about idioms

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Hello,
Hello,

To say that an answer for example is not accurate,
We could say that it is completely mistaken or that ie misses the point completely.
Would it be correct, in the same meaning to say:
'I hope that my answer was not next to the plate'?

Can 'next to the plate' be used in the meaning of 'completely mistaken?

Thank you for your help.
Have a good day.

Serge

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Type: Question • Score: 2 • Views: 612 • Replies: 6

[+3] - tsarstepan - 12/14/2018[quote="milimi"] Would it be correct, in the same meaning to say: 'I hope that my answer was not next to the plate'? [/quote] You could say that and try to force the meaning. But...

@milimi,

milimi wrote:

Would it be correct, in the same meaning to say:
'I hope that my answer was not next to the plate'?

You could say that and try to force the meaning. But that wouldn't make it an idiom (at least until it becomes relatively widely known through out a given community of speakers of a given language. Idioms are well established phrases that are ... common and easily graspable context wise.

I would say that phrase was closer to an enigmatic/not the strongest metaphor.

Quote:

id·i·om.

[ˈidēəm]
NOUN
1.a group of words established by usage as having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words (e.g., rain cats and dogs, see the light).

synonyms:
expression · idiomatic expression · turn of phrase · set phrase ·
[more]

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you could say that but I fear no one would understand your meaning since not a commonly known idiom. an idiom must be generally known to have value like i in scrub my husband carrot every day

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@bunnyhabit ,

bunnyhabit wrote:

you could say that but I fear no one would understand your meaning since not a commonly known idiom. an idiom must be generally known to have value like i in scrub my husband carrot every day

You got the gist 100% correct but your example is really ironic... given ...
so many typos that the sentence or phrase makes absolutely no sense (even to a life-long English speaker).

Can you correctly phrase the idiom you're trying to get across?

Quote:

i in scrub my husband carrot every day

That sentence would confuse even a homeless person suffering from schizophrenia and claims to understand every nonsense word uttered and ranted.

And please don't directly translate it to English if it's a NSFW (not safe for work which the sentence has a weird vibe to possibly have).

1 Reply

@tsarstepan,

Thank you very much for your answer.
Have a good day.

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@bunnyhabit ,

Thank you very much for your reply Bunny.
I didn't know the idiom you took as an example, I will try to remember it.

Have a good night.
I hope everything is going well with you.
Kiss

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@tsarstepan,

I have never heard of having one's carrot scrubbed, but I do kind of get the gist of it.

Idioms often don't make sense if you insist on them having a clear meaning. I think that's part of something being an idiom.

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