Idioms

There is one expression that I just hate. It is "you're the best". I think I get an email a day that has that expression. I am the best what? Best thing since sliced bread? And what does the person say to the next person ? Since I am the best, is the next person better than best. What would that be?

I love idioms. I really started thinking about when I worked with a lot of Russians. They would always ask me what certain expression meant. I didn't realize until then how many we use during the day.

If you go to http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/ you can see a lot of idioms.

I never realized how we got the expression "mad as a hatter". In the past many people who made hats went insane because they had a lot of contact with mercury nitrate in the processing of fur pelts. There must have been a lot of insane people around here. Did you know that Danbury was known as the hat making capital of the world in the 19th century. During the industry boom of the 1880s, over five million hats a year were produced there in 56 different factories.

The state of Connecticut outlawed the use of mercury in hat making in the early 1940s. But there are signs that mercury remains in soil and river sediment not far from where factories once stood. So don't move to Danbury.