Now, the VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR
STORIES.
Today, we tell about "horse" expressions. In the past, many people depended on horses
for transportation, farming and other kinds of work. A lot of people still like to ride horses. And, horse racing is also popular. So it is not surprising that Americans still
use expressions about the animals.
Long
ago, people who were rich or important rode horses that were very tall. Today, if a girl acts like she is better than
everyone else, you might say she should get
off her high horse.
Yesterday
my children wanted me to take them to the playground. But I had to finish my work, so I told them to
hold your horses. Wait until I finish what I am doing. My two boys like to compete against each other
and play in a violent way. I always tell
them to stop horsing around or
someone could get hurt.
We live in a small town. It does not have any exciting activities to
offer visitors. My children call it at a one-horse town.
Last night, I got a telephone call while I was watching
my favorite television show. I decided
not to answer it because wild horses
could not drag me away from the television.
There was nothing that could stop me from doing what I wanted to
do.
Sometimes you get information straight from the horse's mouth.
It comes directly from the person who knows most about the subject
and is the best source. Let us say your
teacher tells you there is going to be a test tomorrow. You could say you got the information straight from the horse's mouth. However, you would not want to call your
teacher a horse!
You
may have heard this expression: You can
lead a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink. That means you can give someone advice but you
cannot force him to do something he does not want to do.
Sometimes a person fights a battle that has
been decided or keeps arguing a question that has been settled. We say this is like beating a dead horse.
In politics, a dark-horse
candidate is someone who is not well known to the public. Sometimes, a dark horse unexpectedly wins an
election.
Another
piece of advice is, do not change horses in midstream. You would not want to get off one horse
and on to another in the middle of a river. Or make major changes in an activity that has
already begun. In the past, this expression
was used as an argument to re-elect a president, especially during a time when
the country was at war.
(MUSIC)
This
VOA Special English program was written by Shelley Gollust. I'm Faith Lapidus. You can find more WORDS AND THEIR STORIES at our
Web site, voaspecialenglish.com.