27 Figures of speech

The Idiomatic Man is a cartoon creation by Ella Baron for the Times Literary Supplement and has made rounds all over the world as people tried to solve the puzzle and find the 27 hidden expressions. This idiomatic cartoon is a literal representation of several English figures of speech.
**If you haven’t tried it, you might want to stop reading further, click open the image in a new tab so you can attempt it without distractions then come back and see how your powers of interpretation matches your knowledge of English expressions, seems easy enough right?
Ella Baron is currently the staff cartoonist for the Times Literary Supplement responsible for creating the weekly cartoon and the occasional cover.

I have since become a fan of her work; its meaning and the many processes hidden behind the scenes
The dignity of movement of an ice-berg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water.
Ernest Hemingway
The Idiomatic man was created with 27 figures of speech in the artist’s mind but plausible variations also exist, shout out to the mysterious Allie

Figures of Expression
1. In a nut shell
2. Piece of cake
3. Cherry on the cake
4. A screw loose
i) hit a nail on the head
ii) I would lose my head if it wasn’t screwed on
iii) screwed in the head
5. Stiff upper lip
6. Born with a silver spoon
7. Ear worm
i) put a bug in your ear
ii) in one ear out the other ear
iii) worm out
8. Bald as a coot
i) bird brain
ii) bird on the roof
iii) my hair is like a bad’s nest
iv) bird’s eye view
9. Keeping your card close to your chest
i) not playing with a full deck
10. Joker in the pack
11. Ace up your sleeve
i) tricks up your sleeve
12. Heart on your sleeve
13. Handed on a silver plater
i) served up on a plate
14. Spill the beans
15. Big cheese
i) as holey as Swiss cheese
ii) more holes than Swiss cheese
16. Red herring
i) A fish out of water
17. To tie the knot
i) knots in your stomach
ii) at the end of your rope
18. Put all you eggs in one basket
i) dont count your eggs before they hatch
ii) hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk
19. Walking on egg shells
i) hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk
ii) you can’t make an omelette without breaking an egg, can you?
iii) haste makes waste
20. Shadow of your former self
i) cast a different shadow
ii) walk in someone’s shadow
21. No room to swing a cat
i) got a cat by the tail
22. The cat’s got your tongue
23. Kick the bucket
24. Pull up your socks
25. Cold feet
i) put your best foot forward
ii) the boot is on the other foot
ii) foot loose and fancy free
iii) on bended knee
iv) head over heels
26. From rags to riches
i) rich man poor man
ii) riding your coat tails
iii) a stitch in time
iv) clothes dont make the man
27. Time flies
i) time waits for no one
ii) race against time
iii) running behind time
**if you have any additional expressions that can be derived from the image do share
Wow, there are some many….. I tried to put my thinking cap on but only got about 10.
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looks like you can 50+ possible answers
~B
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Don’t ask me how many I got
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considering you were one of the first people to forward me this image…. lol
~B
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Hahahahahaha imagine the unsuccessful guess work
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maybe they werent unsuccessful (as such) as you can see I have a list which reaches almost 50+ it could be you saw meaning where none else did hahaha, I had a chat with Ella who created the cartoon and she agrees that the translations of the Idiomatic man far exceed the 27 and ony your imagination limits you
~B
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I love this, this is great.
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Its all kinds of awesome, I dont think I have , my seen anything like this before, a visual representation so many different figures of speech, my repsects go to the artist !!!!!
~B
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Creativity at its best.
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Earworm
Nail on the head
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Hi Beaton, great cartoons. Growing up in Scotland as a kid I loved cartoons still do like the images created. 🙂
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forever young
~B
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Yes I do still behave like a teenager most of the time. It’s in the genes my dad is just the same! Lol.
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1. Don’t put all your in one basket
2. Wear your heart on your sleeve
3. An ace up my sleeve
4. Joker in the pack
5. Don’t trust your own shadow
6. Growing out of ones ears
7. Don’t spill the beans
8. Red herring
9. Piece of cake
10. Time flies
11. All eggs in one basket
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That was brilliant. I have to admit I didn’t get many and peeked at the answers. It is a great activity for a family gettogether or a rainy day.
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Its been a great way to fill the lockdown hours
Thanks
~B
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