English is FUNtastic: Idioms

quinta-feira, 3 de maio de 2018

Idioms for «being busy»

«busy little beaver»

A very busy, assiduous, or hardworking person. Taken from the phrase "busy as a beaver," referring to beavers' reputation for being extremely industrious.

I am rushed off my feet;

I am run off my feet;

am as busy as a bee;

I’ve been kept busy;

I’ve been beavering away all day;

I’ve been on the go all week;

I’ve been up to my ears in work;

I’ve been up to my eyes in work;

I’ve been snowed under with work;

I’ve been working like the clappers;

I’ve been working non-stop;

I haven’t had a minute to myself;

I’ve been running around like a madman;

I’m so busy, I don’t know whether I’m coming or going;

I’ve been hard at it; I’ve been tied up;

’ve been on the job all day;

I’ve been in the thick of it for days now;

I’ve been on the go non-stop;

I’ve had a lot on;

I’ve had a lot to do;

I´ve had a lot on my plate, recently;

I’m fully stretched;

I’m under a lot of pressure;

I’ve been on the trot all day;

It has been absolutely hectic;

It has been absolutely frantic;

I’ve had to get a move on with things;

It has been a hive of activity here;

It’s been an absolute stampede to finish on time;

I’ve been coming and going all week;

I’ve had my nose to the grindstone all day.

sexta-feira, 23 de março de 2018

Definition: Slow down!

Example: “Hold your horses!” Jen shouted at her husband as he ran towards the pub. He’d heard there was free beer to be had.

Origin:

Not surprisingly, this command dates back to the American West and the time of cowboys, six-guns, and wagon trains. It simply refers to pulling back on your horses’ reins in order to bring them to a halt. First found in print in 1843, the original phrase was more informal, being ‘hold your hosses’. It wasn’t until the 1930s that the modern version first appears.

Some sources cite its heritage all the way back to Homer’s Iliad, the story of the siege of Troy. In it, Menelaus tells Antilochus to hold his horses during a chariot race. This is more likely to be co-incidental in nature, and the choice of words by the translator, rather than the birth of an idiom.