{"id":452,"date":"2012-06-05T18:34:40","date_gmt":"2012-06-05T22:34:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michael.schwanzer.info\/blog\/?p=452"},"modified":"2012-06-05T18:34:40","modified_gmt":"2012-06-05T22:34:40","slug":"english-idioms-learned-the-hard-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/michael.schwanzer.info\/blog\/english-idioms-learned-the-hard-way\/","title":{"rendered":"English Idioms learned the hard way."},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo by Jeffrey Beall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Do you know what “being half in the bag<\/strong>” means?\u00a0I thought I did, until this happened …<\/p>\n

First, if you know what it means, read on. If you don’t know, or just maybe know, read this<\/a>! English is not my first language, so while living in an English speaking<\/a> place, I do sometimes reuse phrases and idioms<\/a> without double-checking them, since, to be honest, it is just not feasible, and works great most of the times.<\/p>\n

Well this is how it worked out with “being half in the bag”.<\/strong><\/p>\n

During my first visit in Toronto<\/a>\u00a0(years ago) we were invited to a New Years Eve<\/a> party at a friends place. When we arrived, the host opened the door in his bathrobe<\/a> and said: “Thanks for coming over, I am already half in the bag so make yourself at home, I will be with you in five<\/em>“.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

“make yourself at home<\/a>“, I understood, since we hear that all the time in Toronto and the “half in the bag<\/em>” made obviously sense,<\/strong> immediately. Of course, it can only mean that he is half way dressed<\/strong>, as he actually was. 5 minutes later, he was with us dressed.<\/p>\n

Therefore, \u00a0obviously, “half in the bag<\/em>” is an idiom for “give me five minutes, I just need to finish dressing up<\/strong>“.<\/p>\n

It all made sense, so I started using this idiom, thinking I would know what it means<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

For the last year, every time I was about to be late for an early morning meeting, I would call in and say: “Sorry guys, I will be there in 5, I am already half in the bag anyway already!<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

Since I always showed up 5 minutes later, sober and of course, dressed – No one ever said anything about my faux pas<\/a>. So I kept using this idiom. Until a few weeks ago.<\/p>\n

We were with friends at a restaurant for dinner and my buddy said, “Guys, I am already half in the bag”. So I responded, “No you are not, you are fully dressed<\/strong>” – earning a confused look for that just to get told what the actual meaning of that idiom is.<\/p>\n

That’s when I stopped calling in late to say “I am already half in the bag<\/strong>“.<\/p>\n

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