My Secret World of Idioms

Master idioms! This worksheet helps you distinguish literal vs. figurative meanings.

by James ThurberBOOK TASK #3 Two years ago my wife and I, looking for a house to buy, called on a firm of real-estate agents in New-Milford. One of the members of the firm, scrabbling through a metal box containing many keys, looked up to say, "The key to the Roxbury house isn't here." His partner replied, "It's a common lock. A skeleton will let you in." I was suddenly once again five years old, with wide eyes and open mouth. I pictured the Roxbury house as I would have pictured it as a small boy, a house of such dark and nameless horrors as have never crossed the mind of our little batbiter.It was of sentences like that, nonchalantly tossed off by real-estate dealers, great aunts, clergymen and other such prosaic persons that the enchanted private world of my early boyhood was made. In this world, businessmen who phoned their wives to say that they were tied up at the office sat roped to their swivel chairs, and probably gagged, unable to move or speak, except somehow, miraculously to telephone; hundreds of thousands of businessmen tied to their chairs in hundreds of thousands of offices in every city of my fantastic cosmos. An especially fine note about the binding of all the businessmen in all the cities was that whoever did it, always did it around five o'clock in the afternoon.Then there was the man who left town under a cloud. Sometimes I saw him all wrapped up in the cloud, and invisible, like a cat in a burlap sack. At the other times it floated, about the size of a sofa, three or four feet above his head, following him wherever he went. One could think about the man under the cloud before going to sleep; the image of him wandering around from town to town was a sure soporific.Not so the mental picture of a certain Mrs. Huston, who had been terribly cut up when her daughter died on the operating table. I could see the doctors too vividly, just they set upon Mrs. Huston with their knives, and I could hear them. "Now, Mrs. Huston, will we get up on the table like a good girl, or will we have to be put there?" I could usually fight off Mrs. Huston before I went to sleep, but she frequently got into my dreams, and sometimes she still does.I remember the grotesque creature that came to haunt my meditations when one evening my father said to my mother, "What did Mrs. Johnson say when you told her about Betty?" and my mother replied "Oh, she was all ears."There were many other wonderful figures in the secret surrealist landscape of my youth: the old lady who was up in the air, the husband who did not seem to be able to put his foot down, the man who lost his head during a fire, but was still able to run out of the house yelling, the young lady, who was, in reality a soiled dove. It was a world that, of necessity, one had to keep to oneself and brood over in silence, because it would fall to pieces at the touch of words. If you brought it out into the light of actual day and put it to the test of questions, your parents would try to laugh the miracles away, or they would take your temperature and put you to bed.Such a world as the world of my childhood is, alas, not year-proof. It is a ghost that, to use Henley's words, gleams, flickers, vanishes away. It think it must have been the time my little Cousin Frances came to visit us that it began surely and forever to dissolve. I came into the house one rainy dusk and asked where Frances was. "She is" said our cook, "up in the front room crying her heart out." The fact that a person could cry so hard that his heart would come out of his body, as perfectly shaped and glossy as a red velvet pincushion was news to me. For some reason I had never heard the expression, so common in American families whose hopes and dreams run so often counter to attainment. I went upstairs and opened the door of the front room. Frances, who was three years older than I, jumped up off the bed and ran past me, sobbing, and down the stairs.My search for her heart took some fifteen minutes. I tore the bed apart and kicked up the rugs and even looked in the bureau drawers. It was no good. I looked out the window at the rain and darkening sky. My cherished mental image of the man under the cloud began to grow dim and fade away. I discovered that, all alone in a room, I could face the thought of Mrs. Huston with cold equanimity. Downstairs in the living room, Frances was still crying. I began to laugh. Vocabulary Assistance: a soiled dove – not innocent (idiom) nonchalantly – indifferent, unconcernedalas – unfortunately operating table – where doctors perform surgeryattainment – achievements pincushion – seamstress toolbinding – tying up prosaic – common, dullbrood over – think deeply about put his feet down – act with decision (idiom)bureau drawers – desk drawers real-estate – lands and housesburlap- coarse cloth roped – tiedcalled on – visited run… counter to – are againstclergymen – religious leaders scrabbling – searchingcrossed the mind – come to the mind set upon – attackedcrying her heart out – cry intensely (idiom) skeleton – a key that will open any door (idiom)cut up – sad (idiom) soporific – makes one sleepdealers – agents surrealist – unreal, strangedissolve – melt, disappear swivel chairs – chairs that turn, office chairsDusk – evening tied up – kept busy (idiom)equanimity – calmness and indifference tossed off – said casually face the thoughts – think about tore the bed apart – pulled off the bedcloth (idioms)gagged – a piece of cloth on mouth under a cloud – under suspicionglossy – shiny vividly – clearly grotesque – ugly and strange year-proof – protected from the passing of timehaunt my meditations – filled my thoughtshorrors – frightening things 1. Write the Literal and Figurative meaning of every idiom Figurative meaning: The metaphor. The meaning not connected to the word, but to the idea.Literal meaning: The meaning of the wordLOOK AT THE EXAMPLE!!! IDIOM LITERAL MEANING FIGURATIVE MEANING A skeleton will let you in. A human skeleton answering the door. A master-key will open the lock. tied up at the office under a cloud cut up she was all ears up in the air put his foot down lost his head a soiled dove crying her heart out tore the bed apart 2. Choose 1 idiom and draw its literal meaning 3. How old is the narrator, when he tells te story? 5 years old 10-15 years old a baby 30-40 years old 4. What made the narrtor reminice? His wife told him she wants to buy a house. His boss told him to check out the Roxbury house. His read a book about idioms The agent told him a skeleton will let him in. 5. Real-estate dealers, great aunts and clergymen are given as examples of: People who use figurative language as part of every-day communication. People the narrator loved very much. People who understand and love the imaginary world of children. People who enjoy reading books. 6. (A) Write TRUE or FALSE next to the sentence. (B) Copy a sentence from the text that supports your answer (A) The narrator still remembers Mrs. Hudson. yes(B) She frequently got into my dreams, and sometimes she still does. 7. Did Mrs. Johnson want to hear the story about Betty? No, she didn't even know who she was. Yes, She was excited to hear it. We don't know. 8. Why would the narrator's parents think he was sick nd send him to bed, is he asked them questiond about the idioms? Because he was a sick child. Because his imagination is too creative. Because the images he imagined were too crazy. Because he asked too many questions. 9. (A) Write TRUE or FALSE next to the sentence: (B) Copy a word from the text that supports your answer: (A) The narrator is happy that the world of idioms disappeared. false(B) alas 10. Why do you think the narrator's world of idioms disappeared?