Of The Idiomatic man: A Figure Of Speech

27 Figures of speech

A figure of speech: the idiomatic man

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.

Times Literary supplement Ella Baron cartoons

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

Drawing attention to the Idiomatic man

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

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18 Comments

      1. 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

        Like

    1. 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

      Liked by 1 person

    1. 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

      Liked by 2 people

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