where can i find literal meanings and real meanings of idioms?
You will enjoy finding out about idioms. Some of them are really strange.
Here are some really good sites:
http://www.idiomsite.com/
http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/
http://www.learnenglishfeelgood.com/americanidioms/
http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/
can you please tell me the difference between an idiom's literal meaning and its real meaning? give example please.
A Dime A Dozen:
Anything that is common and easy to get.
The literal meaning of "a dime a dozen" would be that 12 of something would cost 10 cents.
The figurative meaning is that something is common and usual... easy to find. You can say that anything that is readily available is " a dime a dozen".
Look at the meanings of the actual words to see an idiom's literal meaning.
The first idiom in the first site above is:
"A Bird In The Hand Is Worth Two In The Bush:"
The literal meaning is that if you're trying to catch birds, it's better to have one bird in your hand than to know that there are two birds in a bush.
The real meaning: "Having something that is certain is much better than taking a risk for more, because chances are you might lose everything."
so heres my example of what i understood.
Drive someone up the wall:
the real meaning of this is: To irritate and/or annoy very much.
so what would be the literal meaning of this one?