A New Endeavor

I’M TAKING A LOOK AT a new endeavor in my writing, and this essay helps in summarizing the framework for this effort. I will be examining the use and importance of proverbs and idioms in our everyday language, and may expand this preview into my next book.

Hang with me. We’ll get there.

At this point, the essay is still a whirlwind of fragmented thoughts. I’m confident these “morning pages” will help me uncover the vast world of proverbs and idioms and show how useful and fun they are, as they add spice to everyday conversations and help one better comprehend the English language.

I’m also enjoying Google searches using AI, which have helped me unearth a collection of classic idioms and proverbs to peruse. They were often used by my parents, especially my mom, as purposeful teachings in their parenting roles in my youth. I’m hoping they can serve as a guiding light for all of us in these rather troubling times.

Frankly, I knew them as “Mom’s little sayings”, but with the help of AI and recalling my high school English classes, I now refer to them as figures of speech.

Before we get the cart in front of the horse, let’s start with the differences between the two, so we'll be on the same page.

Ah, I just threw a couple of curves your way, trying to help in understanding the differences between the two that only an English teacher could comprehend and explain.  

Proverbs are expressions that teach a lesson or give advice. Idioms are “short cuts” in language used for expressing an idea or relationship.

Oh, dear, I can’t tell you what my off-the-cuff sayings are classified as, even after spending half a day researching the definitions of the two figures of speech.

Yes, it is getting more complicated than I had imagined.

It reminds me of the scene in the 1998 movie Almost Heroes, where Chris Farley (Bartholomew Hunt) is trying to learn the alphabet from his mentor Matthew Perry (Leslie Edwards). He finally explodes in a tirade, “Do you want my head to explode?” The scene in the movie has all the frustration I’m currently experiencing, but it's a lot funnier than this essay.

Here is the final straw from Google and AI.

Metaphors are the core mechanism behind many idioms and proverbs, serving as the imaginative, underlying comparison that gives them meaning. While a metaphor directly equates two unlike things (e.g., "time is a thief") to create new imagery, idioms and proverbs are culturally established, fixed phrases that often use metaphoric language to convey deeper, widely understood meanings (e.g., "bite the bullet"). 

Do you think brainiacs sit in a room and decide what figures of speech a saying falls under?

OK. I’ve slowly counted to 10. I believe that my new endeavor is not going well.

Just imagine, I was thinking of adding Aesop’s Fables, a book I just reread, into this new project.

Enough is enough.

Back to the drawing board.

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A list of favorite proverbs and idioms from my youth.

Keep your chin up (I)

Honesty is the best policy (P)

The ball is in your court (I)

Don’t judge a book by its cover (P)

Hit the nail on its head (I)

On cloud nine (I)

The early bird catches the worm (P)

Burn the midnight oil (I)

The grass is always greener on the other side (P)