Language Café

Definition: To figuratively 'handle a situation in an impromptu manner', that is, without reference to pre-determined rules or guidelines.Origin: Initially, this referred to the playing of music without reference to printed notation. The figurative sense came into being in the mid 20th century in the USA. The early references in that context all relate to sports, notably baseball; for example, this story about the proposed sale of the Brooklyn Dodgers.

【Definition】To publicly (Slyly) criticize or express contempt for someone.【Origin】 The term's first significant step into straight culture was in the 1990 documentary about young, black, and Latino drag queens in New York City, "Paris is Burning." "Shade is, I don't have to tell you you're ugly, because you know you're ugly," she says.

[Definition]To (deliberately) counter, or otherwise reject an individual's direct or (more often than not) indirect advances; to deny/reject an individual's expression of interest. Curve原本的意思是曲线弧线，这里是绕开、避开的意思。[Origin] Refers to avoiding someone or something, thought to come from physically avoiding something.

【Definition】Those of similar taste and personalities congregate in groups.【Origin】In nature, birds of a single species do in fact frequently form flocks. Ornithologists explain this behavior as a 'safety in numbers' tactic to reduce the risk of predation.

【Definition】 If you give someone a taste of their own medicine, you do something bad to them in the same way that they have done to you in order to teach them a lesson.【Origins】 The origin of the phrase 'a taste of your own medicine' comes from Aesop's famous story about a swindler who sells fake medicine, claiming that it can cure anything. When he falls ill, people give him his own medicine, which he knows will not work.

【Definition】to protect yourself against loss by supporting more than one possible result or both sides in a competition:【Origin】 Hedge has been used as a verb in English since at least the 16th century, with the meaning of 'equivocate; avoid commitment'. To hedge a piece of land was to limit it in terms of size and that this gave rise to the 'secure, limited risk' meaning.

【Definition】Meant to express exasperation [ɪgˌzaspə'reɪʃn]愤怒 /awe/ or experiencing emotions that are too difficult to express.【Origin】 The earliest known use of the incomplete phrase "I can't" was submitted to Urban Dictionary by user JJFADS on January 7th, 2005, defining it as an expression used to indicate a "breaking point."

【Definition】To throw a tantrum/an outburst.【Origin】The origination of the phrase is speculated to be either from the term hysterical or the spluttering and hissing sound that an outburst causes.

【Definition】Somebody whose activities are uncommon and out of control, an uncontrolled person who can cause unintentional damage. Someone who behaves in an unexpected and uncontrolled way and is liable to cause problems.【Origin】The phrase refers to cannons carried by wooden warships in the 17th to 19th century as their primary weapons. In order to avoid the enormous recoil when fired, these cannons were mounted on rollers and secured with ropes. A cannon that was not thus restrained was called a loose cannon and was considered dangerous.这个俗语反映了两百年前打仗的形式。loose 是松散的意思，而 cannon 是指大炮。Loose cannon 的来历是几百年前当人们在海上作战时，他们往往在船上放好些大炮，每一座大炮放在一个带四个轮子的平台上。在战争间隙的时候，船员们用很粗的绳子把这些大炮拴住，不让它们随便移动。可是，当风暴来临，这些绳子在风浪的冲击下断了以后，大炮就会在甲板上到处滚动，会把那些不幸就在大炮旁边的船员轧死，这比真正的敌人还要危险。现在，人们用 loose cannon 来指”一个失去控制、无视权威、打破常轨的人”，这种人往往会伤害和他自己站在一边的人。例如，有些美国政府官员在重大问题上擅自采取行动，也不向总统汇报。国会议员就把这些人称为 loose cannon。

【Definition】Likely to fail because of serious problems in a state of difficulty, destruction or ruin. On the rocks还有一个意思，小编不告诉你，你自己听节目‘Neat，or on the rocks?’【Origin】 The phrase "on the rocks" was originally used for ships which ran aground on rocks and broke apart. Since the late 1800s it has been used figuratively for other disasters or problems.