My 8 Literal Illustrations Of English Idioms Show How Funny Some Of Them Are (New Pics)

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Why? 5 years ago

He's currently out on bale.

21points

Aragorn II Elessar 5 years ago

Nice pun.

2points

Becca Gizmo the Squirrel 5 years ago

Well people's bed used to be made of hay.

6points

Vanta Black 5 years ago

"Gimme back my needle!"

0points

COHEN SURBAUGH 5 years ago

Lol

0points

Andrew Gibb 5 years ago

People used to stuff bedding with hay and straw- hence this saying. And the one about bed bugs

0points

Marcellus the Third 5 years ago

I'd see it more as hitting the hay/ hitting the sack as throwing yourself onto it!

0points

Kaiyan Nageswaran 5 years ago

He wants to sleep, but the hay is in the way. What to do? Hit the hay, of course!

-2points

#2

Not The Brightest Bulb In The Box

Final score:

30points

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Lynda Momalo 5 years ago

Similar idioms are "Not the sharpest knife in the drawer", "not the sharpest tool in the shed.", "not the smartest piggy in the litter."

11points

Lauren Caswell 5 years ago

My fave was an old friend of mine at school who worded it as "not the smartest tool in the shed". Didn't have the heart or patience to try correcting that

1point

Caridina Japonica 5 years ago

This comment has been deleted.

1point

Marilyn Bojanowski 5 years ago

she was LOOKING KINDA DUMB

0points

SoozeeQ 5 years ago

A sandwich short of a picnic.

1point

Avery S Alberico 5 years ago

For my family, the saying is "Not the smartest fox in the woods"

1point

Kjorn 5 years ago

we have a politician here whos said: it's not the most unfrozen corndog from the box (Don't know if i translate it well it was said in french)

0points

Guinivere Joy 5 years ago

Not very smart could also be, 'not playing with a full deck', and I've heard the Brit saying, 'thick (as a brick).' Also, if more than a bit odd / slightly unbalanced, then 'half a bubble off plumb'.

0points

Jessica Cifelli 5 years ago

"Not the brightest crayon in the box"

0points

Millicent MacDonald 5 years ago

in Australia, she'd be a slice short of a loaf.

0points

John Baker 5 years ago

I've heard not the sharpest pencil in the box and not the brightest bulb in the marquee, but never not the brightest bulb in the box.

0points

mummy pig 5 years ago

We simply say tubelight here

0points

Kaiyan Nageswaran 5 years ago

“You’ll never be dim.” They said. “Stick to your dreams.” They said

0points

#3

Spill The Beans

Final score:

26points

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togcrewsc 5 years ago

it doesn't have to be secret... not all of us are undercover FBI agents, just a select few.

8points

Monika Soffronow 5 years ago

How do you know? Who spilled the beans?

5points

Jan Feline 5 years ago

Am not!

1point

J Rob 5 years ago

Cambridge Dictionary Spill the beans; to tell people secret information: So who spilled the beans about her affair with David?

1point

Harold Summer 5 years ago

Never understood why it is "beans" and not "corn" or "potatoes" or "wheat", etc. Are beans more talkative than other plant products?

2points

Liam Walsh 5 years ago

The phrase is said to have originated in ancient Greece, where people cast secret votes by putting white or black beans in a jar (a white bean indicated a positive vote and a black bean was negative). ... “Come on, spill the beans!" because they were impatient for the results.

4points

Koutha Thin Buak 5 years ago

ooo some things finna get said!!!! *sips tea*

1point

Alioan Patea 5 years ago (edited)

Also sip the tea

0points

John Baker 5 years ago

Also "let the cat out of the bag."

0points

mummy pig 5 years ago

Heard this one movies many times

0points

Kaiyan Nageswaran 5 years ago

The secret is there are beans in the bean can.

0points

#4

Storm In A Teacup

Final score:

26points

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Lynda Momalo 5 years ago

I've usually heard it as "tempest in a teacup" -- but that might be a Britishism. It's pretty rare. People are more likely to say "Make a mountain out of a mole hill."

11points

Liam Walsh 5 years ago

Tempest in a teacup is US version. Storm in a teacup is British.

4points

Becca Gizmo the Squirrel 5 years ago

Never heard of this either.

3points

Marty Sunderland 5 years ago

I've heard tempest in a tea pot

2points

Astrid Nineor 5 years ago

I Norway we say Storm in a glass of water.

1point

Marci King-Shelton 5 years ago

Me either.

1point

Monika Soffronow 5 years ago

I'm not worried about the latest health scare, it's just a storm in a teacup! (I so wish that we could say this and mean it!)

1point

Brenda Alvira Alvarez 5 years ago

In Spanish is drowning yourself in a glass of water .

0points

Joran Quinten 5 years ago

In Dutch the saying goes "storm in a glass of water"

0points

IrishGirl 5 years ago

Like 'much ado 'bout nothin'?' Never heard this one...

0points

Tina Hugh 5 years ago

Tempest in a teapot?

0points

Valkyrie 5 years ago

Tempest in a Teapot.

0points

Kaiyan Nageswaran 5 years ago

The storm is always causing hullabaloo. The teacup has to deal with it.

0points

Harold Summer 5 years ago

or Tempest in a Teapot. A bunch of noise, bubbling and hot air in a small thing.

0points

#5

On The Ball

Final score:

26points

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Harold Summer 5 years ago

Also implies acting appropriately, clearly, and quickly to the situation

15points

columbokateUK 5 years ago

it means this more than the other explanation

1point

Kaiyan Nageswaran 5 years ago

Cat: “I know that I’m on a ball.”

1point

Jan Feline 5 years ago

Cat: "Since you took mine..."

0points

Marcellus the Third 5 years ago

That's just confusing the issue extra... "On the ball" is in any ball sports, where you have your eyes and possibly legs on the ball --- i.e. you're actively managing/monitoring the ball; not precariously balancing without any progress as in the illustration.

-2points

Suzieq 5 years ago

I agree, this is a sports metaphor. Coaches would praise a player keeping an eye on the ball or being on the ball.

0points

#6

Kick The Bucket

Final score:

25points

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Why? 5 years ago

She does look a little pail.

43points

Harold Summer 5 years ago

You're killing me with the puns.

7points

Lillian Johansson 5 years ago

that is hilarious

2points

JeffC 5 years ago

Why? Because you are the pun king!!! lol nice ones

0points

Lynda Momalo 5 years ago

Kicking the bucket is said to come from, when someone was hanging themselves, they would stand on a bucket and then kick it out from under themselves, so they'd drop.

1point

Liam Walsh 5 years ago

That's actually considerered apocryphal. The Oxford English Dictionary describes as more plausible the archaic use of "bucket" as a beam from which a pig is hung by its feet prior to being slaughtered.

2points

Monika Soffronow 5 years ago

I'm on an organ donor's list for when I kick the bucket, the only way to keep at it.

1point

Kaiyan Nageswaran 5 years ago

She kicked the bucket, sprained her foot, caught blood poisoning, and died

1point

Aragorn II Elessar 5 years ago

I still remember my grandfather’s last words to me before he kicked the bucket: “How far do you think I can kick this bucket?”

0points

#7

Blue In The Face

Final score:

24points

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Brent Hollett 5 years ago

She looks like she's blushing blue. Needs more exhaustion.

11points

Lynda Momalo 5 years ago

Blue in the face is pretty much exclusively used to describe being frustrated after trying to explain something, as part of "I could tell her to clean up my room until I'm blue in the face, but she never will" But you wouldn't say something like, "I tried to beat my sprint record so many times I'm blue in the face."

7points

Why? 5 years ago

With blue in the face and red in the hair, she will soon be marooned.

5points

Up All Night 5 years ago

I love the color schemes you use.

1point

Róisín Hahessy (Submission author) 5 years ago

Thank you :)

2points

Kjorn 5 years ago

that's the meaning of the blue man group

0points

Sue Prewitt 5 years ago

until you've run out of oxygen and turned blue

0points

Kaiyan Nageswaran 5 years ago

“I’m too weak to even put up a fight against you.” I do look stupid with these blue spots.

0points

TS Rhodes 5 years ago

No, it means oxygen deprivation.

0points

Monika Soffronow 5 years ago

You can argue until you're blue in the face, but I refuse to believe that it does not have an idiomatic meaning.

7points

#8

Heart In Your Mouth

Final score:

21points

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Why? 5 years ago

Usually occurs after foot in the mouth.

10points

Marcellus the Third 5 years ago

But when is the heart on the sleeves then??

2points

Cathelijne van Weelden 5 years ago

In the Netherlands we say 'heart on the tongue' and it means that you tell people how you feel about things even when this might not be polite.

3points

Lauren Caswell 5 years ago (edited)

I like that. It's "being blunt/brutally honest", but heart on the tongue feels less harsh and more like it's said with love/good intent ^-^

0points

Monika Soffronow 5 years ago

When the intergalactic rocket was about to take off, my heart was in my mouth. This usage alludes to the heart beating so violently that it appears to leap upward. [ Mid-1500s]

2points

Kaiyan Nageswaran 5 years ago

I would be frightened too, if my heart was in my mouth.

1point

Harold Summer 5 years ago

Best literally experienced by going over a roller coaster drop!

1point

Marci King-Shelton 5 years ago

I've never heard this one.

1point

Tikki 5 years ago

I have heart of heart in throat but not in mouth.

0points

John McCullough 5 years ago

I've heard of saying "lump in my throat" to mean nervous or anxious.

0points

Aragorn II Elessar 5 years ago

I suppose it’s intended to imply that it’s beating so hard and so fast that it feels like it jumps into your mouth. I have no idea

0points

Becca Gizmo the Squirrel 5 years ago (edited)

I have never heard of heart in your mouth. I've heard of wearing your heart on your sleeve, but not in your mouth.

0points