ITV News published this video item, entitled “‘Pip pip’ among expressions at risk of being lost from English language | ITV News” – below is their description.
Some of our language’s most traditional sayings and expressions are at risk of falling out of dialect, with many people no longer using them – or not sure of what they mean.
A survey has identified the top 50 phrases most at risk of dying out.
Top on the list was the term to cast “pearls before swine,” with 78% of people never using it in conversation. If you want to start throwing it into your next conversation, it means you are wasting your time by offering something to somebody who doesn’t appreciate it. The term originally came from the bible.
Another term on the way out (with 71% of people not using it) is “nail your colours to the mast” – meaning to speak out openly about your beliefs.
It, unsurprisingly, has a nautical background dating back to the 17th Century when ships would either lower their flag as a mark of submission – or pin their battle colours onto whatever was left of a ship if they’d lost a battle.
ITV News YouTube Channel
Got a comment? Leave your thoughts in the comments section, below. Please note comments are moderated before publication.