from Stanislaw Warda: Creators of languages have to have a big sense of humor

Idioms and Expression

Idioms and expressions are important parts of many languages. They are also lively and useful in English. Languages have a living structure, so expressions reflect the time in which they were created. Their phrases usually have a strong connection with the history and culture of the nations that use them.

From their expressions, we can see that some of them are old, like "burn the midnight oil", which I assumed originated when people used a kerosene or oil lamp for lighting. Probably oil and kerosene were also expensive, so people tried to save it. If someone has to use this light after midnight, it means that they have something important to do.

Other expressions may indicate more modern times. I am not sure, but baseball is a bit younger than kerosene lamps, so the phrase "Back to first base" is, too. These baseball phrases are very clear to all Americans precisely because of baseball. This means that if there is something we need to deal with, we have to start over. Expressions in general make our conversations simpler, shorter and to the point.

The expressions also indicate that language creators must have a great sense of humor. Many of them will stimulate our imagination and will be funny.

These expressions would be useful when creating advertisements. In the morning, many people, including me, feel like drinking coffee. In my language, we often use the slang that "Coffee follows me." Coffee has no legs, but I can imagine one big box of coffee that chases me. “Coffee follows me”. We can also imagine a bag of coffee following a person who has just got up and left the house.

The second expression expresses an idea that we think about for an extended period of time. I say it often. “It crossed my mind.” It's hard to imagine the same assumption that ideas have no legs if something crosses someone's mind. 

There are a lot of idioms that I have “to take it all in” to handle.