#englishlanguage — Public Fediverse posts

#EnglishLanguage #EnglishTeacher #EnglishVocabulary #idioms #learningEnglish #vocabularyQuiz #weather

NOTES

I’m a freelance language tutor (English, Latin, Classical Greek), researcher, and a literary scholar currently based in Belgrade, Serbia.

If you wish to receive new content from my blog – as soon as it’s published – please enter your email address in the subscribe box below.

To support my work, you can send me a donation via PayPal. It would be greatly appreciated!

COVER IMAGE CREDIT

Photo by Daniel Lerman via Unsplash.

#englishlanguage #englishteacher #englishvocabulary #idioms #learningenglish #vocabularyquiz

grammaticus @[email protected] · 2026-09-07 · 23:23 UTC

Weather idioms

Idiom is a linguistic term for a set phrase or expression with a figurative meaning. As a rule, it’s pretty difficult to guess the meaning of an idiom from the literal definitions of its individual words, which can make them a bit difficult to learn. If you’re an English language learner, you’ve probably encountered this problem: even when you know all the words within an idiom, translating them literally gets you nowhere, as the resulting translation usually doesn’t make any sense.

Rather than approaching idioms as a problem to be solved, try to see them as a kind of language shortcuts: they typically carry a lot of meaning beyond the literal words. Learning them is important, as they are broadly and commonly used by native speakers: you’ll often encounter them in both spoken and written language. Using them will make your speech sound more natural.

The topic of this post are weather idioms, i.e. idioms with meteorological terms as key words. As you’ll see, they are all used metaphorically to describe human moods and experiences; some may be rather logical, others not so! Also, be aware that there are hundreds of weather idioms in the English language, so this is just a very small sample of the most common ones.

As usual on this blog, at the end of this post you’ll find a link to a simple quiz where you can practice these same idioms a bit more. It might help you remember them more easily.

TO BE/FEEL UNDER THE WEATHER

I didn’t go to the party last night, I was feeling under the weather.

to feel slightly ill or sick (usually temporarily)

TO WEATHER THE STORM

Our company had a difficult year, but we managed to weather the storm.

to deal with a difficult situation without too much harm or damage

TO BE ON CLOUD NINE

I finally got my dream job, I’m on cloud nine!

to be extremely happy

A STORM IN A TEACUP

Do you remember that huge argument they had last week? It turned out be a storm in a teacup.

a small problem that is exaggerated and treated as if it were very serious

TO TAKE A RAIN CHECK

Thank you so much for the offer, but can I take a rain check?

to politely decline an offer or invitation for now, while remaining open to accepting it at a later time

TO STEAL [SOMEONE’S] THUNDER

Mark told everyone about his new job, but his sister stole his thunder by announcing her engagement.

to take attention away from another person; to take spotlight

TO RAIN ON [SOMEONE’S] PARADE

I’m in such good mood today, I won’t let anyone rain on my parade!

to spoil someone’s plans or good mood

TO PUT [SOMETHING] ON ICE

The manager has put the new project on ice due to lack of funding.

to postpone, to put on hold

TO BE SNOWED UNDER

I haven’t had any free time lately, I’ve been snowed under with work.

to be extremely busy and overwhelmed

TO BREAK THE ICE

People often use small talk to break the ice.

to say or do something to make people (often total strangers) feel more relaxed and comfortable

Now you can do the online quiz. And if you want to learn more weather idioms, have a look at the list of suggested resources below.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

#EnglishLanguage #EnglishTeacher #EnglishVocabulary #idioms #learningEnglish #vocabularyQuiz #weather

NOTES

I’m a freelance language tutor (English, Latin, Classical Greek), researcher, and a literary scholar currently based in Belgrade, Serbia.

If you wish to receive new content from my blog – as soon as it’s published – please enter your email address in the subscribe box below.

To support my work, you can send me a donation via PayPal. It would be greatly appreciated!

COVER IMAGE CREDIT

Photo by Daniel Lerman via Unsplash.

#englishlanguage #englishteacher #englishvocabulary #idioms #learningenglish #vocabularyquiz

grammaticus @[email protected] · 2026-09-07 · 23:23 UTC

Weather idioms

Idiom is a linguistic term for a set phrase or expression with a figurative meaning. As a rule, it’s pretty difficult to guess the meaning of an idiom from the literal definitions of its individual words, which can make them a bit difficult to learn. If you’re an English language learner, you’ve probably encountered this problem: even when you know all the words within an idiom, translating them literally gets you nowhere, as the resulting translation usually doesn’t make any sense.

Rather than approaching idioms as a problem to be solved, try to see them as a kind of language shortcuts: they typically carry a lot of meaning beyond the literal words. Learning them is important, as they are broadly and commonly used by native speakers: you’ll often encounter them in both spoken and written language. Using them will make your speech sound more natural.

The topic of this post are weather idioms, i.e. idioms with meteorological terms as key words. As you’ll see, they are all used metaphorically to describe human moods and experiences; some may be rather logical, others not so! Also, be aware that there are hundreds of weather idioms in the English language, so this is just a very small sample of the most common ones.

As usual on this blog, at the end of this post you’ll find a link to a simple quiz where you can practice these same idioms a bit more. It might help you remember them more easily.

TO BE/FEEL UNDER THE WEATHER

I didn’t go to the party last night, I was feeling under the weather.

to feel slightly ill or sick (usually temporarily)

TO WEATHER THE STORM

Our company had a difficult year, but we managed to weather the storm.

to deal with a difficult situation without too much harm or damage

TO BE ON CLOUD NINE

I finally got my dream job, I’m on cloud nine!

to be extremely happy

A STORM IN A TEACUP

Do you remember that huge argument they had last week? It turned out be a storm in a teacup.

a small problem that is exaggerated and treated as if it were very serious

TO TAKE A RAIN CHECK

Thank you so much for the offer, but can I take a rain check?

to politely decline an offer or invitation for now, while remaining open to accepting it at a later time

TO STEAL [SOMEONE’S] THUNDER

Mark told everyone about his new job, but his sister stole his thunder by announcing her engagement.

to take attention away from another person; to take spotlight

TO RAIN ON [SOMEONE’S] PARADE

I’m in such good mood today, I won’t let anyone rain on my parade!

to spoil someone’s plans or good mood

TO PUT [SOMETHING] ON ICE

The manager has put the new project on ice due to lack of funding.

to postpone, to put on hold

TO BE SNOWED UNDER

I haven’t had any free time lately, I’ve been snowed under with work.

to be extremely busy and overwhelmed

TO BREAK THE ICE

People often use small talk to break the ice.

to say or do something to make people (often total strangers) feel more relaxed and comfortable

Now you can do the online quiz. And if you want to learn more weather idioms, have a look at the list of suggested resources below.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

#EnglishLanguage #EnglishTeacher #EnglishVocabulary #idioms #learningEnglish #vocabularyQuiz #weather

NOTES

I’m a freelance language tutor (English, Latin, Classical Greek), researcher, and a literary scholar currently based in Belgrade, Serbia.

If you wish to receive new content from my blog – as soon as it’s published – please enter your email address in the subscribe box below.

To support my work, you can send me a donation via PayPal. It would be greatly appreciated!

COVER IMAGE CREDIT

Photo by Daniel Lerman via Unsplash.

#weather #vocabularyquiz #learningenglish #idioms #englishvocabulary #englishteacher

grammaticus @[email protected] · 2026-09-07 · 23:23 UTC

Weather idioms

Idiom is a linguistic term for a set phrase or expression with a figurative meaning. As a rule, it’s pretty difficult to guess the meaning of an idiom from the literal definitions of its individual words, which can make them a bit difficult to learn. If you’re an English language learner, you’ve probably encountered this problem: even when you know all the words within an idiom, translating them literally gets you nowhere, as the resulting translation usually doesn’t make any sense.

Rather than approaching idioms as a problem to be solved, try to see them as a kind of language shortcuts: they typically carry a lot of meaning beyond the literal words. Learning them is important, as they are broadly and commonly used by native speakers: you’ll often encounter them in both spoken and written language. Using them will make your speech sound more natural.

The topic of this post are weather idioms, i.e. idioms with meteorological terms as key words. As you’ll see, they are all used metaphorically to describe human moods and experiences; some may be rather logical, others not so! Also, be aware that there are hundreds of weather idioms in the English language, so this is just a very small sample of the most common ones.

As usual on this blog, at the end of this post you’ll find a link to a simple quiz where you can practice these same idioms a bit more. It might help you remember them more easily.

TO BE/FEEL UNDER THE WEATHER

I didn’t go to the party last night, I was feeling under the weather.

to feel slightly ill or sick (usually temporarily)

TO WEATHER THE STORM

Our company had a difficult year, but we managed to weather the storm.

to deal with a difficult situation without too much harm or damage

TO BE ON CLOUD NINE

I finally got my dream job, I’m on cloud nine!

to be extremely happy

A STORM IN A TEACUP

Do you remember that huge argument they had last week? It turned out be a storm in a teacup.

a small problem that is exaggerated and treated as if it were very serious

TO TAKE A RAIN CHECK

Thank you so much for the offer, but can I take a rain check?

to politely decline an offer or invitation for now, while remaining open to accepting it at a later time

TO STEAL [SOMEONE’S] THUNDER

Mark told everyone about his new job, but his sister stole his thunder by announcing her engagement.

to take attention away from another person; to take spotlight

TO RAIN ON [SOMEONE’S] PARADE

I’m in such good mood today, I won’t let anyone rain on my parade!

to spoil someone’s plans or good mood

TO PUT [SOMETHING] ON ICE

The manager has put the new project on ice due to lack of funding.

to postpone, to put on hold

TO BE SNOWED UNDER

I haven’t had any free time lately, I’ve been snowed under with work.

to be extremely busy and overwhelmed

TO BREAK THE ICE

People often use small talk to break the ice.

to say or do something to make people (often total strangers) feel more relaxed and comfortable

Now you can do the online quiz. And if you want to learn more weather idioms, have a look at the list of suggested resources below.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

#EnglishLanguage #EnglishTeacher #EnglishVocabulary #idioms #learningEnglish #vocabularyQuiz #weather

NOTES

I’m a freelance language tutor (English, Latin, Classical Greek), researcher, and a literary scholar currently based in Belgrade, Serbia.

If you wish to receive new content from my blog – as soon as it’s published – please enter your email address in the subscribe box below.

To support my work, you can send me a donation via PayPal. It would be greatly appreciated!

COVER IMAGE CREDIT

Photo by Daniel Lerman via Unsplash.

#englishlanguage #englishteacher #englishvocabulary #idioms #learningenglish #vocabularyquiz

Your Autistic Life :PanPride: @[email protected] · 2026-09-05 · 19:02 UTC

"Tonight do not miss Space 1999 with Martin Baby Stroller, Barbara Bath, and Barry Walrus."

I jest but French is my mother tongue, and my English when Space: 1999 was first broadcast was very iffy.

So Landau registered as the French word landau, which means baby stroller. Bain registered as the French word bain, which means bath. Morse registered as the French word morse, which means walrus.

#Space1999 #FrenchLanguage #EnglishLanguage #BabyCarriage #bath #walrus

#space1999 #frenchlanguage #englishlanguage #babycarriage #bath #walrus

Your Autistic Life :PanPride: @[email protected] · 2026-09-05 · 19:02 UTC

"Tonight do not miss Space 1999 with Martin Baby Stroller, Barbara Bath, and Barry Walrus."

I jest but French is my mother tongue, and my English when Space: 1999 was first broadcast was very iffy.

So Landau registered as the French word landau, which means baby stroller. Bain registered as the French word bain, which means bath. Morse registered as the French word morse, which means walrus.

#Space1999 #FrenchLanguage #EnglishLanguage #BabyCarriage #bath #walrus

#space1999 #frenchlanguage #englishlanguage #babycarriage #bath #walrus

Your Autistic Life :PanPride: @[email protected] · 2026-09-05 · 19:02 UTC

"Tonight do not miss Space 1999 with Martin Baby Stroller, Barbara Bath, and Barry Walrus."

I jest but French is my mother tongue, and my English when Space: 1999 was first broadcast was very iffy.

So Landau registered as the French word landau, which means baby stroller. Bain registered as the French word bain, which means bath. Morse registered as the French word morse, which means walrus.

#Space1999 #FrenchLanguage #EnglishLanguage #BabyCarriage #bath #walrus

#walrus #bath #babycarriage #englishlanguage #frenchlanguage #space1999

Your Autistic Life :PanPride: @[email protected] · 2026-09-05 · 19:02 UTC

"Tonight do not miss Space 1999 with Martin Baby Stroller, Barbara Bath, and Barry Walrus."

I jest but French is my mother tongue, and my English when Space: 1999 was first broadcast was very iffy.

So Landau registered as the French word landau, which means baby stroller. Bain registered as the French word bain, which means bath. Morse registered as the French word morse, which means walrus.

#Space1999 #FrenchLanguage #EnglishLanguage #BabyCarriage #bath #walrus

#space1999 #frenchlanguage #englishlanguage #babycarriage #bath #walrus

Guitar Chords & Lyrics | Chordyes @[email protected] · 2026-09-03 · 18:05 UTC

Added this standard. Listening to Play It Cool by Münchener Freiheit. Has that infectious pop hook. See how to play it. Read more:

https://chordyes.com/chord/munchener-freiheit-play-it-cool

#guitarstar #guitaridol #german #malevocalist #englishlanguage #80s #synth

#guitarstar #guitaridol #german #malevocalist #englishlanguage #80s

Guitar Chords & Lyrics | Chordyes @[email protected] · 2026-09-03 · 18:05 UTC

Added this standard. Listening to Play It Cool by Münchener Freiheit. Has that infectious pop hook. See how to play it. Read more:

https://chordyes.com/chord/munchener-freiheit-play-it-cool

#guitarstar #guitaridol #german #malevocalist #englishlanguage #80s #synth

#synth #80s #englishlanguage #malevocalist #german #guitaridol

CourtCantrell will not comply @[email protected] · 2026-08-31 · 17:10 UTC

All of us who speak colloquial English have totally missed our chance to make "bear my beer" a thing.

I mean, if you wanted the holder of your beer to provide entertainment as well, you could even say, "Bear bare my beer."

And if said beerholder is of the ursine variety, you'd be blessed by the language deities to be able to command: "Bare bear, bear my beer!"

We could all stand to be a bit more creative with our words.

#ILoveLanguage
#EnglishLanguage
#colloquialisms
#bears
#beer
#HoldMyBeer

#ilovelanguage #englishlanguage #colloquialisms #bears #beer #holdmybeer

CourtCantrell will not comply @[email protected] · 2026-08-31 · 17:10 UTC

All of us who speak colloquial English have totally missed our chance to make "bear my beer" a thing.

I mean, if you wanted the holder of your beer to provide entertainment as well, you could even say, "Bear bare my beer."

And if said beerholder is of the ursine variety, you'd be blessed by the language deities to be able to command: "Bare bear, bear my beer!"

We could all stand to be a bit more creative with our words.

#ILoveLanguage
#EnglishLanguage
#colloquialisms
#bears
#beer
#HoldMyBeer

#ilovelanguage #englishlanguage #colloquialisms #bears #beer #holdmybeer

CourtCantrell will not comply @[email protected] · 2026-08-31 · 17:10 UTC

All of us who speak colloquial English have totally missed our chance to make "bear my beer" a thing.

I mean, if you wanted the holder of your beer to provide entertainment as well, you could even say, "Bear bare my beer."

And if said beerholder is of the ursine variety, you'd be blessed by the language deities to be able to command: "Bare bear, bear my beer!"

We could all stand to be a bit more creative with our words.

#ILoveLanguage
#EnglishLanguage
#colloquialisms
#bears
#beer
#HoldMyBeer

#ilovelanguage #englishlanguage #colloquialisms #bears #beer #holdmybeer

CourtCantrell will not comply @[email protected] · 2026-08-31 · 17:10 UTC

All of us who speak colloquial English have totally missed our chance to make "bear my beer" a thing.

I mean, if you wanted the holder of your beer to provide entertainment as well, you could even say, "Bear bare my beer."

And if said beerholder is of the ursine variety, you'd be blessed by the language deities to be able to command: "Bare bear, bear my beer!"

We could all stand to be a bit more creative with our words.

#ILoveLanguage
#EnglishLanguage
#colloquialisms
#bears
#beer
#HoldMyBeer

#holdmybeer #beer #bears #colloquialisms #englishlanguage #ilovelanguage

CourtCantrell will not comply @[email protected] · 2026-08-31 · 17:10 UTC

All of us who speak colloquial English have totally missed our chance to make "bear my beer" a thing.

I mean, if you wanted the holder of your beer to provide entertainment as well, you could even say, "Bear bare my beer."

And if said beerholder is of the ursine variety, you'd be blessed by the language deities to be able to command: "Bare bear, bear my beer!"

We could all stand to be a bit more creative with our words.

#ILoveLanguage
#EnglishLanguage
#colloquialisms
#bears
#beer
#HoldMyBeer

#ilovelanguage #englishlanguage #colloquialisms #bears #beer #holdmybeer

Ellane W @[email protected] · 2026-08-30 · 10:14 UTC

Brain blippedy-blerps this fine evening:

I love em-dashes and I love the word “actually”, but these days I use both a lot more carefully. In the pre-AI era I’d throw them around a fair bit, before they were so horribly overused.

Kind of related but not really: the French word « actuellement » doesn’t actually mean “actually”.

I wonder which words are being chronically overused by AI in other languages?

#ai #englishlanguage #french #languagelearning

Ellane W @[email protected] · 2026-08-30 · 10:14 UTC

Brain blippedy-blerps this fine evening:

I love em-dashes and I love the word “actually”, but these days I use both a lot more carefully. In the pre-AI era I’d throw them around a fair bit, before they were so horribly overused.

Kind of related but not really: the French word « actuellement » doesn’t actually mean “actually”.

I wonder which words are being chronically overused by AI in other languages?

#ai #englishlanguage #french #languagelearning

Ellane W @[email protected] · 2026-08-30 · 10:14 UTC

Brain blippedy-blerps this fine evening:

I love em-dashes and I love the word “actually”, but these days I use both a lot more carefully. In the pre-AI era I’d throw them around a fair bit, before they were so horribly overused.

Kind of related but not really: the French word « actuellement » doesn’t actually mean “actually”.

I wonder which words are being chronically overused by AI in other languages?

#ai #englishlanguage #french #languagelearning

Ellane W @[email protected] · 2026-08-30 · 10:14 UTC

Brain blippedy-blerps this fine evening:

I love em-dashes and I love the word “actually”, but these days I use both a lot more carefully. In the pre-AI era I’d throw them around a fair bit, before they were so horribly overused.

Kind of related but not really: the French word « actuellement » doesn’t actually mean “actually”.

I wonder which words are being chronically overused by AI in other languages?

#languagelearning #french #englishlanguage #ai

Ellane W @[email protected] · 2026-08-30 · 10:14 UTC

Brain blippedy-blerps this fine evening:

I love em-dashes and I love the word “actually”, but these days I use both a lot more carefully. In the pre-AI era I’d throw them around a fair bit, before they were so horribly overused.

Kind of related but not really: the French word « actuellement » doesn’t actually mean “actually”.

I wonder which words are being chronically overused by AI in other languages?