An idiom is a set phrase or word that is part of informal language. In other words, an idiom is a word or set of words whose meaning should not be interpreted literally but rather as a singular expression with its own meaning. It could be said that idioms are a language game, since they are terms or phrases that say something specific but are actually saying something different.
Examples of Idioms
If I say “my friend gave me long teeth” I am not referring to my teeth, since I am using an expression, that is, an idiom (in this case, making long teeth is the same as being envious).
In Spanish we use idioms very frequently. Thus, pouring rain is equivalent to raining abundantly, having birds in your head is the same as fantasizing excessively or doing something blindly means following instructions in detail.
If a Spanish student hears the idiom “tocarse las narises” they might think that someone touches their nose and in reality its true meaning is very different. Something similar would happen with idioms such as “eat your head”, “stay so wide”, “tease”, “drown in a glass of water”, among many others.
Each community of speakers has its own idioms
Although Spanish is spoken in many Latin American nations, each country has its own idioms. In Mexico, the exclamatory expression “vamos, órale” is very common, which means “hurry up” or “go ahead”, but also some words or expressions that are not understood outside the Mexican context (such as cool, net, no pex, chance , naco, dagger…).
Argentines also have their own idioms (a rat is someone selfish, a pucho is a cigarette, and a quilombo is chaos). In Spain “no way” means not joking, “currar” is the same as working, “como mola” is the same as saying that something is very good or interesting and “colleagues” are friends. Venezuelan Spanish presents its singularities (“chevere” means interesting or attractive, “dale plomo” means go ahead or do it, and a “chama” is a girl).
Idioms, locutions and sayings
Idioms can be confused with locutions or sayings, but they are not the same. A phrase is a set of words that replaces another (an adjective phrase replaces an adjective and an adverbial phrase replaces an adverb, as is the case with the phrase “a flag woman” or “in the blink of an eye »).
In the case of proverbs, these are anonymous popular sayings that transmit some kind of teaching or advice and that have some kind of rhyme (whoever gets up early, God helps them or tell me what you brag about and I’ll tell you what you lack).
Photos: iStock – Tetyana Rusanova / Diane Diederich
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