An idiom is a phrase where the meaning is different than what the words mean literally. For example, we say "break a leg" sometimes to wish someone good luck. You are not REALLY telling someone to go break their leg. People used to say this because they believed little fairies were hiding everywhere and if they heard you say something about your hopes or plans for the future they would try to sabotage them. So saying "break a leg" was a way of ensuring that if there were fairies listening, they would only stop you from breaking your leg. If you've ever seen someone say "knock wood" and then knock on wood with their hand, it's for the same reason (we don't want the fairies to hear!)
Most people don't know why we used these phrases but they are VERY common in every day speech and even in writing (formal and informal). So it is beneficial for you as advanced English students to know some of them.
The Assignment
Choose 1 idiom.
Tell me the non-literal meaning.
Tell me the story behind it (they're often very interesting and knowing this is a way of helping you remember the idiom).
Write a 4 line dialogue using the idiom.
Some websites you can check out:
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Spanish/Idioms shows the similarity between several common Spanish and English idioms.
http://idiomorigins.net/ has lots of idioms with their meaning, origin and history
http://www.phrases.org.uk/ list of thousands of phrase (some of them I'd never heard before)
These last two are lists of common idioms with origins.
Any questions, let me know!
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