Colloquial language
- It was a write-off
- has no value (insurance language)
- It was a bit of a sore point
- It wasn’t to be sniffed at
- It was a humdinger
- It was a bit airy-fairy
- It’s a doddle
- very easy, simple, a piece of cake
- It was a bit dodgy
- It seemed a bit fishy
- to smell a bit bad, sth wrong
Metaphores
- Describing life as a journey
- follow in someone’s footsteps
- Will you follow in your mother’s steps or work in a different field?
- dead-end
- Resigning at job was better than the dead-end I’d reached
- take off
- My career began to take off when I landed a role in a TV series
- reach a crossroad
- We tryed to develop the project, but soon we reached a crossroad
- Describing character / feelings as weather
- warm personality: friendly character
- Top chefs aren’t known for their warm personalities
- stormy relationship
- The’re always shouting and screaming at each other. They definitely have a stormy relationship
- frosty reception
- On my first day, I received a frosty reception. No one would talk to me
- feel under the weather
- I went to the doctor because I was feeling under the weather
- Describing business as war
- struggle: fight, battle, make a big effort
- If you make a mistake you’ll have to struggle to get out of the room alive
- call the shots: make the imortant decisions
- I’m the Chief Executive and major decision-maker, so I have to call the shots
- to be in the firing line
- As the manager, you are in the firing line when things go wrong
- have the sights set on…have a goal, an objective
- She had her sights set on fame and fortune, so she went to Hollywood
Proverbs
- Strike while the iron is hot
- Don’t bite the hand that feeds you
- If you lie with dogs, you get fleas
- You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink
- Laugh and the world laughs with you, cry and you cry alone
- A miss is as good as a mile
- The pen is mightier than the sword
- Two’s company, three’s a crowd
- No news is good news
- Children should be seen, and not heard
- Never underestimate the power of love
- Better to be safe thansorry
- It’s always darkest before the dawn
- You get out of something only what you put into it
- You can’t teach an old dog new tricks
- Where there’s smoke there’s fire
- Don’t put off till tomorrow what you can do today
- There are none so blind as those who will not see
- If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again
- Better late than never