Groceries

Idioms with bread and butter

Idiom	Explanation	Example
the best thing since sliced bread	a brilliant invention or something you find fantastic	I finally got some wireless headphones. I can’t believe I waited so long, they’re the best thing since sliced bread!
your bread and butter	a person’s main source of income	Steve does some custom work, but fitting kitchens is his bread and butter.
butter someone up	flattering someone before asking for a favour so that they are more likely to do what you want	—I’m going to ask Alan to cover my shift tomorrow. —Make sure you butter him up first or he will just say no.
know which side your bread is buttered (on)	know when you have an advantage or a good situation	—Every time Michael visits his grandma, she gives him £20. —No wonder he visits so often, he clearly knows which side his bread is buttered!
(look) like butter wouldn’t melt	appear innocent (even if this may not be the case)	I heard the vase smash and when I turned around the cat was just sitting there like butter wouldn’t melt.
butterfingers	a clumsy person	Kathy spilled red wine all over her white dress, she’s such a butterfingers

Idioms with egg

Idiom	Explanation	Example
a bad egg	a person who is dishonest, unreliable or of questionable character	Stay away from Colin, he’s a bad egg.
a chicken and egg situation	when it’s impossible to identify the beginning or root cause of an issue	Is the team unproductive because the boss is mean, or is the boss mean because the team is unproductive? It’s a chicken and egg situation.
egg someone on	encourage someone to do something bad, foolish or dangerous	He jumped off the roof because his friends egged him on.
you can’t make an omelette without breaking a few eggs	in order to achieve something you have to make mistakes and/or experience negative effects	—I fell off my skateboard again. I’m never going to be able to do this. —Keep going! You can’t make an omelette without breaking a few eggs.

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Exercises

Complete the sentences with the words below. Use each word once.

butter – buttering – egg – egging – eggs

Nathan made a prank call, his friends were him on.
Don’t trust Jenna, she looks like wouldn’t melt, but actually she’s a bad .
Mistakes are normal in the creative process. Remember, you can’t make an omelette without breaking a few .
Pascal said that I looked nice today, but he was just me up to ask me for a favour.

Idioms with milk

Idiom	Explanation	Example
milk something	get as much as possible out of a person or situation, often in an unfair way	Tom only had a slight cold, but he really milked it and took two whole weeks off work.
There’s no use crying over spilled/spilt milk.	it’s useless to be upset about something that has already happened and cannot be changed	—I can’t believe Fred forgot my birthday. —I know, but there’s no use crying over spilled milk. Try to look forward.

Idioms with tea

Idiom	Explanation	Example
a storm in a teacup	when people are angry, outraged or upset about an issue that is unimportant	—People are furious about the new iPhone update. —It’s a storm in a teacup. They’ll get used to it.
as useful as a chocolate teapot	useless	—These concert tickets are about as useful as a chocolate teapot. —Why? —They are for yesterday! Not today!
not my cup of tea	not what I like, not what I’m interested in	—Do you want to come to a music festival at the weekend? —No thanks, festivals aren’t really my cup of tea.

Idioms with jam

Idiom	Explanation	Example
be in a jam	find yourself in a difficult situation	Can you help me? I’m in a bit of a jam. I’ve locked myself out of the house.

Complete the sentences with the words below. Use each word once.

jam – milk – tea – teacup – teapot

We’re talking about one tiny change that only affects a handful of people, all this outrage is nothing more than a storm in a .
I have to go and help Rob, he’s got himself into a bit of a .
The press love a political scandal, they will this story as much as they can.
Lots of people enjoy the beach but it’s just not my cup of .
Well, having a car in this traffic is about as useful as a chocolate .

Idioms with apple

Idiom	Explanation	Example
it’s apples and oranges	it’s pointless to compare two fundamentally different or opposing things	You can’t compare Max’s job with Emma’s; he’s a footballer and she’s a brain surgeon, it’s apples and oranges.
the apple of my eye	favourite or most beloved person	Silvia’s little grandson is the apple of her eye, they spend every day together.
the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree	children grow up to be similar to their parents	—Clara is studying medicine, she wants to be a doctor like her mum. —Well, you know what they say. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree!
a bad apple	a person with questionable character whose behaviour has a negative effect on others	I was a bad apple at school. I played tricks on the teachers and made my friends help me.

Idioms with other fruit

Idiom	Explanation	Example
go bananas	become extremely angry or excited	Alice will go bananas when she opens her birthday present. She’s been asking for a bike for months.
cherry pick	the practice of only selecting the very best items from what is available	You have to look at all the facts instead of just cherry picking those that support your ideas.
sour grapes	having a negative attitude towards something because it can’t be obtained, similar to being a sore loser	Paula said that she didn’t really want the job anyway, but I think that’s just sour grapes because they gave it to Jeff.

Complete the sentences with the words below. Use each word once.

apple – bananas – cherry – grapes – oranges

I borrowed my mum’s car and crashed it. She’s going to go when she finds out.
Alfie is an only child, he’s the of his dad’s eye.
I hate working with Dan, he just picks his tasks and I have to do all the difficult and boring stuff.
I don’t know which is better; one is a rock star and one is a country music singer, it’s apples and .
Ben says that he’s not coming to watch the final. I think it’s sour because his team didn’t qualify.

Idioms with potato

Idiom	Explanation	Example
a couch potato	a lazy person	I enjoy being a couch potato on Sundays.
small potatoes (always plural)	something that is unimportant or insignificant when compared to something else	In comparison to your news, my new job is small potatoes!
hot potato	a controversial topic	The new power plant is a hot potato in the press.
the meat and potatoes	the basic, most essential part of something	The meat and potatoes of this job is customer service.

Idioms with fish

Idiom	Explanation	Example
a different kettle of fish	something totally different or unrelated to the topic at hand	—I’m a native speaker, teaching English should be easy for me. —Speaking a language is one thing but teaching it is a different kettle of fish.
like shooting fish in a barrel	very easy	Once the other team went down to ten players, we won easily. It was like shooting fish in a barrel.

Other campfire idioms

Idiom	Explanation	Example
how the sausage gets made	the unpleasant, behind-the-scenes process that creates a product, service or situation	People buy fast fashion, but they ignore the realities. No one wants to know how the sausage gets made.
age like a fine wine	improve with age	My grandma is 82 and she looks fantastic, she’s ageing like a fine wine!
meat in the room	a person or group of people who are present just to give the impression that a space is full or an event is well-attended	—You’ve invited so many people to the wedding, I don’t know half of them. —We just need meat in the room.

Complete the sentences with the words below. Use each word once.

fish – potato – potatoes – meat – sausage – wine

Compared to buying a whole new laptop, the cost of replacing the battery is small .
Frank looks amazing for 70. He’s ageing like a fine !
Don’t mention the wedding at dinner, it’s a bit of a hot in our family.
We had to do some questionable things to make this happen. Trust me, you don’t want to know how the gets made.
They paid actors to attend the event just to have some in the room.
I’ve always worked with adults, working with children is a different kettle of .

Idioms with vegetables

Idiom	Explanation	Example
dangle a carrot (in front of someone)	encourage or persuade someone by offering an incentive or a reward	All you have to do is dangle a carrot and he will accept the job.
a carrot top	a person with red hair	The baby is so cute, she’s a carrot top like her mum.
cool as a cucumber	be calm and collected	The situation was stressful, but Laura was cool as a cucumber.
be full of beans	have a lot of energy	The children are always full of beans on Christmas morning.
spill the beans	reveal a secret	We wanted to share our big news ourselves, but Nadia had already spilled the beans.
a bean counter	a person whose job involves accounting	My job isn’t that interesting, I’m just a bean counter in the planning department.
tomato, tomato (pronounced: to-may-to, to-mah-to)	what difference does it make? (only used in spoken language)	—Shall we use the green plates or the blue ones? —Tomato, tomato.

Complete the sentences with the words below. Use each word once.

carrot – cucumber – bean – beans x2

You said you had some exciting news? Come on, spill the .
I was freaking out, but luckily Jess was cool as a about the whole thing.
You’re energetic this morning! Why are you so full of ?
They’re going to have to dangle a pretty big to get Margot to come back to the firm.
We were excited about this project, but the counters said that it would be too expensive.