that the event will happen.

Many natives believe that this idiom is about the color of the moon. Indeed, it is extremely rare for a satellite of the Earth to acquire a bluish tint under special atmospheric conditions. In physics, this is called Rayleigh scattering.

Blue moon is an astronomical term. This is the name of the third full moon in the time of the year, in which four full moons fell.

Historically, the phases of the moon have been very important in American culture. Many holidays were tied to them. But for some years there are not 12, but 13 full moons. And so that the calendars did not get lost, the “extra” full moon was singled out separately and began to be called the “blue moon”. For the first time this name was used in the “Mann Farmers’ Almanac” – and it quickly caught on.

According to the classical interpretation, the “blue moon” occurs once every ten years. The nearest date is March 12, 2027. And the next one is already on August 22, 2035.

So if you are told “once in a blue moon”, you will have to wait a long time.

A different kettle of fish

Another kettle of fish, seriously? One of the weirdest and most obscure idioms in English. It means “quite another matter”.

And its origin is as strange as the phrase itself. Because the devil only knows who said it for the first time and why it became so widespread at all.

Let’s start with the fact that the word “kettle” is now used only for the kettle. But in the 18th century it was a large metal basin or cauldron in which water was boiled. Something like this:

One of the most famous uses of the phrase “kettle of fish” in English is found in Thomas Newt’s A Tour of England and Scotland, which was first published in 1791. In one of the paragraphs, the author describes a picnic on the Scottish Tweed River (which is not only a river, but also a cloth and a ghost word – read about this in this material).

It is customary for the gentlemen who live near the Tweed to entertain their neighbors and friends with a Fete Champetre, which they call giving ‘a kettle of fish’. Tents or marquees are pitched near the flowery banks of the river … a fire is kindled, and live salmon thrown into boiling kettles.
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It is customary for gentlemen who live near Tweed to entertain their neighbors and friends with what they call a “kettle of fish” holiday. On the flowering banks of the river, tents or tents are set up … they light a fire and throw live salmon into a boiling cauldron.

But the researchers argue that this phrase has already been actively used in the past. For example, in the political dialogue of 1738.

To enable them to manage their own local affairs will not satisfy Irishmen. What they want is a very different kettle of fish.
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Providing the ability to manage their local affairs will not satisfy the Irish. What they want is another matter entirely.

The phrase almost instantly entered the lexicon, and it began to be used both in newspapers and in works of art. But just as a bowl of fish became a reinforcement for the word different, it remains a mystery.

Interestingly, there is another phraseological unit with “fish kettle” – “a pretty kettle of fish”, which in turn means a difficult and rather annoying situation. Although if you look from the side of the fish, which was thrown to boil in a vat, then it is.

Use your loaf

“Use a loaf!” When a student who is studying English as a second person hears this phrase for the first time, it can be very confusing.

The word “loaf” has quite a few meanings: a loaf of bread, a loaf of sausage, a loaf, a large piece of sugar. And as a verb, it means “to be idle, to be lazy.” And none of the values match the word use.

In fact, the idiom “use your loaf” means “use your head” or, closer to the text, “use your head.”

The saying “Bread is the head of everything” has nothing to do with it either.

Thanks to Cockney slang for this phraseological unit. About him we have separate material, but let’s tell you briefly.

The main and most noticeable feature of the Cockney was the use of rhymed slang. In it, one word of an ordinary phrase or phrase was replaced by a rhymed one, but rather distant in meaning.

Here are some examples:

Bricks and Mortar = daughter
Where’s your Bricks and Mortar? – Where is your daughter?
Rabbit and pork = talk
Stop right there! I have a rabbit and pork to you! – Stop now! I have a conversation with you.
Tom and Dick = sick
I feel so Tom and Dick. – I feel so bad.

You get the logic. At the exit from rhymed slang, a rather meaningless phrase is obtained, which only weakly hints at the original meaning.

Now let’s get to the main point – how the word “loaf” became a substitute for the lexeme “head”.

It’s very simple – in Cockney slang “head” was often replaced by the phrase “loaf of bread”, which in turn was often abbreviated as “loaf”.

Nowadays cockney rhymes are practically not used. Perhaps only in jokes that ironically over the accent. But here are some rudiments entrenched in idioms. As a result, we got an outwardly meaningless phrase, but with a meaning inside.

To have Van Gogh’s ear for music

Many people know the story that the famous artist Vincent Van Gogh cut off his ear. But how to connect it with music is very difficult to guess.

In fact, “To have Van Gogh’s ear for music” is a complete analogue of the Russian “bear stepped on the ear.” That is, the complete absence of ear for music and voice.

After all, the artist suffered from serious mental illnesses, among which scientists call borderline personality disorder, bipolar disorder and latent epilepsy. And some of the main symptoms are delusions, hallucinations and an agitated state of consciousness.

Often during seizures, the artist sang loudly and very out of tune. So false that his absolute inability to hit the notes has become a household name. First in France, where the artist lived, and then in English-speaking countries. But as a phraseological unit, he was entrenched only in Britain, in French they do not seem to speak like that anymore. Correct us if this is suddenly not the case.

Want even more weird and interesting idioms? Watch this video:

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There are literally hundreds of such strange idioms in English. And you need to understand at least the most common ones, because native speakers often use them in everyday speech.

If you want to improve your knowledge of phraseological units and the language in general, sign up for a free trial lesson with a teacher and pump your English skills in the EnglishDom ecosystem.

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