Bee in your bonnet
We say that someone has a bee in their bonnet when they can’t stop talking or thinking about something. This might be because they are worried or angry about it. Or it might be...
Category: Usage
To put one’s foot in it
“To put one’s foot in it” is an idiom. We use it to talk about someone saying something embarrassing without meaning to do so. If I say “I put my foot in it”, I...
Mind-boggling
When we say that something is mind-boggling, we mean that it is so large, complicated or extreme that it is very surprising and difficult to understand or imagine. For example: We often use the...
What is the difference between “comfortable” and “convenient”?
In English there is quite a big difference between “comfortable” and “convenient”, but in some other languages, the difference might not be quite so clear. In Russian, for example, the word “Удобный” (udobnyy) can...
Unperturbed or imperturbable?
To understand the difference between unperturbed and imperturbable, let’s start with the meaning of “perturbed”, which is something like upset or troubled. We say that someone is “unperturbed” when they are not perturbed –...
Conscience
“Conscience” is pronounced something like “konshuns” ( /ˈkɑn·ʃəns/ ). If you would like to hear it pronounced by a speaker of British English, click here. We use it to mean knowing what is right...
What is a Joke?
As a noun, “a joke” is something that is said to make people laugh. And as a verb, “to joke” is to say something to make people laugh. Some examples: (In English there is...
Namesake
We mostly use “namesake” when two people have both the same first name and the same last name. The idea really originates from the custom (not as common now as it used to be)...
What does erroneous mean?
We use “erroneous” to mean “mistaken”, “false” or “containing errors”. It’s an adjective related to the noun “error”. We often use it with “information” (“erroneous information”) but can be used with many other nouns...