Language Café

Definition: To give help or support to someone or something.Origin: Based on the literal meaning of go to bat (to position yourself to hit the ball in a baseball game).

Definition: To dress flamboyantly or smartly. Origin: One theory has it that tailors used nine yards of material to make a suit (or, according to some authors, a shirt). [Don't think it is]. Nine is just a well-sought after number in English.

Definition: A piece of deliberately provocative commentary that is based almost entirely on shallow moralizing".Origin: The term gained popularity in sports journalism in 2012 to describe the coverage of National Football League quarterback Tim Tebow, and was analyzed in a Pacific Standard article by Tomás Ríos.

Definition: To spoil a photograph of (a person or thing) by unexpectedly appearing in the camera's field of view as the picture is taken, typically as a prank or practical jokeOrigin: Early 21st century, origin unknown.

Definition: To speak disrespectfully to or criticize someone.Origin: An abbreviation of the word 'disrespect'

Definition: The expression is mostly used in informal contexts to mean to get rid of a major problem or source of irritation.Origin: Based on a first glance, it's looking like the original expression is "have a monkey on the roof," meaning a mortgage, dating back to the 1800s. Later "on the back" forms referred to any unpleasant burden, and in the 1940s began to be applied to narcotics addiction.

Definition: A burden which some unfortunate person has to carry.Origin: This phrase refers to lines from the poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, in which the eponymous mariner, who shoots an albatross, is obliged to carry the burden of the bird hung around his neck as a punishment for and reminder of his ill deed.这个习惯用语来自18世纪英国诗人Coleridge的著名诗篇， "The Ancient Mariner"  也就是《老渔夫》。这诗篇讲的是一个水手误杀了一只信天游，这是被认为不吉利的。后来渔船搁浅，水手们强迫他把死鸟挂在脖子上，作为对他的惩罚。

Definition: The act of suddenly ceasing all communication with someone the subject is dating, but no longer wishes to date.Origin: Referring to ghosts; impossible to see.

Definition: Dishonest or unreliable. Potentially dangerous or of low quality.Origin: Derived from the word 'dodge', meaning to avoid.

Definition: An estimate based on a mixture of guesswork and calculationOrigin: An informal English portmanteau of guess and estimate, first used by American statisticians in 1934 or 1935.