<B>The British Council?s language clinic with ?Dr Danny?</B>

Hello and welcome again to the English Language Clinic. In last week?s article, I discussed the modern meanings of several expressions. At the end of the article, I asked if you knew the meanings of three other phrases. The first of these was ?upskill?. Used as both a noun and verb, to ?upskill? is either to teach an employee a new skill or to learn a new skill. The second term was ?wedge issue?. This is a common term in American English and describes a divisive (likely to divide) political issue, raised by one party to divide the supporters of another party.

The final expression I mentioned was ?the elephant in the room?. This refers to a substantial and controversial issue, which is obvious to all but is not talked about in order to avoid an uncomfortable situation. This is an example of a metaphorical idiom; imagine an elephant standing in the middle of an office, yet nobody mentioning its presence!

There are a number of idioms in English, which convey an opposite meaning to the metaphor of the ignored elephant. Both ?a storm in a teacup? and ?making a mountain out of a molehill? describe the sense that a small and relatively trivial problem has been treated with a disproportionate amount of attention. In both cases the issue in question could be described as having been ?blown out of all proportion?, or that those involved have ?made a meal out of it?.

Please send your comments, queries and questions to ?Dr Danny? by emailing the following address [email protected]

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