WIDE CHOICE OF IDIOMS, MAXIMS, AND PROVERBS

WIDE CHOICE OF IDIOMS, MAXIMS, AND PROVERBS

Writers can pick up idioms, maxims, and proverbs from a large number available in all languages. They enhance the style of writing and are attractive to the receivers of the message. There are many such expressions that are vying with one another and wanting, willing and asking to be picked up by the communicators. Thus if senders of the message have a better command over the language and vocabulary, they would be more proficient in selecting the right ones. A few examples are:

(1) The colleague who always speaks to the point can also be described as a person who never „minces his words‟ or he is „cut and dry‟.

(2) Raju, a villager, was always getting drunk and falling in the gutter. He would beat his wife „black and blue‟, snatching her money and „blowing it up on drinks‟. His family was fed up with him. He did not have any friends „worth the name‟. When Raju‟s life came to an end, his family „breathed a sigh of relief‟. One fine morning, he was found dead in a gutter. Someone said that Raju „breathed his last‟ but one could also say that he „kicked the bucket‟.

EVOLUTION OF IDIOMS, MAXIMS, AND PROVERBS

Following examples are illustrative:

(1) Story of kicking the bucket
One view is the bucket in the story does not refer to a bucket as such but to a wooden frame used in the olden days to hang freshly killed pigs.
Another theory is that the idiom was coined by looking at the way people took their own lives. Such persons kept the bucket upside down to stand on, put the noose hanging from the ceiling around their neck and then kicked the bucket from underneath.

(2) Story of sour grapes
Leila was „head over heel‟ in love with Rahul but he „spurned her overtures‟ and married Pooja. Leila was very much upset but went about pretending that she „knew in her heart of hearts‟ that Rahul was not the sticking type. Someone said it is a clear case of „sour grapes‟ as mentioned in Aesop‟s fable, „The Fox and the Sour Grapes‟.

IMPORTANCE OF IDIOMS, MAXIMS, AND PROVERBS

IMPORTANCE OF IDIOMS, MAXIMS, AND PROVERBS

Idioms, maxims, and proverbs are specimens of language in its crystalline form. These are often compared to the glittering diamonds in a gold necklace.
These are used to express feelings, thoughts, and ideas in a succinct, effective and attractive way. Normally a matter that requires several sentences or a whole paragraph may be expressed in 2 or 3 words. The combination of these words has meanings that are far removed from its literal meanings. For example, when it is said, „In a nutshell‟, it means saying in a few words. When someone feels that the Government machinery moves at „a snail pace‟, he means that there are usual bureaucratic delays that send people „from pillar to post‟. One can „cut the long story short‟ and simply say „red tape‟.
If a person can build up a good repertory of idioms, maxims, proverbs, and quotations and then recollect them to suit the occasion, he is already well on his way to becoming a good writer and/or a good speaker.

ROLE OF IDIOMS, MAXIMS, AND PROVERBS

ROLE OF IDIOMS, MAXIMS, AND PROVERBS

Use of idioms, maxims and proverbs help in embellishing style of communication. However, we have to learn to use them judiciously and with deep understanding;

(1) Idiom
It is an accepted phrase, construction or expression in a language. However, it may be contrary to the usual pattern of a language and has meanings that are different from the literal ones. It can often be a peculiar phraseology, a dialect or a language.

(2) Maxim
It is a concisely expressed principle or rule of conduct and is a statement of general truth or precept.

(3) Proverb
It is a short saying in common use that strikingly expresses a maxim. It is an enigmatical saying in which a profound truth is cloaked or hidden.
For details, refer to various examples given in the following paragraphs.