English Idioms2

At all costs   If you are determined to obtain or achieve something at all
 costs, you want it regardless of the expense, effort or sacrifice
 involved.
 "The journalist was determined at all costs to get a report from
 the war zone."

Cutting-edge techniques or equipment are the most advanced that there are in a particular field

A person who has a bee in their bonnet has an idea
which constantly occupies their thoughts.
"She's got a bee in her bonnet about moving to New York."

be off your nut (informal)

to be crazy You can't do that! Are you off your nut or what?

have bats in the belfry
old-fashioned disapproving
to be silly and slightly mad with confused behaviour

WRITING ON THE WALL, also handwriting on the wall: signs of demise, indications that something bad is going to happen. You can say "read the handwriting on the wall." Wall Street Journal: <<Over the past three years, Chief Financial Officer John Gamble has played a key role in reinventing the Lexington, Ky.-based company through strategic acquisitions and divestitures. He spoke with CFO Journal Editor Noelle Knox about Lexmark’s transition into a solution, services, and software company.

Q: When did you see the writing on the wall?

A: We started seeing the consumer print business declining quite some time ago (in 2007) and we started focusing our imaging business on managed print services (MPS) and the enterprise segment, which have much better market characteristics. >>

And one more for love ... not a super common one, but I like it. A MASH NOTE is a love letter. Buffalo News: <<Just in time for Valentine's Day, Saveur Magazine's March issue has published a two-page mash note to the peculiar confectionary skills of Buffalo's candymakers.

"In Buffalo, chocolatiers concoct their own marshmallow sauce, understand the nuances of caramel, and temper cocoa butter to a luxurious smoothness," say veteran food writers Jane and Michael Stern. >>

SING A DIFFERENT TUNE: change one's attitude, say something different from what one has said previously. Jakarta Globe: <<Indonesian starlet Dewi Persik was bragging last week that nothing, not jail, not even death itself, scared her. But on Thursday as officers attempted to escort the singer to jail, the controversial artist sang an entirely different tune.

The celebrity, a dangdut singer known for her roles in down-market horror films, locked herself in her room and refused to come out on Thursday morning. Her family told the officers with the East Jakarta Prosecutor's Office that Dewi was too sick to serve her sentence. They requested the officers return on another day.>>

HEAD OVER HEELS: [in love]: totally in love. It used to be "head over heels in love" but is now often used by itself. Happy Valentine's Day! <<Vancouver Province:

Depp 'head over heels' for Heard

Johnny Depp has bought Amber Heard a commitment ring.

The 50-year-old actor, who has been dating the blond beauty, 27, for two years, has fuelled speculation that they are set to marry after buying her a bespoke platinum, black pearl and diamond ring which Heard wears on her engagement finger.

"It's a commitment ring and has an inscription on the inside in tiny writing which is a love note from him to her," a source told The Sun newspaper. "No one's seen him this head-over-heels ever; he's like a different guy.>>

A bonus idiom for hump day (Wednesday, since after Wednesday you're over the "hump" of the middle of the week): IN SPADES: to a high degree. I don't see any examples of this idiom from Britain in the news. Spy Ghana: <<Thievy Bifouma took just seconds to score when he came off the bench to make his West Bromwich Albion debut in the 3-1 defeat by Crystal Palace.

The Baggies looked a different team with him in attack, with Thievy stretching the Palace defence and showing the kind of individual ability that has been lacking since the effervescent Stéphane Sessègnon’s groin injury at the beginning of January.

The 21-year-old forward has talent in spades. He also has a suspect temperament, which has held him back at Espanyol despite his impressive loan spell at Las Palmas last season.>>

BLOW OFF STEAM: express anger and thus reduce it, relax after a stressful activity. We also say "vent." Bury Times (UK): << Bury fans took to social media sites to blow off steam after the club's League Two match at Torquay United was called off shortly after midday.

The Devon club, which has now had three consecutive home matches postponed due to waterlogged pitches, invited a local referee to inspect the surface yesterday. >>

MEND FENCES: to repair a relationship, to try to reestablish a friendship or peaceful relationship after a dispute. Korea Herald: <<For [South Korean] President Park [Geun-hye], 2014 is a crucial year to mend fences with the North, analysts said, pointing out that a president’s political clout to push for major policy initiatives peaks in the first half of his or her presidency.>>

IN THE HOT SEAT: in a difficult position of responsibility. Detroit Free Press: <<Welcome to the hot seat, Mary Barra.

In General Motors’ first quarterly earnings report since Barra took over as CEO three weeks ago, GM took a stumble Thursday morning, falling way short of profit expectations.

Barra, not surprisingly, took a glass-half-full approach in her first turn as GM head honcho during an earnings conference call with industry analysts and journalists.>>

"Glass-half-full approach" is also idiomatic. We often say that you should look at a glass as half full (rather than half empty)—that it's better to be optimistic than pessimistic. That idea is often used in constructions like the one above.

To DROP A DIME on someone is to give information about someone's criminal activities to the police, to snitch. You also see "drop the dime." Primarily used in North America, where phone calls used to cost a dime, or ten cents, but here's an example from elsewhere. Jakarta Globe:

<<Anas Threatens to Drop Dime on Ibas
By Novianti Setuningsih & Markus Junianto Sihaloho on 12:49 pm February 5, 2014.

Jakarta.

Graft suspect and former Democratic Party chairman Anas Urbaningrum has given his strongest indication yet that he plans
to implicate the president’s son in a major corruption scandal.>>

PASS THE BUCK: shift responsibility for a problem to others. Gloucestershire Echo (UK): <<Flooding chiefs will no longer be able to pass the buck when it comes to taking responsibility for preventing and fixing water-logged homes.

Gloucestershire County Council’s Conservative cabinet today agreed to a new flood risk strategy which will see Shire Hall taking a leadership role to hold others to account.>>

Three idioms in one sentence! To BREAK A STORY in journalism is to publicize it for the first time. To PLAY BALL is to agree to do something in order to get along with another person or group. And to JUMP THE GUN is to do something too early, to do something before the right time or the official start time. "Jump the gun" comes from footraces, where racers are disqualified if they start before a gun is fired. Sports Business Daily: <<[Sports Illustrated magazine] "knew everything and they wanted to break the story," Ziegler said, but [reporter Jon] Wertheim "graciously played ball and agreed to not jump the gun." >>

To RUB SALT IN SOMEONE'S WOUNDS: to do something that makes someone's injury or difficulty even worse. To kick someone when he or she is down is similar. Firstpost (India): <<Modi had tried to uproot more than 50,000 Sikh families from the Kutch region of Gujarat, Khaira alleged, adding that, "to rub salt into the wounds of Sikh farmers, (the Gujarat CM) was now organising the 'Fateh' rally in Punjab".>>

LOOK THE OTHER WAY: ignore wrongdoing. Philippine Star: <<To mine black sand, package it properly and then ship it to foreign destinations, one needs heavy machinery and a lot of personnel. This kind of operation cannot be kept secret from any community at the grassroots, where the barangay [local administration] system is supposed to be in place. If black sand mining proliferates, it can only be because people tasked to stop the illegal activity prefer to look the other way.>>