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Bernard De Voto

(1897—1956), Mark Twain: The Ink of History

Pessimism is only the name that men of weak nerves give to wisdom.

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Bernard De Voto

(1897-1956) U.S. historiancritic Whiskey and vermouth cannot meet as friends, and the Manhattan is an offense against piety. www.english-slang.com

Mark Twain

(1835-1910) The very ink with which all history is written is merely fluid prejudice. www.english-slang.com

get on one's nerves

[get on one's nerves] {v. phr.} To make you nervous. * /John's noisy eating habits get on your nerves./ * /Children get on their parents' nerves by asking so many […] A Dictionary of American Idioms

Mark Twain

(1835-1910), Following the Equator, 1897 In the first place, God made idiots. This was for practice. Then he made school boards. www.english-slang.com

Slang is

"very informal usage in vocabulary and idiom that is characteristically more metaphorical, playful, elliptical, vivid and ephemeral than ordinary language" (Random House Unabridged Dictionary) - learn ~600 slang expressions

An idiom is

an expression "whose meaning is not predictable from the usual meanings of its constituent elements… or from the general grammatical rules of a language"

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for the life of one

[for the life of one] {adv.}, {informal} No matter how hard you try. - Used for emphasis with negative statements. * /I […]

sign of the times

[sign of the times] {n. phr.} A characteristic of the times in which one lives. * /It is a sad sign of the times that all […]

Irvin S. Cobb

(1876-1944) U.S. humorist If writers were good businessmen, they'd have too much sense to be writers.

Quizzes on idioms starting with E

Pandoras box

[Pandora's box] {n. phr.}, {literary} A thing or problem that, if activated, will give rise to many unmanageable problems. * […]

write home about

[write home about] {v. phr.} To become especially enthusiastic or excited about; boast about. - Often used after "to". * […]

Napoleon Bonaparte

(1769-1821) I like convents, but I wish they would not admit anyone under the age of fifty.