Keywords
Abstract
Idioms are generally understood as fixed expressions whose meanings cannot be derived from the meanings of their individual components. Many idioms in everyday English are based on tools, technologies, social practices, and ways of life that are no longer familiar to contemporary speakers. This article examines such expressions as fossil idioms: idioms whose original imagery has become obsolete, while their figurative meaning remains fully functional. Using a dataset of thirty high-frequency English idioms and a speaker-awareness questionnaire administered to forty participants, the study shows that idiom comprehension is largely independent of knowledge of original imagery. The findings support the view that idioms survive cultural change by becoming conventionalized semantic units rather than remaining actively interpreted metaphors.
References
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