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36-671: The final column was printed on June 27, 2018, including a statement that it was only being placed on hiatus, though it never did return. The column derives its name from the American idiom meaning roughly "the true information; the full story" and covers many subjects, including history , science , old wives' tales , urban legends , and inventions . The column appeared under the tagline : "Fighting ignorance since 1973. (It's taking longer than we thought.)” Five collections of columns have been published, sometimes referred to as The Straight Dope Cyclopedia of Human Knowledge : In addition,

72-534: A verb . Idioms tend to confuse those unfamiliar with them; students of a new language must learn its idiomatic expressions as vocabulary. Many natural language words have idiomatic origins but are assimilated and so lose their figurative senses. For example, in Portuguese, the expression saber de coração 'to know by heart', with the same meaning as in English, was shortened to 'saber de cor', and, later, to

108-522: A 'bandwagon' can refer to a collective cause, regardless of context. A word-by-word translation of an opaque idiom will most likely not convey the same meaning in other languages. The English idiom kick the bucket has a variety of equivalents in other languages, such as kopnąć w kalendarz ("kick the calendar") in Polish, casser sa pipe ("to break one’s pipe") in French and tirare le cuoia ("pulling

144-672: A basis for an understanding of meaning compositionality. The Principle of Compositionality can in fact be maintained. Units of meaning are being assigned to catenae, whereby many of these catenae are not constituents. Various studies have investigated methods to develop the ability to interpret idioms in children with various diagnoses including Autism, Moderate Learning Difficulties, Developmental Language Disorder and typically developing weak readers. Irreversible binomial In linguistics and stylistics , an irreversible binomial , frozen binomial, binomial freeze , binomial expression, binomial pair , or nonreversible word pair

180-405: A leg is an expression commonly said to wish a person good luck just prior to their giving a performance or presentation, which apparently wishes injury on them. However, the phrase likely comes from a loan translation from a phrase of German and Yiddish origin, which is why it makes no literal sense in English. In linguistics , idioms are usually presumed to be figures of speech contradicting

216-447: A similar literal meaning. These types of changes can occur only when speakers can easily recognize a connection between what the idiom is meant to express and its literal meaning, thus an idiom like kick the bucket cannot occur as kick the pot . From the perspective of dependency grammar , idioms are represented as a catena which cannot be interrupted by non-idiomatic content. Although syntactic modifications introduce disruptions to

252-423: A single lexical item that is now largely independent of the literal reading. In phraseology , idioms are defined as a sub-type of phraseme , the meaning of which is not the regular sum of the meanings of its component parts. John Saeed defines an idiom as collocated words that became affixed to each other until metamorphosing into a fossilised term . This collocation of words redefines each component word in

288-400: A slight metaphorical broadening. Another category of idioms is a word having several meanings, sometimes simultaneously, sometimes discerned from the context of its usage. This is seen in the (mostly uninflected) English language in polysemes , the common use of the same word for an activity, for those engaged in it, for the product used, for the place or time of an activity, and sometimes for

324-564: A word-for-word translation called a calque . Piirainen says that may happen as a result of lingua franca usage in which speakers incorporate expressions from their own native tongue, which exposes them to speakers of other languages. Other theories suggest they come from a shared ancestor-language or that humans are naturally predisposed to develop certain metaphors. The non-compositionality of meaning of idioms challenges theories of syntax. The fixed words of many idioms do not qualify as constituents in any sense. For example: How do we get to

360-628: Is right or wrong excludes the insight from knowing the difference between right and wrong ; each pair has a subtly differing meaning. And while five and dime is a noun phrase for a low-priced variety store , nickel and dime is a verb phrase for penny-pinching. The words in an irreversible binomial belong to the same part of speech , have some semantic relationship, and are usually connected by and or or . They are often near- synonyms or antonyms , alliterate , or rhyme . Examples below are split into various tables; some may belong in more than one table but are listed only once. Also see

396-484: Is a fossil word that never appears outside the phrase spick and span . Some other words, like vim in vim and vigor or abet in aid and abet , have become rare and archaic outside the collocation. Numerous irreversible binomials are used in legalese . Due to the use of precedent in common law , many lawyers use the same collocations found in legal documents centuries old. Many of these legal doublets contain two synonyms, often one of Old English origin and

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432-459: Is a pair of words used together in fixed order as an idiomatic expression or collocation . The words have a semantic relationship usually involving the words and or or . They also belong to the same part of speech : nouns ( milk and honey ), adjectives ( short and sweet ), or verbs ( do or die ). The order of word elements cannot be reversed. The term "irreversible binomial" was introduced by Yakov Malkiel in 1954, though various aspects of

468-539: Is different from the literal meanings of each word inside it. Idioms occur frequently in all languages; in English alone there are an estimated twenty-five thousand idiomatic expressions. Some well known idioms in English are spill the beans (meaning "reveal secret information"), it's raining cats and dogs (meaning "it's raining intensely"), and break a leg (meaning "good luck"). Many idiomatic expressions were meant literally in their original use, but occasionally

504-509: Is irreversible, but its meaning is straightforwardly derived from its components. Idioms possess varying degrees of mobility. Whereas some idioms are used only in a routine form, others can undergo syntactic modifications such as passivization, raising constructions, and clefting , demonstrating separable constituencies within the idiom. Mobile idioms , allowing such movement, maintain their idiomatic meaning where fixed idioms do not: Many fixed idioms lack semantic composition , meaning that

540-521: Is translated as "in the same boat", and it carries the same figurative meaning as the equivalent idiom in English. Another example would be the Japanese yojijukugo 一石二鳥 ( isseki ni chō ), which is translated as "one stone, two birds". This is, of course, analogous to "to kill two birds with one stone" in English. According to the German linguist Elizabeth Piirainen, the idiom "to get on one's nerves" has

576-522: The Construction Grammar framework. A relatively recent development in the syntactic analysis of idioms departs from a constituent-based account of syntactic structure, preferring instead the catena -based account. The catena unit was introduced to linguistics by William O'Grady in 1998. Any word or any combination of words that are linked together by dependencies qualifies as a catena. The words constituting idioms are stored as catenae in

612-405: The principle of compositionality . That compositionality is the key notion for the analysis of idioms emphasized in most accounts of idioms. This principle states that the meaning of a whole should be constructed from the meanings of the parts that make up the whole. In other words, one should be in a position to understand the whole if one understands the meanings of each of the parts that make up

648-505: The word-group and becomes an idiomatic expression . Idioms usually do not translate well; in some cases, when an idiom is translated directly word-for-word into another language, either its meaning is changed or it is meaningless. When two or three words are conventionally used together in a particular sequence, they form an irreversible binomial . For example, a person may be left high and dry , but never left dry and high . Not all irreversible binomials are idioms, however: chips and dip

684-594: The 1993 collection Know It All was published for younger audiences by Cecil's "assistant" Ed Zotti . In 1996, the A&;E Network briefly aired a show based on the column called The Straight Dope , hosted and co-written by comedian Mike Lukas. A podcast has also been released sporadically. Idiom An idiom is a phrase or expression that largely or exclusively carries a figurative or non-literal meaning , rather than making any literal sense. Categorized as formulaic language , an idiomatic expression's meaning

720-799: The English section of the Reduplication article for cases like walkie-talkie , ragtag , chit-chat , hip-hop , bing-bang-boom , etc. In law and official documents, there are many irreversible binomials and triplets consisting of near synonyms, such as the oft-heard terms and conditions and cease and desist . See the Legal doublet article for a list. The most common conjunctions in an irreversible binomial are and or or. Irreversible binomials are sometimes isocolons (bicolons, tricolons, etc.) which have become set phrases . They may also be called simply binomials. With three words, they may be called trinomials, and may satisfy

756-460: The attribution of the literal meaning changed and the phrase itself grew away from its original roots—typically leading to a folk etymology . For instance, the phrase "spill the beans" (meaning to reveal a secret) is first attested in 1919, but has been said to originate from an ancient method of voting by depositing beans in jars, which could be spilled, prematurely revealing the results. Other idioms are deliberately figurative. For example, break

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792-454: The birds and the bees , and collocations like mix and match , and wear and tear have particular meanings apart from or beyond those of their constituent words. Ubiquitous collocations like loud and clear and life or death are fixed expressions , making them a standard part of the vocabulary of native English speakers. Some English words have become obsolete in general but are still found in an irreversible binomial. For example, spick

828-411: The bottom of this situation? The fixed words of this idiom (in bold) do not form a constituent in any theory's analysis of syntactic structure because the object of the preposition (here this situation ) is not part of the idiom (but rather it is an argument of the idiom). One can know that it is not part of the idiom because it is variable; for example, How do we get to the bottom of this situation /

864-402: The claim / the phenomenon / her statement / etc. What this means is that theories of syntax that take the constituent to be the fundamental unit of syntactic analysis are challenged. The manner in which units of meaning are assigned to units of syntax remains unclear. This problem has motivated a tremendous amount of discussion and debate in linguistics circles and it is a primary motivator behind

900-412: The degree to which the literal reading of the idiom has a connection to its idiomatic meaning. This is referred to as motivation or transparency . While most idioms that do not display semantic composition generally do not allow non-adjectival modification, those that are also motivated allow lexical substitution. For example, oil the wheels and grease the wheels allow variation for nouns that elicit

936-448: The idiom contains the semantic role of a verb, but not of any object. This is true of kick the bucket , which means die . By contrast, the semantically composite idiom spill the beans , meaning reveal a secret , contains both a semantic verb and object, reveal and secret . Semantically composite idioms have a syntactic similarity between their surface and semantic forms. The types of movement allowed for certain idioms also relate to

972-439: The idiomatic structure, this continuity is only required for idioms as lexical entries. Certain idioms, allowing unrestricted syntactic modification, can be said to be metaphors. Expressions such as jump on the bandwagon , pull strings , and draw the line all represent their meaning independently in their verbs and objects, making them compositional. In the idiom jump on the bandwagon , jump on involves joining something and

1008-558: The leathers") in Italian. Some idioms are transparent. Much of their meaning gets through if they are taken (or translated) literally. For example, lay one's cards on the table meaning to reveal previously unknown intentions or to reveal a secret. Transparency is a matter of degree; spill the beans (to let secret information become known) and leave no stone unturned (to do everything possible in order to achieve or find something) are not entirely literally interpretable but involve only

1044-438: The lexicon, and as such, they are concrete units of syntax. The dependency grammar trees of a few sentences containing non-constituent idioms illustrate the point: The fixed words of the idiom (in orange) in each case are linked together by dependencies; they form a catena. The material that is outside of the idiom (in normal black script) is not part of the idiom. The following two trees illustrate proverbs: The fixed words of

1080-558: The other of Latin origin: deposes and says , ways and means . While many irreversible binomials are literal expressions (like washer and dryer, rest and relaxation, rich and famous, savings and loan ), some are entirely figurative (like come hell or high water, nip and tuck, surf and turf ) or mostly so (like between a rock and a hard place, five and dime ). Somewhat in between are more subtle figures of speech , synecdoches , metaphors , or hyperboles (like cat and mouse, sick and tired, barefoot and pregnant ). The terms are often

1116-541: The phenomenon had been discussed since at least 1903 under different names: a "terminological imbroglio". Ernest Gowers used the name Siamese twins (i.e., conjoined twins ) in the 1965 edition of Fowler's Modern English Usage . The 2015 edition reverts to the scholarly name, "irreversible binomials", as "Siamese twins" had become politically incorrect . Many irreversible binomials are catchy due to alliteration , rhyming , or ablaut reduplication , so becoming clichés or catchphrases . Idioms like rock and roll ,

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1152-538: The proverbs (in orange) again form a catena each time. The adjective nitty-gritty and the adverb always are not part of the respective proverb and their appearance does not interrupt the fixed words of the proverb. A caveat concerning the catena-based analysis of idioms concerns their status in the lexicon. Idioms are lexical items, which means they are stored as catenae in the lexicon. In the actual syntax, however, some idioms can be broken up by various functional constructions. The catena-based analysis of idioms provides

1188-548: The same figurative meaning in 57 European languages. She also says that the phrase "to shed crocodile tears", meaning to express insincere sorrow, is similarly widespread in European languages but is also used in Arabic, Swahili, Persian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Mongolian, and several others. The origin of cross-language idioms is uncertain. One theory is that cross-language idioms are a language contact phenomenon, resulting from

1224-573: The targets of eggcorns , malapropisms , mondegreens , and folk etymology . Some irreversible binomials can have minor variations without loss of understanding: time and time again is frequently shortened to time and again ; a person who is tarred and feathered (verb) can be said to be covered in tar and feathers (noun). However, in some cases small changes to wording change the meaning. The accommodating attitude of an activity's participants would be called give and take , while give or take means "approximately". Undertaking some act whether it

1260-454: The verb decorar , meaning memorize . In 2015, TED collected 40 examples of bizarre idioms that cannot be translated literally. They include the Swedish saying "to slide in on a shrimp sandwich", which refers those who did not have to work to get where they are. Conversely, idioms may be shared between multiple languages. For example, the Arabic phrase في نفس المركب ( fi nafs al-markeb )

1296-406: The whole. For example, if the phrase "Fred kicked the bucket " is understood compositionally, it means that Fred has literally kicked an actual, physical bucket. The idiomatic reading, however, is non-compositional: it means that Fred has died. Arriving at the idiomatic reading from the literal reading is unlikely for most speakers. What this means is that the idiomatic reading is, rather, stored as

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