More idioms

2/23/2014

Pick one idiom, write down the meaning, research the origin of the idiom, and use the idiom in a headline sentence. For example: Just sit down and do your homework! Let's not make a mountain out of a molehill.
Helpful websites: idioms dictionary, Wiktionary, phrases

Pull yourself up by the bootstraps

Mind one's p's and q's

Make a mountain out of a molehill

Pass the buck

Pot calling the kettle black

35 Comments

sparkle

2/24/2014 07:39:34 am

Make a mountain out of a molehill:
Definition:To treat a problem as greater than it is.
Origin:Throwing a fit over something that isn't that bad.
Example:Erin is stuck in traffic,she is making a mountain out of a molehill .Worrying about getting to her job on time.

Hannah

2/24/2014 07:40:01 am

Make a mountain out of a molehill
Meaning: To treat a problem greater than it really and to exaggerate it.
Origin: This saying is found in writing as early as 1660. It's written by James Howell in a lexicon containing proverbs from many different languages.
Example : "I'm so mad because I spilled some water!" screamed Maggie.
"It's okay! Don't make a mountain out of a mole hill!" exclaimed Martha.

Kaia

2/24/2014 07:43:01 am

Mind one's p's and q's

Meaning: To be very careful or to behave correctly.

Origin: The date of the coinage of 'mind your p's and q's' is uncertain. There is a citation from Thomas Dekker's play, The Untrussing of the Humorous Poet, 1602, which appears to be the earliest use of the expression.

Example: "Mind one's p's and q's while you are at your aunt's house children. I do not want a bad report, you now how she is at meal time." said their mother when they were in the car. "Yes mother" replied the children.

Samantha O

2/24/2014 07:48:00 am

Make a mountain out of a molehill
Meaning- To make a problem seem bigger than it is
Origin- Idiom is found in writing as early as 1660. Written by James Howell
Example- "Your cookie is bigger than mine," screamed Miranda.
"Calm down, your making a mountain out of a molehill- more like a mountain out of an indent!" Said Miranda's Mother.

Q$U$I$N$C$Y

2/24/2014 07:56:48 am

Pass the buck means having someone else take the blame for something wrong you did yourself.

QUINCY

2/24/2014 08:03:37 am

Pass the buck means having someone else take the blame for something wrong you did yourself.
ORIGIN: came from playing poker during frontier times, players used a buckhorn knife to show whose turn it was to deal, the player could pass the buck(horn) to the next player if he didn't want to deal.
Example: Instead of admitting I was in a restricted area at Woodward, I passed the buck to my friend and he got kicked out for 15 minutes.

Happy

2/24/2014 08:13:35 am

Make a mountain out of a molehill
Meaning: treating something for more than it is.
Origin: Having a fit over a not so bad thing. Basically being a drama queen.
Example: "My slice of pizza is 400 degrees farenheit exactly"
screamed Dutch, "I need it to be 400.568911111111111111111111…" "Dutch BE QUIET RIGHT NNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!" "Your making mt. everest out of a molehill!" "But-"

Happy

2/24/2014 08:15:25 am

Dutch is not always like this. F.Y.I

I am a Giants fan. ( Jenna is my name)

2/24/2014 10:12:15 am

To mind your p's and q's means to MIND YOUR MANNERS!
U oh! Jenna forgot to mind her p's and q's when she threw a pea at her aunt Meg.

Trevor J. Lynn

2/24/2014 10:26:20 am

Pull yourself up by your bootstraps

It means to improve your situation by your own efforts.

Origin

The origin of this descriptive phrase isn't known. It refers of course to boots and their straps (laces) and to the imagined feat of a lifting oneself off the ground by pulling on one's bootstraps. This impossible task is supposed to exemplify the achievement in getting out of a difficult situation by one's own efforts.

It was known by the early 20th century. James Joyce alluded to it in Ulysses, 1922

After Robert Goddard's first liquid fueled rocket crashed, he picked himself up by his bootstraps and made many changes to his design that made it possible for his rocket to fly.

ANIMALS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2/24/2014 11:50:43 am

mind ones p's and q's
to behave and don't forget your manners
my dad was chewing with his mouth open I said "mind your p's and q's that's disgusting"!

Happy

2/25/2014 07:50:12 am

Is this Connor ???????

RedSox4life

2/25/2014 09:31:24 am

I bet it's Zak or Trevor because they love song animals.

2/25/2014 01:43:51 pm

It's Connor!!!!!!!!

zAk

2/26/2014 07:47:00 am

nope not me

tristen

2/24/2014 12:09:21 pm

Pull yourself up by your bootstraps

Definition: It means to improve your situation by your own efforts.

Origin:The origin of this descriptive phrase isn't known.

Sentence: The baseball team pulled themselves up by their bootstraps to win the game.

Happy

2/25/2014 07:51:10 am

I like this one.

Happy

2/26/2014 11:33:01 am

Knew it, RedSox4life you just got BURNED!!!

Happy

2/26/2014 11:34:13 am

P.S. I know that you're Armand.

lilah

2/24/2014 12:36:52 pm

pass the bucket

avoid responsidilityby giving it someone else

Kayla

2/25/2014 09:37:16 am

Pass the bucket
Avoid responsibility giving it someone else
( ps I got the same as Lilah on the web.)

2/28/2014 09:40:12 am

Really.........

Trevor S link

2/25/2014 10:14:58 am

Mind one's P's and Q's
Meaning = to be on your best behavior.
Origin = in 1602 from Thomas Dekker's play, "The Untrussing of the Humorous Poet," it appears to be said first.
EX = my brother was told to mind his P's and Q's at church.

SWAG

2/25/2014 11:05:11 am

Making a mountain out of a mole hole
means you are making a big deal out of something that dose not really matter
you are making a mountain out of a small mole hole

jonson

2/25/2014 11:12:54 am

hey I'm just this random guy that likes tomato paste for dinner but is this a blog

zAk

2/26/2014 07:48:12 am

ya and how did you get the password

Happy

2/26/2014 11:31:43 am

Tomato paste is good… on spaghetti.

#SWAG

2/25/2014 11:13:54 am

not SWAG

Happy

2/25/2014 11:32:38 am

We will find you jonson!!!!!

Happy

2/25/2014 11:34:00 am

And no it IS NOT a blog.

zAk

2/26/2014 08:37:42 am

passing the buck. Meaning passing the blame.
origin: "Passing the buck" originated from a ritual practiced during card games. Card players used to place a marker, called a "buck," in front of the person who was the dealer. That marker was passed to the next player along with the responsibility of dealing. Eventually "passing the buck" became synonymous with passing on responsibility.
exm: my mom told me to mop the floor when she went to work. Of course I didn't want to so I passed the buck to my brother.

DAYNA*$*$*$

2/26/2014 09:24:54 am

Pass the buck:

Meaning:to blame someone other than yourself

Origin:the game of poker, in which a marker, frequently in frontier days, a knife with a buckhorn handle was used to indicate the person whose turn it was to deal. if the player did not wish he or she could pass the responsibility by passing the buck as the marker came to be called to the next player.

Example:When my friend got in trouble, she passed the buck to me so i got in trouble instead of her.

Reaghan

2/26/2014 11:46:16 am

Mind your P's and Q's
To mind your manners and behavior
Origin: The citation from Thomas Dekker's play, The Untrussing of the Humorous Poet, 1602, appears to be the earliest use of the expression.
" Luna, don't slump, mind your p's and q's" screeched Elanor.

Brandon the awesome (aka Brandon)

2/26/2014 01:02:49 pm

Making a mountain out of a molehill
Meaning: To make a huge deal out of something not to big.
Ex: "Hey, that clock is off by 12 seconds!" yelled Fredrick.
"Dont make a mountain out of a molehill!" Jeffery screamed back.

Cristian

2/28/2014 02:03:28 am

Idiom: Pot calling the kettle black.

Meaning: The idiom "Pot calling the kettle black" is used in a situation where a person is considered guilty of the very thing of which they accuse another. It dates from the time when cooking was done over an open hearth fireplace; both the kettle and the cooking pot would be suspended above it, and collect the same amount of soot. The earliest instances date from the early 17th century.

Origin: In the first interpretation, it refers to the fact that both cast-iron pots' and kettles bottoms' turn equally black when hung over a fire, and thus the pot is accusing the kettle of a fault it shares.
In the second interpretation, the pot is sooty (being placed on a fire), while the kettle is clean and shiny (being placed on coals only), and hence when the pot accuses the kettle of being black, it is the pot's own sooty reflection that it sees: the pot accuses the kettle of a fault that only the pot has.

Headline: Cristian came up to his mom and said that his brothers room was messy. Talking about "Pot Calling The Kettle Black".

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