Hello and welcome to English and Music. This is your instructor Dr. Patrick Francis. This is class number 4, Language Usage Comprehensive Review. In our previous classes, we've talked in depth and defined many approaches to using language and different language devices such as: metaphor, simile, etc. Today, we are going to review all of those and look at one new one, idiom, English language idioms, I hope you'll find interesting, uumm, ok...Let's get started.

English Idioms.

      Idioms are defined as, an expression whose meaning is not predictable of its' usual meaning or grammatical structure of it's words. Such as, “Kick the bucket”, which means to die, or “Hang one's head,” which means to feel shame. Idioms occur in every language and understanding even a few English idioms can lead you to a deeper understanding of the language and the culture. Some of them are quite humorous, so knowing a few idioms can be very helpful in your conversation if you use common idioms. Here are some common idioms to discuss:

Babe in the woods. Babe is a young child. A babe in the woods, is a naive, defenseless, young person. Naive means innocent and inexperienced, so, if I say, “oh, that girl is such a babe in the woods,” that means, she is quite innocent, and someone could take advantage of her. She could get into trouble because she is so innocent and inexperienced.

Can of worms. If an action can create serious problems it is “opening a can of worms”. This is a common idiom if you create a problem by an action, you have opened a can of worms. If you say something that is a sensitive issue for someone you may upset them and that's also opening a can of worms. “oh, I really opened a can of worms,” which means I caused a lot of problems.

The last straw. This is a very common idiom. “The last straw” is the final problem that makes someone lose their temper or the problem that finally brought about the collapse of something. This idiom comes from a story, an old story, about a camel that gets loaded with hay. The camel is a large animal that lives in the desert, and is used to carry people and heavy things. Hay is a type of grass that animals eat; livestock, cows, horses eat hay, and one piece of this hay is called a straw. So, the last straw, this is really the last straw, it comes from a story where the camel is loaded with hay, one straw at a time, and so much hay is put on it's back, that the camel's back breaks. It's the last straw that is put on it's back that causes the camel to collapse. So, that's where this idiom comes from, it's a very common idiom.

Pain in the neck. If someone is very annoying and always disturbing you, they are a pain in the neck. For example, “Oh my brother is such a pain in the neck, he is always making so much noise.” A pain in the neck does not have to be a person, it can also be a thing, like for example, your car keeps breaking down, you can call your car a pain in the neck, “That car is always breaking down, it is such a pain in the neck.”

Screw loose. If someone has a screw loose, they are crazy. Screw loose, the chinese equivalent, would be “sun jing bing”. If you say someone has a screw loose, it means they are crazy. That lady has a screw loose, a little bit crazy.

      So, those are some examples of English idioms. Understanding idioms can really help you in English conversation in particular, and also understanding, and not only expressing yourself, but understanding what people say, because it's very common for people to use idioms. We see idioms in the songs we look at. Ok, let's move on.

Ok, this is an example of idioms, this is the famous song, “My Way”, recorded by Frank Sinatra. We have some examples of idioms in this song. They're in the lyrics, they're in bold italics. The first one:

The final curtain= death. The final curtain is a reference to theater when a performance is over and the final curtain, the last curtain comes down. That means the evening is over, the applause is ended, the audience is leaving, and the actors work is done. The final curtain means death.

State my case. State my case is to say what you think, or say what I think. Let me state my case, state my case is a reference to the court room, in a court of law, the lawyer, will state his case.

Bit off more than I could chew. This means to put oneself in a difficult situation. It can also mean, taking on too much work, if you take on a project, for example, if you have a large project to do and you think you can do it all by yourself, but you can't. You have bitten off more than you can chew. Or if you put yourself in a situation for which you are not ready, you have bitten off more than you can chew. That's not a good place to be.

Stand tall, and he says, “and I stood tall”, stood tall means to be strong. You have to be strong in life, that's part of the message of this song. Standing tall is to be strong in the face of difficulty that life presents you.

Had my fill. Had my fill means to do something until you are satisfied. This is a reference to eating, eat until you're full. Had my fill, have your fill of something, means to do it until you are satisfied.

Ok, so those are examples of idioms in this song that was recorded by Frank Sinatra.

That was a great performance of, “My Way,” by the one and only Frank Sinatra, whose nick name was “Old Blue Eyes”.

Ok, so those are idioms, and this is a song with several examples of idioms for you to add to your language things.

So, hopefully the idioms, understanding, helped you understand the meaning of the song. Idioms are very useful in everyday conversation.

Language elements checklist:

These are things we've talked about in prior classes, rhyming. We should all know what rhyming means now; words that end with the same sound. Such as hall, tall, or ball, these words rhyme and some writers will use these words frequently in writing lyrics for their songs not always but quite often.

Metaphor, is saying one thing is another. If I say the man is a monster, of course he's not really a monster, but the qualities of a monster that you can think of, that's what I want you to think about this person. That man is a monster.

Simile, very closely related to metaphor. Simile, like the word similar, gives the qualities of one thing to another. Our example in another class, was “Love is like a rose”. The trick to remembering the difference between a metaphor and a simile, is that simile uses the word, “like” or the word “as”. In the movie Forrest Gump, Tom Hanks uses the simile, “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never quite know what you're going to get.” So that's an example of simile from a famous movie. Remember the word like, id something is like something else, that is a simile.

Perspective, what is the perspective of the song? I, you, or he, she, it. I the “I” perspective is the first person, you if the speaker is constantly saying “you” in the song he is talking to someone else, he's referring to the “you”, that is second person, third person is telling a story, he, she, or it. Also, we have two other elements in perspective, we have: objective and subjective.

Subjective, means the speaker tells us how he feels what he's talking about. We know how the speaker feels.

Objective is the opposite. Objective means we don't know how the speaker feels, we are given facts and information, but we don't know the speaker's emotions.

Connotation. The extra meaning or association with a word. For example, the word smile, most people would have good association with the word smile, happy would be one association, happy friendly, I think of those words when I hear the word smile. Compare that with the word teeth, I think about the dentist when I hear the word teeth or I think about the word eating, food, and then maybe I'll think about a smile. Connotation is extra meaning, association you have with a word.

Idiom. We listened to Frank Sinatra sing “My Way” which has several idioms in the lyrics. Idiom is when a phrase does not mean literally what it says, it means something else. Those are our language elements.