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Matthew is from New Zealand. He taught English in Tokyo and Auckland from 2002 to 2011. Now he lives in Brazil. In his spare time he plays tennis, cricket and guitar. He does crosswords, plays video games and likes to cook. He would like to go surfing, but he lives more than 1,000 km from the sea. He speaks decent Japanese and is learning Portuguese. Matthew is co-founder of Poligo.
Siamese Twins
By Matthew, 1 October 2008 - 5:32pm
Siamese Twins are pairs of words that cannot be reversed. They always come in a set order and are often joined by and, or or to.
| alive and kicking | living and healthy | Stay until your love is alive and kicking. |
| alive and well | living and healthy |
A: How's old man Burns? |
| all or nothing | no compromise | With the scores tied and just three minutes left in the match, it was all or nothing. |
| an arm and a leg | a very expensive price | His new car cost him an arm and a leg. |
| back and forth |
backwards and forwards |
I have been going back and forth between school and home all day. |
| back to front | the opposite way round | "Less or more" is back to front. You should say "more or less". |
| be all and end all | the most important part | Gavin thinks he is the be all and end all of Sales. |
| bells and whistles | extra features | How much is it with all the bells and whistles? |
| better or worse | good or bad, no matter what the result | For better or worse, he was reelected for another four years. |
| birds and the bees | sex education | It's time you told the children about the birds and the bees. |
| bitter and twisted | resentful or cynical | After being passed over for promotion again, he became bitter and twisted. |
| black and blue | bruised | They beat him black and blue. |
| blood-and-guts | violent | There was more blood-and-guts than anything else in the last Rambo. |
| blood, sweat and tears | great effort | It takes a lot of blood, sweat and tears to become a pro. |
| by and large | generally | By and large, Rambo was all blood and guts and bad acting. |
| cat and mouse |
use strategy |
Hackers have been playing cat and mouse with internet security firms. |
| clean and tidy | clean | Is the house clean and tidy after the party? |
| cool, calm and collected | without stress or nervousness | She looked cool, calm and collected as she presented to the board, but said afterward she was having kittens. |
| crash and burn | total failure | I'm gonna crash and burn, if I don't get some study done. |
| down and out | really poor | Down and Out In Paris and London. |
| far and wide | a large area | His fame spread far and wide. |
| first and foremost | first | First and foremost, let me thank you all for coming today. |
| give and take | compromise | There should be a certain amount of give and take, but don't let them push you around. |
| give or take | about, approximately | I'll be 15 minutes, give or take. |
| grin and bear it | endure | You will just have to grin and bear it. |
| hammer and tongs | with great effort | He's been going hammer and tongs to finish the report by Friday. |
| hard-and-fast | fixed and unchangeable | The boss is a hard-and-fast slave driver. |
| here and there | a variety of places | They looked here and there, but couldn't find her. |
| high and dry | stranded | They left me high and dry. |
| hit and miss | unreliable, inconsistent | The team's performance this season was hit and miss. |
| hook, line and sinker | completely | He was taken in hook, line and sinker. |
| hop, skip and a jump | a short way | The station is just a hop, skip and a jump from there. |
| hot and humid | about the weather | Summer in Tokyo is hot and humid. |
| intents and purposes | practical ways | They were, for all intents and purposes, trapped. |
| kill or be killed | live or die | Life in those days was kill or be killed: only the strong survived. |
| law and order | controlling crime | A complete breakdown in law and order followed the crisis. |
| leaps and bounds | fast, rapidly | Your son has improved in leaps and bounds this year. |
| life and death | live or die | In a life-and-death situation, there isn't time to think. |
| live and let live | be tolerant | It's none of your business: live and let live. |
| lost and found | a place to leave or collect lost items | I turned the wallet in at lost and found. |
| loud and clear | easy to hear and understand |
A: Did you hear what I said? |
| love nor money | impossible | I wouldn't eat that for love nor money |
| make or break | a point when you might succeed or fail | With all their cash invested in the new business, it was make or break. |
| meet and greet | to welcome | When the guest arrives, I'll do the meet and greet in the lobby. |
| mice and men | - | The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. |
| milk and honey | great wealth and riches | And I am come down to deliver them ... unto a land flowing with milk and honey. |
| more or less | about, approximately | Alligators and crocodiles are more or less the same. |
| nuts and bolts | basic parts or details | So by and large we agree. We can discuss the nuts and bolts of the deal later. |
| odds and ends | miscellaneous things | I need to get a few odds and ends from the shops. |
| once and for all | forever | I will stop him once and for all! |
| one way or another | somehow | We'll beat them one way or another! |
| part and parcel | an important part | Part and parcel of being an effective journalist is a hunger for the truth. |
| peace and quiet | peace | After the kids left, we finally got some peace and quiet. |
| P's and Q's |
manners |
Mind your P's and Q's. |
| pros and cons | points for and against | We'll weigh the pros and cons of your proposal and get back to you. |
| rain or shine | in any weather | Rain or shine, I am going to the game. |
| rant and rave | talk angrily or crazily | He left ranting and raving about how they had mistreated him. |
| sick and tired | totally lose interest in | I'm sick and tired of your complaining. |
| sink or swim | succeed or fail: a turning point | When you are in a tough market, it is sink or swim. |
| sixes and sevens | disorganised | Without effective leadership, the department was at sixes and sevens. |
| song and dance | an overly complicated explanantion | After he was caught, he made a big song and dance about why he did it. |
| sooner or later | eventually, inevitably | Sooner or later he will get what he deserves. |
| spick and span | perfectly clean and tidy | After a couple of hours of cleaning, the house was spick and span. |
| sweetness and light | too friendly and pleasant | She is all sweetness and light when you first meet her. |
| take it or leave it | yes or no but there will be no negotiation | $20 - take it or leave it. |
| tall, dark and handsome | good-looking | Clooney plays his typical tall, dark and handsome ladies' man. |
| then and there | at that time and place | They hired him then and there. |
| thick and thin | in good and bad times | They were together through thick and thin. |
| time and (time) again | often or repeatedly | I rang time and time again, but couldn't get through. |
| to and fro | back and forth | The birds flew to and fro in the garden. |
| Tom, Dick and Harry | anyone | Every Tom, Dick and Harry has a website these days. |
| tooth and nail | with all your power | The activists fought tooth and nail to close the factory. |
| touch and go | uncertain and risky | It was touch and go after the company first launched, and we thought we would go under. |
| trial and error | trying and failing till the right one is found | Without any good suggestions, we will have to resort to trial and error. |
| up and about | out of bed and healthy again | A couple of days after the operation, she was up and about. |
| up and coming | promising | The up and coming Michael Jordan joined the Bulls in 1984. |
| up and down | good and bad | Sales were up and down for the two years leading up to the takeover. |
| warts and all | in all parts - even the bad ones | She loved him, warts and all. |
| wear and tear | damage coming from use | The deterioration was a result of ordinary wear and tear. |
| yes and no | in part yes, but otherwise no. |
A: Are you enjoying your new job? |
| yes or no | what's your answer? | Are you coming? Yes or no? |
| Binomial Pair | Definition | Example |
Note:
- The only way to learn these is to memorise them;
- The list includes links to various contexts where these expressions are used, from literature to music.
- Confusion of the order of these pairs does not prevent understanding (i.e. it is not a fatal error), but does reveal the speaker to be a non-native speaker of English;
- This is a list of the most common and useful examples;
- There are a great many examples, like "husband and wife", "table and chairs", "fish and chips" or "bacon and eggs", of things which usually come in pairs. This list is restricted to examples which have broader usage;
- This point should concern only the highest level speakers. Mistakes will not result in a communication breakdown, but will show you to be a non-native speaker.
- Siamese twins are also known as freezes or irreversible binomials.
Comments
Re: Siamese Twins
not my design at all ,but maybe a good idea for simple text-based graphics rather than illustrations.
http://www.fishnet.com.au/content/fishnet/clients/HookLineSinker/static/...
Re: Siamese Twins
I think "sweetness and light" was originally not sarcastic --- it is used by Matthew Arnold in his _Culture and Anarchy_ in an entirely unironic sense. In a strange case of anachronistic misinterpretation, when I first read it, I thought, "Surely this guy must be taking the Mickey."
Oh, no, I just checked, and Arnold himself took it from Swift:
"Instead of dirt and poison, we have rather chosen to fill our hives with honey and wax, thus furnishing mankind with the two noblest of things, which are sweetness and light" (1704).
Isn't it a sad comment, that such a phrase ends up being used mainly in sarcasm?
Re: Siamese Twins
"Be all and end all", like so much great English, is Shakespeare. MacBeth says, as he is thinking about killing Duncan:
“..that but this blow
Might be the be-all and the end-all…
..We’d jump [i.e. risk] the life to come.” (Macbeth, I.vii.4ff)
It is also the origin of another, otherwise mysterious, English phrase: "the bee's knees", as in, "He thinks he's the bloody bee's knees!" (= He thinks he is too fantastic.) "Be all and End all" got shortend to "Bs and Es" --> "Bs 'n' Es" --> "bee's knees".
Re: Siamese Twins
No way! I did not know that, but always wondered... And the cat's whiskers?
Re: Siamese Twins
Good question, I don't know.
But cats are just like that, aren't they? Think they're so special. Our daughter was just saying this morning we should have named our boy cat "King", because of the way he acts. And we say "cat's pajamas", "cat's whiskers", "cat's meow", all in a similar sense: "He just thinks he's the cat's pajamas."
According to a website (warning! warning! internet-derived information follows, from http://www.xmission.com/~emailbox/phrases.htm):
"The term 'cat's pajamas' comes from E.B. Katz, an English tailor of the late 1700's and early 1800's, who made the finest silk pajamas for royalty and other wealth patrons. 'Nothing like a cat nap in Kat'z pjs.'"
while "cat's meow" and "cat's whiskers" were both coined by the American cartoonist Thomas A. Dorgan (1877-1929).
I suppose it is possible that this whole set of phrases came from the name of the tailor, Katz, and was reinforced by the serendipitous fact that cats are such supremely proud-looking animals.
A lot of the time, stories like the "E. B. Katz" one, above, are urban legends, or folk etymologies. But there's no harm in a good story! And I think that, especially when you are learning a language, it doesn't really matter whether a story is true or false; better a bogus story that helps you remember than a boring, forgettable truth, even.