Friday, November 28, 2008

Idiom: Black & White

Colours are the theme of today's idioms – ‘black’ and ‘white’ to be precise. The first one is ‘give someone a black look’. We ‘give someone a black look’ when we want to show them we are angry or displeased with them, maybe because they have said or done something to upset us. Listen to the idiom in an example.

‘My teacher gave me a black look because I was talking with my friend when he was trying to explain the lesson.’

The second idiom is ‘to tell a white lie’. We ‘tell a white lie’ when we want to be polite or we don't want to hurt someone's feelings by telling them the truth.

‘Julie asked me if I liked her new hairstyle. I had to tell a white lie and say that I did, but really I thought it was too short.’

Let's recap on today’s idioms :

‘To give someone a black look’ — ‘menatap seseorang dengan perasaan kesal atau marah’

‘To tell a white lie — ‘berbohong demi kebaikan’

Source: http://kangguru.org/idioms.htm