I have always had an interest in the origin of words as well as last names.  When I was teaching English as a Second Language a few years ago, a student asked me to explain “under the weather.”  She had received a call from her daughter’s teacher saying that and asking the mother to come get the child.  From that ESL experience, I started to read about idioms.  Some of the origins are amazing while others are embarrassing, and some are quite unbelievable.  What does “hair of the dog to paint the town red” mean?  How about “the best things since sliced bread,” “put a sock in it,” or “all hat no cattle”?   If you are learning English, how can you even guess those meanings?  

This course will examine selected idioms and sayings.  English has an enormous number of interesting examples and the same notion in other languages can often be more interesting.  Consider this British saying “Bob’s your uncle” which means “There you go, it’s done.”  We will talk about idioms of everyday life, amazing events, technological advances, food, and even romance.

Come explore with me some of the invisible sources of ideas that are behind what we often say.  And take advantage of a chance to share your favorite and maybe private idioms with the class.

The class will be interactive discussions and examples given by class members.  Weekly preparation should be approximately one hour.

Please note that the last class is during the break week.