Can YOU English well?

[shizuku_san]

So for my first assignment I have to translate two English idioms to Japanese and write a paper on doing so. One of my idioms I'd never heard before and had to look up in my Oxford Learner's Dictionary (on my denshi jisho). Anyone else?

Poll Idiom

Comments

[iamnight]

Wow. I would type something in but it would all be BS, for I have never heard this.

[an_kayoh]

I remember I looked that up once because someone used the sentence "It isn't Sophie's Choice. More like Hobson's." and I couldn't figure out what the heck they meant. But I can't remember the answer really, either.

[chrome_canyons]

Having now wiki'ed it and seeing how very far off the obvious answer was:

It's a choice between doing something and not doing something, rather than a choice between alternatives. Kind of like the old Iraqi elections: you could vote for Saddam or not Saddam.

[hyuga524]

Huh. Really thought I knew that one, but not quite. Got the origin, though. Must count for something.