Kick the bucket, buy the farm: why English has so many ways to say "die"
English has dozens of euphemisms for death — kick the bucket, six feet under, pushing up daisies. Where they came from and which ones you can safely use.
Idiomer Blog
Articles about English and Vietnamese idioms, proverbs and slang.
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An arm and a leg, a dime a dozen: money idioms in English and Vietnamese
Money idioms reveal what a culture thinks about wealth. English's cost an arm and a leg, break the bank and a dime a dozen, with their Vietnamese cousins.
Under the weather: how English uses the forecast to talk about feelings
Raining cats and dogs, every cloud has a silver lining, chasing rainbows — English weather idioms decoded, with their meanings and real examples.
8 Vietnamese proverbs every learner should know first
Uống nước nhớ nguồn, gần mực thì đen — the Vietnamese proverbs (tục ngữ) that carry the culture, explained for learners with literal translations.
Codswallop and nincompoops: Victorian slang that deserves a comeback
From Hotten's 1874 slang dictionary and Brewer's 1898 Phrase & Fable: Victorian insults and expressions too good to stay buried.
Anh cả or anh hai? A field guide to North vs South Vietnamese words
The same Vietnamese thing often has two names — one Northern, one Southern. Eldest brothers, T-shirts and pork belly: a learner's guide to regional vocabulary.
From piece of cake to in a pickle: what food idioms say about English
English thinks with its stomach: piece of cake, spill the beans, big cheese, in a pickle. The tastiest corner of the idiom dictionary, explained.
How to make idioms stick: what actually works (and what doesn't)
Reading idiom lists does almost nothing. Retrieval practice, context sentences and spaced repetition are what move idioms into long-term memory.
Sổ thông hành: the pre-1975 Vietnamese words the diaspora kept
Overseas Vietnamese communities preserve vocabulary from before 1975 — sổ thông hành, máy vi âm, quan thuế. A dictionary of a language's time capsule.
Playing the lute to a buffalo: how the trâu shaped Vietnamese idiom
The water buffalo is Vietnamese culture's hardest worker — and its favorite idiom ingredient. Đàn gảy tai trâu, trâu buộc ghét trâu ăn, and more.
Nói lái: the Vietnamese art of speaking backwards
How Vietnamese swaps sounds between syllables to hide jokes in plain sight — tôi yêu rồi becomes ôi tiêu rồi — and how Idiomer decodes it automatically.
27 everyday English idioms you'll actually hear
A practical starter set of English idioms that still appear in real conversation — with plain-English meanings and links to full entries with examples.
6 pairs of English and Vietnamese idioms that mean the same thing
Đứng núi này trông núi nọ and the grass is always greener: idiom pairs where English and Vietnamese arrived at the same wisdom by different roads.
Gen Z slang, actually explained: rizz, no cap, delulu and friends
A field guide to 2020s slang for parents, teachers and English learners — what rizz, no cap, bussin, mid and brain rot actually mean, with real evidence.