Monday, 1 December 2014

American Idioms Part II

Here, some of contexts of situation that American idoms could be applied.



A golden key opens every door
"Look what I found!" Albert cried. "Why, it's a golden key!" Officer Mutt observed. "It reminds me that a golden key opens every door," Albert smiled. "Yes, I think it will open a door for you at my nice jail, " Mutt replied. Actually, the golden key here is money for it is  assumed that money will let a person do anything he wants.



A golden parachute

Winston has just been given a golden parachute. He's absolutely thrilled, of course, and I think you'd be thrilled, too, if you were given one because a golden parachute is a large sum of money given to an employee to encourage him to leave his position before retirement age. "Wheeeeee, " Winston whooped.

 

A lame duck

A person described as being a lame duck is helpless. If he is in a position of authority, he lacks power. " Shirley is such a lame duck. She can't do anything without ebing supervised. " ( Helpless ). "Harry's term of office ends next year. meanwhile, he's a lame duck president and none of his plans stands a chance of ebing acted up. " ( Powerless )

 


A peeping Tom

When a little boy peeps through fences or windows he is probably just being curious. When a man does the same thing it's often because he has indecent intentions. A man who snoops like that is called a peeping Tom. "The neighbors are convinced that we have a peeping Tom in the area."

 

A scandal sheet

Felix was telling Teddy about a time in his youth when he worked as a reporter for one of the town's leading scandal sheets. "What's a scandal sheet ?" Teddy asked. Felix blushed. He was so embarassed that he didn't want to explain. That's understandable because a scandal sheet is a newspaper that features lots of gossip and sensationalism, but very little real news.




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