Me and My Shadow

“Me and My Shadow” is a popular song, written nearly a hundred years ago and recorded countless times since then. It is about being lonely – the only company the singer has is his or her own shadow:

Me and my shadow,

Strollin’ down the avenue.

Me and my shadow,

Not a soul to tell our troubles to.

And when it’s twelve o’ clock

We climb the stairs

And we never knock

For there’s nobody there.

A shadow is a dark area or shape formed when an object blocks a source of light.

There are many idioms in the English language using the image of a shadow. Here are some of them.

To be afraid of one’s own shadow.

We use this about someone who is very nervous and frightened:

He’s not at all brave – he’s even afraid of his own shadow.

To be a shadow of oneself.

Used about someone who isn’t as healthy or as good at something as he or she used to be:

She must have been very ill. I nearly didn’t recognise her – she’s a mere shadow of herself.

He’s just a shadow of himself. He used to be a great footballer, but not any more.

Beyond (or without) a shadow of a doubt.

We use this when we think that something is certainly true:

Beyond a shadow of a doubt, she’s the best actress of our times.

That proves, without a shadow of a doubt, that we were right,

To be in someone’s shadow/to be overshadowed

We use these when one person is judged not to as good at something as someone else:

He was good at maths, but he was always in his brother’s shadow.

However hard we tried, we were always overshadowed by the other team.

To be in (or under) the shadow of something

We use this when something is very close to a larger building or place:

The village is in the shadow of that huge mountain.

We also use it when it seems likely that something bad is happening or likely to happen:

For several years we have been living under the shadow of war.

To shadow someone

This is used when one person follows another person, particularly in order to learn:

When I started my new job, I spent a week shadowing one of the more experienced members of staff. That way, I learned a lot about what I was expected to do.

In British politics one party is the “official opposition” to the government. This opposition party forms a “shadow cabinet”, the members of which “shadow” government ministers and hold them to account:

She spent three years in the shadow cabinet as shadow minister for industry.

In the shadows/a shadowy figure

Used to describe someone who is mysterious or hidden:

The criminal was lurking in the shadows.

He was such a shadowy figure that we thought he might be a spy.

To come out of the shadows

We use this to talk about someone or something entering public awareness:

The crisis means that many people who were quietly dissatisfied have had to come out of the shadows and make themselves known.

For years the sport has been known to only a few people, but now it has come out of the shadows and is gaining popularity.

To cast a (long) shadow

This is used when somebody or something has a bad influence or effect – often lasting a long time:

Covid cast its long shadow over people in many parts of the world.

Their mother’s illness cast a shadow over what should have been a happy time.

To chase shadows

We use this to talk about trying to find or achieve something that is difficult or impossible to locate or that doesn’t exist:

Trying to find enough people to support us was like chasing shadows

We wanted to find the solution to the problem but really we were chasing shadows.

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Posted by Graham