English Idioms

【Abstract】 The idiom is a kind of special speech form in meaning， grammatical structure and usage. Language closely relates to culture and can be said as a part of the culture. Theres no language without culture. As a special form of the language， the idiom exists in both language and culture and carries a large amount of cultural information of histories， geography， religions， customs， etc. This article first discusses the definitions of idioms and culture， the origin of idioms， the characteristics of idioms.

【Key words】Idiom； Culture； Origin； Characteristics.

【作者簡介】张丽然，安徽体育运动职业技术学院。

1. Introduction

As we all know， language is closely related to culture. Every language is part of a culture. Idioms as a special form of language exist in both language and culture and carry a large amount of cultural information such as histories， geography， religions， customs， nationality psychology， thought pattern etc， and therefore are closely related to culture.

2. The characteristics of idioms

An idiom is a fixed group of words with a special different meaning from the meanings of the separate words. Idioms consist of set phrases and short sentences， they are expressions that are not readily understandable from their literal meaning of individual elements. The practicality of idioms is the longtime vitality of idioms. According to the linguists， the number of the English idioms is about 50000. In modern English， there are about 4000 used often. And there are about 5000 idioms more often used. That is why English idiom is an indispensable part of English lexis. We can say that English idioms are used more widely and often than Chinese idioms.

The unitary meaning of idioms means that we must see the idioms as a unit. The meaning of idioms isnt the simple mixture of the each words meaning， but it has its own new meaning.（汪榕培， 卢晓娟， 1997：373） And if you break up each word that form the idiom， though you can see the meaning of each word， you cant see the meaning of this idiom. For example， Im under the weather. “Under the weather” means unwell and unhappy.（Claire， 1991：175） If you see the meaning from each word， its meaningless.

The syntactic frozenness of the idioms means that we cant add or reduce one word of the idioms， because it may change its original meaning. （汪榕培， 卢晓娟，1997：375） For instance， we cant change “under the weather” into “below the weather”. We cant change “to have an axe to grind” into “to have a chopper to grind” or “to have a hatchet to grind”.

3. The origin of idioms

American and Britain are the countries that have Christianity and Hebraism as their cultural background. Most idioms produced in this background carry rich religious elements.（平洪，张国扬，2000：85）Getting to the roots of the idioms， we can find that they originated from literary masterpieces， the Bible， Greek and Roman mythologies， ancient fables， historical events， anecdotes， customs， seafaring， daily life and so on， which involve every aspect of life.（莊和诚，2002：185） Thats why idioms are hard to understand. The essential of studying idioms is grasping idioms through the background of the traditional culture， thought patterns， geographies， religions and the customs.Idioms originate from many aspects. They originate from ancient fables， historical affairs， anecdotes， customs， animals habitual behaviors， peoples daily life and so on.

From the sources of the idioms， we can see that idiom originates from western cultural background.

Observing the hidden meaning of the idioms， we can feel the national value.

4. Conclusion

Idiom is a special form of the language exists in both language and culture and carries the cultural information， such as histories and the customs etc. Idiom is a part of the culture. As such， it cannot but serve and reflect culture needs. Idiom closely relates to the culture. Idiom today is highly used in the daily life. Its necessary for us to have such knowledge of idiom and the western culture. Idiomatic expressions are difficult to understand. Idioms originate from literary masterpieces， the Bible， Greek and Roman mythologies， customs and so on. From their sources， we can see idiom passed down in a certain western culture background. Idiom is an important part of western culture itself and reflects the rich cultural and plays an active role in peoples life.

References：

[1]Kamsch Claire，Culture in Language Learning：A view from the United States[J].Philodephia：John Benjamines Publishing Company，1991：175.

[2]平洪，张国扬.英语习语与英美文化[M].北京外语教学与研究出版社，2000：85，255.

[3]汪榕培，卢晓娟.英语词汇学教程[M].上海外语教育出版社，1997： 372-373；375-376.

[4]庄和诚.英语习语探源[M].上海外语教育出版社，2000：185.