Farming and a competition

Welcome to Sue’s considered trifles, a blog about the English language.  The early posts are about sayings, idioms, proverbs and quotations, mainly remembered from Sue’s childhood.  No new material is being added, but links to the earlier posts are being posted each Thursday.  Check out the pages on the menu if you are interested.  Comments are closed on early posts, but links open in new tabs, so it is easy to find this post again and comment below. 🙂

The first link is to a post about sayings from farming.  The second post announced that I had entered the 1^st UK Blog awards.  A large enough number of my readers were kind to me and my blogs were shortlisted!

Down on the farm (Part 1)

UK Blog Awards 2014

Sue’s other blogs are Sue’s Trifles and Sue’s words and pictures.

A look in the eye

I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat

is a famous quotation from Winston Churchill.  (Speech in the House of Commons, 13 May 1940)

I could do it blindfolded is an expression about a task which the speaker has done many times before. 

A blind man would be glad to see it.
This is said when a fault in workmanship is being discussed.

The blind leading the blind is a description of two people who cannot see a way forward in a situation.

If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the ditch.  Matthew 15:14

Look right, look left and if nothing is coming, cross the road.

In Britain, where traffic drives on the left, this is how children used to be taught.  It has been superseded by other methods including the Green Cross Code.  With foreign travel being more usual than it was in my childhood, it is important to be able to cross the road safely even when the direction of traffic flow is the opposite.  “Look all around and if nothing is coming…”

All me eye and Peggy Martin/Betty Martin
describes an attempt at deception.  The Dictionary of Modern Phrase defines it as nonsense.  The long explanation includes the following facts.  There is an age-old gesture of pulling down the lower eyelid to indicate disbelief.  Betty Martin was an actress in the eighteenth century.

It will all end in tears.
Is this the view of a pessimist?

He didn’t bat an eyelid.
Liars are supposed to blink a lot.  Someone telling a lie or trying to talk their way out of an awkward situation might have their behaviour and words reported using this phrase.

There’s more to this than meets the eye.
Something which is not obvious on the surface is going on.  A hidden agenda, perhaps.

Seeing is believing.
It is a form of proof.

Have a decko/dekko is slang for have a look.  (It derives from the word in Hindi –dekho.)

Blinkered is unable to see anything which is not directly in front. The US version is with blinders on.

Tunnel vision is a physical condition, but may also be used figuratively.

Before your very eyes is a phrase used in the Bible (2 Samuel 12:11) where the prophet Nathan is speaking God’s words to King David.  The link puts the phrase in context and makes for an interesting read.  2 Samuel 11-12.

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News about the UK Blog Awards:  Voting is now open.  This blog is entered in the Education category.  My other blog, Sue’s Trifles is entered in the Education category and the lifestyle category.  A free ebook by the entrants is on offer to voters.  There are voting buttons – one below the posts on this blog and two on the sidebar of Sue’s Trifles.