{"id":3620,"date":"2017-05-31T14:50:46","date_gmt":"2017-05-31T14:50:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kingstraining.com\/?p=3620"},"modified":"2023-09-19T10:43:19","modified_gmt":"2023-09-19T10:43:19","slug":"spread-the-word-equestrian-and-maritime-idioms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/virtualcampus.kingstraining.com\/es\/spread-the-word-equestrian-and-maritime-idioms\/","title":{"rendered":"Spread the Word – equestrian and maritime idioms"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are many important sporting events<\/strong> held in June and two prime examples are Royal Ascot<\/strong> and The America’s Cup. <\/strong>This month\u2019s Spread the Word<\/strong>\u00a0uses these two events as inspiration as we look at equestrian<\/strong> and maritime<\/strong> idioms\u00a0created centuries ago\u00a0and\u00a0still in use today.<\/p>\n

Our first stop is the racecourse at Ascot, Berkshire, England where every June its most famous racing meeting<\/strong>: Royal Ascot<\/strong>, takes place.\u00a0 It is called \u2018Royal Ascot\u2019 as it has been attended by the reigning monarch since the early eighteenth century. Ascot is just as important as a social event as it is a sporting one, perhaps even more so!<\/p>\n

Of course, the role of the horse is not only as a beast of burden<\/strong> but also as a much-loved companion, particularly in rural Britain. Perhaps this helps to explain the idiomatic richness that surrounds the figure of the horse.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s have a look at a few examples:<\/p>\n

Hold your horses!<\/strong> is a common exclamation that means to hold on, wait and be patient and is very useful at exasperating moments! \u201cHold your horses, we haven\u2019t won yet!” <\/strong>or “Hold your horses \u2013 let me speak!\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth<\/strong> is a great way to express the idea that you should always be grateful when you receive a gift\u2026 For example, if you\u2019ve been invited to a restaurant that\u2019s not one of your favourites \u2013 it\u2019s still a free lunch.\u00a0 Don\u2019t complain! The origin refers to how you can assess a horse\u2019s age by looking at its teeth.<\/p>\n

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To eat like a horse<\/strong>, is easy to remember and understand \u2013 horses are big animals and eat a lot!<\/strong> (Anyone know the opposite? To eat like a bird<\/strong>)<\/p>\n

Another useful expression is to get off your high horse – <\/strong>if you tell\u00a0someone this, you are suggesting they stop behaving\u00a0in a superior\u00a0and self-righteous manner. So the next time you need to defend yourself against the condescension of others, you know what to do!<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, the term dark horse<\/strong> is very common and has been used in film, book and song titles, but what does it mean exactly? Well, it\u2019s used to refer to an unknown competitor who unexpectedly wins something. It is common in sporting and political contexts\u2026 for example, look at this headline from November 2016!<\/p>\n

Donald Trump: Billionaire reality TV star turns presidential dark horse<\/strong><\/p>\n

The term began as\u00a0a horse racing\u00a0<\/b>term for a race horse<\/strong> that is unknown to gamblers and thus difficult to place betting odds on.<\/p>\n

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We are now going to move on to the world of sailing<\/strong>. From the end of May till the end of June, the America\u2019s Cup<\/strong> races take place at a different international venue every year (this year, the 35th<\/sup> America\u2019s Cup will be held in Bermuda) and is one of the oldest international sporting trophies in history. The sport is a competition between two sailing yachts.<\/strong> One yacht is the defender who represents the yacht club (holder of the America\u2019s Cup) and the second yacht is the challenger.<\/p>\n

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Sailing<\/strong> is another area that is rich in expressions and here are a few examples that we\u2019ve chosen for you.<\/p>\n

Now who knew, that the expressions to feel blue<\/strong> or to have the blues<\/strong> (and the term for a whole genre of music) came from the world of sailing? Well, this meaning originates from a custom that was practiced when a ship lost its captain during a voyage. The ship would fly blue flags and have a blue band painted along her hull when she returned to port.<\/p>\n

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Another expression that continues to be in common usage is to be over a barrel<\/strong> \u2013 it means that you\u2019re in a position where you don\u2019t have any choice or in are in a weak position; for example, in a sales negotiation: \u201cOnce the competitors found a flaw in our product, they had us over the barrel\u2026\u201d. <\/strong>The origin? Well, the position a sailor would be in if punished and had to be whipped. So, no, not a good place to be.<\/p>\n

Perhaps you\u2019ve been in a situation where someone has told you to toe the line<\/strong>, meaning to accept the authority of the group and conform to it. Politicians, for example, are expected to toe the party line<\/strong> and not do or say anything that conflicts with their party\u2019s views. The term comes from an old naval term that refers to a ship\u2019s crew when called to gather and form a line on the ship\u2019s deck.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure you know that the word posh<\/strong> is used in Britain to denote those of the upper-class or something connected to them, like a posh accent, flat<\/strong> or neighbourhood<\/strong>. There\u2019s a great story about its origin but unfortunately there\u2019s no proof it\u2019s true! The idea is that the term refers to the acronym Port Out, Starboard Home,<\/strong> which was the more comfortable accommodation, out of the heat of the sun, on ships between England and India back in the nineteenth and early twentieth century.<\/p>\n

And our last expression, also dating from nautical days-gone-by, is loose cannon,<\/strong> which refers to someone unpredictable and dangerous in some way. This term comes from when a ship\u2019s cannon would come loose from where it was tied on deck. The idea of this large, dangerous object sliding all over the place certainly gives us a useful visual reference for danger!<\/p>\n

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There are many important sporting events held in June and two prime examples are Royal Ascot and The America’s Cup. This month\u2019s Spread the Word\u00a0uses…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5057,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[117],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-publica",""],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/virtualcampus.kingstraining.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/virtualcampus.kingstraining.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/virtualcampus.kingstraining.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/virtualcampus.kingstraining.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/virtualcampus.kingstraining.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/virtualcampus.kingstraining.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3620\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/virtualcampus.kingstraining.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/virtualcampus.kingstraining.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/virtualcampus.kingstraining.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/virtualcampus.kingstraining.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}