- For instance, cock and bull comes from the French.
Are these American sayings typical in your vocabulary? Fun ones to use would be “go bananas” or “pie in the sky.”
Thick As Thieves
Thieves are known for sharing secrets and in older times, thick also meant “close.”
Go Bananas
To go bananas means to show big emotions like super happy or over-the-top excitement and in rare cases could mean anger.
Cock and Bull Story
This saying has been around since the 1600s and the thing is that they both have something in common, an improbable story. This saying could be credited to the French expression “coq-a-l’âne” meaning cock and jackass or cock and bull. Is this one of the American sayings you use, even though it’s French?
Bull in a China Shop
A “bull in a China shop” refers to someone reckless or careless in how they behave. This could also reference a bad way of dealing with a fragile situation.
Best Thing Since Sliced Bread
The bread slicing machine of the 1920s was thought of as “the greatest forward step in the baking industry,” and this saying has been used to hype up something innovative and new.
Neck Of The Woods
The phrase neck of the woods refers to a certain neighborhood or area. You could say things like, “What are you doing in my neck of the woods?” Is this one of the American sayings you like to say?
Elvis Has Left The Building
Elvis was a favorite and so popular that even after a show, people would want an encore or just to see him again. To signal the end of the show, the announcer would say, “Elvis has left the building,” and the words kind of stuck.
Pie In The Sky
A pie in the sky is another way of think about something nice that could happen but is also most likely not to happen. Also called an empty wish.
Have A Bone To Pick With Someone
If someone says they, ”Have a bone to pick with you,” just know you’re about to walk into an uncomfortable conversation. Bones are hard to pick and take time and patience to thoroughly clean a bone and it’s along these same lines that hard conversations are difficult to thoroughly get through. This is a very common phrase when it comes to American sayings.
A Wet Blanket
A wet blanket can be used to talk about someone who is kind of a downer or makes the worst of a good situation. You know, the one that looks for the rain during a sunny day? It could also refer to someone who is spoiling the fun or trying to lessen others enthusiasm.
Get (Have) Your Ducks In A Row
To have your ducks in a row means you’re organized, cleaned up and ready for a new project or activity. So to say that you need to “get” your ducks in a row means you need to get your life together, get organized, clean up and be ready for what’s coming. Have you ever told someone to get their ducks in a row? It’s pretty common when it comes to American sayings?
Pot Calling The Kettle Black
The pot calling the kettle black means to criticize someone for doing the same thing you’re doing. This is a way to call out hypocrisy of a situation or a person.
The Elephant in the Room
This refers to a situation that everyone knows about but isn’t talking about, like an obvious problem that all the people in a room are ignoring. There’s an early 1800s fable that talks about a man that went to a museum and noticed all the small things and little details but he missed the whole elephant in the room. The name of it was ‘The Inquisitive Man’ which has even been referenced by writers.
These American sayings are common and interesting once you know where they come from. Let me know what you think in the comments!