American Culture Class

Hello all,

Today we learned about idiomatic expressions having to do with color. But first, what's an idiom? An idiom is  an expression that means something other than the literal meanings of its individual words. We use many idiomatic expression in English, so it's important to learn as many as you can. Idiomatic expressions are also reflective of culture. For example, in American culture the color blue is associated with sadness because of the musical genre "Blues," which was created by black American folks to express their deep sadness and frustration at the opression they faced (and still face) in American society. As Rita Mae West puts it, ❝Language is the road map of a culture. It tells you where its people come from and where they are going.❞

Here is a lsist of the idioms we learned today with definitions:

1. paint the town red - celebrate wildly

2. caught (catch) red handed - found in the very act of a crime

3. red-faced - flushed with embarrassment or anger

4. red-eye -commercial airline flight that depart late at night and arrives early in the morning

5. red-carpet treatment - to treat someone like they are important 

6. see red - become very angry

7. in the red - operating at a loss or being in debt

8. white heat - intense temperature, stage of intense activity or emotion

9. green thumb - natural talent for growing plants

10. white lie -minor, polite, or harmless lie

11. wave the white flag - give up, surrender

12. green with envy/green eyed-montster - envious to the point where it is noticable to others

13. tickled pink - delight

14. give the green light - approve

15. blackmail - to extort money by the use of threat

16. black-tie - requiring that guests wear formal attire

17. black market - trade of goods in violation of the law

18. red letter day - an important day 

19. out of the blue - suddenly and unexpectedly

20. silver lining - something good that comes out of something bad

This week, I would like you to listen to "Rolling in the Deep" by Adele. Find THREE idioms in the song and comment below with their definitions. Thanks!