22 phrases Americans say that leave foreigners completely stumped

Carlo Allegri/Reuters

Whether they're related to food, football, or feline friends, American idioms can be colorful — and confusing to people visiting from abroad.

While phrases like "shoot the breeze" (to talk about unimportant things for a long time) and "cold turkey" (to abruptly withdraw from an addictive substance or behavior) have origins in US slang from centuries past, others such as "put up your dukes" (to hold your hands up to prepare for a fight) and "throw under a bus" (to betray someone for your own gain) can be traced across the pond.

Here are 22 phrases Americans say that leave foreigners completely stumped.

When a task is easy or straightforward, Americans will say it's a "piece of cake."

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The phrase likely derives from a line in "The Primrose Path," a 1935 poetry collection by American humorist Ogden Nash: "Her picture's in the papers now, and life's a piece of cake." 

When something is easy to understand, they might say "it's not rocket science."

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This phrase, which gained popularity in the 1980s towards the end of the Cold War, refers to when something isn't that difficult to understand. 

It has to do with the fact that the US was the first English-speaking country to establish a comprehensive program dedicated to the study of rocket science.

 

 

 

 

When Americans "shoot the breeze," they talk about unimportant things for a long time.

Kapustin Igor/Shutterstock

This phrase pertains to late-19th-century slang when "breeze" meant "rumor." By the 1910s, the windy word came to mean "empty chatter."

 

 

 

 

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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