I just noticed that idiom and idiot are just one letter different. I’ll go back to that in a minute but for now, I want to capture a few american-isms that don’t make much sense. If you’re talking with someone who isn’t american, don’t use them and if you do, pause to describe what the fuck it means.
For example, today I said “take it with a grain of salt” to someone who is perfectly fluent in English but I could tell that the phrase didn’t land. Same thing with the phrase “take that to the bank”. Because it’s 2023, I can get instant answers to the question of phrase origin.
Take That To The Bank. It’s used when the speaker knows something for sure. According to the interwebs, it was also used in the days when one had to take a paper check to the bank and when Robert Blake was on TV in the 1970’s selling motor oil.
Take It With A Grain Of Salt. That phrase is often used when the speaker means, eh, it’s no big deal. According to Wikipedia, the origin isn’t that bland. It reads:
To take something with a “grain of salt” or “pinch of salt” is an English idiom that suggests to view something, specifically claims that may be misleading or unverified, with skepticism or to not interpret something literally.
Not quite what I thought it meant. I’ll pause on adding others because I want to go back to this idio(m) idio(t) thing.
Of course, like Mr. Portokalos said, the origin is Greek. They come from the same root: “idios” which in ancient Greek meant “of one’s own” or “private”. The original meaning of an idiot was someone not interested in public affairs (considered a key duty in ancient Athens and perhaps a notion we should revive in modern democracies).