English Idioms2

RULE OF THUMB: a way of making a rough estimate, a practical but imprecise way of calculating something . Online Athens (Georgia, USA): <<Trees need a lot of room for their roots to grow, and that old rule of thumb that the tree’s roots go out as far as the crown does is just not so, said Rachel Barker of ArborMetrics Solutions Inc. Trees’ roots can grow up to five times the crown width, she said.>>

An idiom and some useful U.S. acronyms today! A GOOD SAMARITAN (G and S are capitalized) is a person who tries to help others who are in distress. CPR is cardiopulmonary resuscitation, an attempt to revive a person whose heart has stopped beating. EMS is emergency medical services. WWJ Radio, Detroit: <<Authorities in Macomb County are investigating a mysterious death on Lake St. Clair overnight.
U.S. Coast Guard Detroit Ltn. Jillian Lamb said they received a call from a Good Samaritan who was concerned about a man wandering in the water near Veterans Memorial Park in St. Clair Shores.
“He was kind of walking out into the water, meandering , you know, kind of in circles…looked kind of aimless, I guess,” Lamb told WWJ Newsradio 950′s Beth Fisher.
A Coast Guard team responded to the scene.
“They located a gentleman in the water who was unresponsive and unconscious,” she said. “They recovered him from the water and…conducted CPR, continued CPR until EMS met them at their station.”
Unfortunately, Lamb said, the man was pronounced dead by EMS.>>

A THUMBS-DOWN is disapproval, rejection (and a THUMBS-UP is approval). You can say this regardless of whether anyone is signaling with the thumb. Reuters: <<The Badminton World Federation has opened discussion on the sidelines of the ongoing Thomas and Uber Cup in New Delhi, seeking views on a new scoring system that it hopes would make the game shorter, more exciting and television-friendly. ...
The proposal has already received a thumbs down from the game’s leading star and Chinese stalwart Lin Dan.
“I don’t think making changes like this is good for the game,” the two-time Olympic gold medallist said. “There is nothing wrong with the present system.”>>

at the crack of dawn

fighting fit

the crak of dawn

MurielB a écrit:Gérard I was not sure about the meaning of your last two expressions. For those who are like me, please find further détails below

Very early morning, daybreak. For example, I got up at the crack of dawn. The crack in this term alludes either to the suddenness of sunrise or to the small wedge of light appearing as the sun rises over the horizon. Originally the term was usually put as crack of day. [Late 1800s]

Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/crack-of-dawn#ixzz32kzL8KPw

MurielB a écrit:

fighting fit

be fighting fit
to be very healthy She was fighting fit after 10 weeks of intense physical training.

“Business opportunities are like buses. There’s always another one coming.” -Richard Branson

CHERRY PICK (verb): select the best or easiest items from a group, ignoring the rest. The word often has a critical flavor, suggesting that something unfair is being done or that an argument is deceptive (you are cherry-picking the evidence). Times of London: <<Royal Mail has warned that postal deliveries to rural areas are under threat because rivals are being allowed to cherry pick easy and profitable deliveries in towns and cities without having to run services to isolated homes such as on Scottish islands.>>

BUCKET LIST: things you want to do before you die (or, colloquially, "kick the bucket"). KMVT television, Idaho, USA: <<Twin falls resident Dorothy Custer turns 103 years old next week.
She celebrated her birthday early by crossing yet another wish off her bucket list-- riding in a hot air balloon.>>