English expressions and idioms are driving me crazy

blog cover image
16
1.6K followers
Updated

I just discovered this and wanted to share it with all the community. Laughing is healthy, even though if it’s of myself.

English is not my first language but I still “try” to blog in English. LOL. But there are so many expressions and idioms that I completely miss.

And this time it happened to me right here at Wealthy Affiliate.

I wanted to write about how important it’s to identify those things that make our site progress and differentiate them from other activities that don’t help our site very much.

So the expression:

“Deciding what moves the needle and what doesn’t” sounded good to me. I knew it meant checking out what made our site progress.

So when I was looking for a picture to illustrate this idea, I revealed I hadn’t fully comprehended the expression. Here is the picture I selected.

Progress, moving the needle, that must mean the needle in a sewing machine that moves when one hits the pedal! LOL.

So, having this in mind, I decided to put the cherry on top and close my post with a little joke. Here is the joke I placed at the end of the article.

This morning, researching a bit more, I finally discovered I had to change the picture. Here is what it is now.

Am I still missing something? Is that what moving the needle really means?

If English is not your first language, believe me, things like this will happen. But don’t give up! Dust yourself off, and keep on! Has anything like this happened to you? I’d like to hear from you in the comment box below. :)

By the way, would you like to check the article with this blooper. Click here.

Login
Create Your Free Wealthy Affiliate Account Today!
icon
4-Steps to Success Class
icon
One Profit Ready Website
icon
Market Research & Analysis Tools
icon
Millionaire Mentorship
icon
Core “Business Start Up” Training

Recent Comments

23

You are correct with the second picture. Moving the needle refers to a gauge with a needle indicator. So you move the needle on the gauge, in your photo, you would move from cold to hot.

Expressions have a way of tangling us up with things - we think we know what it means, but often we are misinterpreting what is the true meaning.

Thanks for the amusing post.

Alex

Hi Alex, and thank you for sharing insights concerning the meaning of this expression. I completely agree with you, these expressions have a way of tangling us up with things. :)

I'm grateful I asked the community here at Wealthy Affiliate.

Hi Henry, you have a great way of communicating your point. Love the illustrations and the story.

Best wishes,
Michael

Hi Michael! Thank you very much for that! I'm glad you feel the points are shared in an engaging way. Still learning this art.

All the best with your sites.

The last picture is definitely better. But it's okay the message still got across and made me laugh too.
We do have a lot of expressions that don't always mean what they seem to at face value. Not even sure that makes sense but it s the best I can do at this moment.

Hi Linda! Thank you very much for stopping by and for the encouragement despite the blooper. :)

Yes, here at Wealthy Affiliate, with the help of the community, I've also been learning a little bit of English.

Above all, I'm happy to hear the tutorial also was fun and made you laugh. We need some of that too these days with all the world-wide situation we're in.

It's great to meet you here at WA. And thanks again for writing. Have a nice day. :)

Could have been deliberate for all I knew.
Seems like you know quite a bit of English, I would never have guessed it wasn't your first language.

Oh, Linda! Thank you! That has been the nicest thing I've heard today! You can't imagine how mush that sentence means to me.

You did okay with the third one!

Thank you, Jeff! When I have doubts it's better to ask the community! :)

You bet--nice that you can speak more than one language though--a true asset!

Haha, that's a good way of viewing things! We have so many reasons to be grateful. The problem is that most of the time we don't view them the right way! Our perspective is everything! LOL. :)

That's very true, Henry!

Have a safe weekend!

Thanks Jeff!

Have a safe weekend too!

I will, my friend!👍👍

👍👍

😎

Think of a vehicle... when you push the gas pedal.. car speeds up and the speedometer's needle moves...

When you don't push it down... the needle falls back to 0...

Do you sit still with both feet on the brake? Well, stop it... gotta push the gas to get to where you are going...

Got it! Thank you very much! After realizing the blooper, I substituted the sword swallower joke with another joke involving a speedometer. Humor is regional, I hope I got the joke right this time, LOL.

This expression may change if more people take ubers and don't learn what a speedometer is :-)

Hahahahaha, yeah, some Uber drivers drive like crazy.

See more comments

Login
Create Your Free Wealthy Affiliate Account Today!
icon
4-Steps to Success Class
icon
One Profit Ready Website
icon
Market Research & Analysis Tools
icon
Millionaire Mentorship
icon
Core “Business Start Up” Training