Sunday, August 9, 2009

idiom - clear and not

But then, the background for "pulling someone's leg" isn't exactly clear as day either. By idioms that make sense, I mean those rooted in an observable phenomenon. "He's barking up the wrong tree." In other words, he's looking in the wrong place for what he wants. The phrase is rooted in the observable (or at least imaginable) phenomenon of a dog confused about where that pesky cat or squirrel escaped to.

Presumably all idioms start out this way, but some have become disconnected. An idiom, or idiomatic expression, cannot be puzzled out by breaking it down into parts and defining them individually. An idiom works as a whole: to kick the bucket meaning "to die," for instance.

"Idiom" comes from the Greek word idios, meaning "one's own." An idiomatic expression is one that "we understand among ourselves," even if it baffles foreigners, such as Miguel, a student of translation in Spain, who a few months ago posted a query online, "[W]hat is in the bucket and why would anyone kick a bucket in the first place[?]"

D: the punctuation fail is from page A2 of this weekend's Globe and Mail.

"Pranknet used untraceable Skype accounts to route calls creating a shield of anonymity."

D: to route calls COMMA! Gah.

Page A3 last weekend, then A2 this weekend.
I wonder if they'll drop the ball on the front page next weekend...
All for lack of a proof-reader.
I'm for hire for a 100 bucks, by the way. <:

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