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July 15, 2024
What's the difference between a memoir and an autobiography?
Explore the differences between memoirs, autobiographies, and biographies.
Learn moreDon’t sell yourself short by ignoring these powerful, vivid phrases to communicate more effectively. In your writing projects, you can keep from barking up the wrong tree by learning a little bit more about how they work.
Idioms and idiomatic expressions are a kind of shorthand for an idea, feeling or a situation that we all might have experienced. They’re not literal—you’re not selling stocks in your language or howling in a forest. Instead, they’re an example of figurative language, which is language that illustrates ideas through the use of non-literal meaning.
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Learn MoreIf you’re not a native English speaker, it can be hard to parse an individual idiom. Even certain parts of the country have their own idioms and idiomatic expressions. While we might have the shared emotional understanding of a situation where you might be confused but extremely committed and passionate about your confusion, the image of a dog barking at a tree might not compute for some people.
Idioms can also have long backstories. For instance, barking up the wrong tree comes from the American practice of racoon hunting, where dogs would chase racoons up into trees and stand their barking until their owner caught up with them and the racoon. Racoons, however, could jump from tree to tree, and thus evade the barking hound, leaving the dog and owner perplexed. This is a narrative that people can understand and apply to other situations, but it won’t necessarily work for everyone.
So why do we use idioms? And how did they begin? The answer probably lies in human capacity for storytelling and creativity. It’s a lot easier than saying “you know that feeling…” when you have a phrase that communicates it succinctly without a lot of verbal looping around. Idioms can also be seen as more casual and informal, and so choosing to be less formal in your communication also creates a sense of intimacy. Plus, sometimes it’s fun to just picture a dog barking under a tree while a raccoon scampers safely away, right?
As illustrated above, there are risks in using idioms—your intention might not translate, you might sound too casual for the situation, or you could just be using the idiom wrong. Because it’s figurative language, its meaning doesn’t always correspond as closely to the actual words. But used well, an idiom is like a perfect spice in a recipe – it highlights the other ingredients and you’d miss it if weren’t there. Here’s some guidelines that will make using idioms a piece of cake.
Feel free to take this article with a grain of salt. But if you do take it more seriously than that, these writing guides from Microsoft 365 will serve you and your words well.
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