War and the weather

My next two archive posts about English phrases and idioms are each the third post on a topic.

Take aim – War (Part 3)

 Seasons – Weather (Part 3)

I am not currently writing new posts for this blog.  Comments are closed on my earlier posts.  However you are welcome to comment on them here for a limited time.

There are new posts twice a week on my other blog Sue’s Trifles.

Stone, wind and fire

Truth is a rock large enough for us all to stand upon is an expression I first came across on the internet.  It seems worth including here.  Another blogger was asking about truth recently.

A slow fuse is not found in an electric plug, but could be used to set off an explosive charge.  I have written elsewhere about tools being used for good or evil purposes.  Explosives are useful in quarries, for example.

A live wire could cause an electric shock or even death by electrocution.  A person may be descried as a live wire, meaning lively, energetic and determined.

Add fuel to the fire is often used figuratively meaning making a difficult situation worse.

Too hot to handle is used both literally and as a metaphor.  A controversial issue could be described in this way.

A lazy wind doesn’t go round you, it goes through you.

Strictly this expression would have fitted in one of my posts about the weather.  It is one I have heard in a particular part of England.  Perhaps you, my readers, would be kind enough to tell me whether its use is widespread.

A biting wind hurts.

Starved usually means desperately short of food.  Someone may look half-starved.  In some areas I have heard the expression starved with cold.

Rock solid may describe the arguments in a case for or against something or a person’s character.

Idée fixe is a French expression, which has found its way into the English language, to describe a set idea, which someone is not prepared to reconsider.

Not set in stone is an expression about flexibility perhaps by contrast to the commandments received by Moses.  (Exodus 24:12)