... getting hot feet

As regular readers will know, I have a thing about idioms. I might say, casually, to an acquaintance, "I had planned to row across the Atlantic this summer, but now I have cold feet." However, recently, as happens these days, I was looking at a health website. Surprisingly, to me at least, there was an article about people getting hot feet at night and informing us about 15 ways that sufferers can get relief from this affliction.

One proposed solution was to wear socks in bed. I had previously thought that wearing socks at night was a solution to having cold feet. However, wearing socks can now cool down your feet. Not any socks, of course, but cold therapy socks. Apparently, they are ideal for keeping your feet cool while you sleep. They are socks in which you insert gel packs that you have kept in your freezer. When you are ready to use them, you put the cold packs into the sock inserts. There is one insert at the bottom of the foot and the other on top. So, slip in your gel pack, put on your socks and a night of cold feet awaits you. 

There were a number of online reviews, many that praised the socks. One said that she was unable to sleep at night due to hot feet and described them as a lifesaver. She went on to say that all her life - she was 68 years old - she had suffered from sleep deprivation due to hot feet, and finally, she had found a cure.

Losing confidence about doing something special or different is a problem that most people experience. Due to Covid 19, I have cold feet about leaving the front door.  However, the more I read, the more I am beginning to think that there is nothing worse than having hot feet.

....being given a heads up.

People like to give you a heads up nowadays. "Let me give you a heads up," they say. Well, excuse me, if I say "no thank you, keep my or your head out of this. You can tell me some interesting facts, give me important information or share some insightful comments."

There are many things I would like someone to give me. If I was being given an all-electric saloon car, like a Prius or Toyota, I would say "thank you. I really appreciate it." There is nothing I would like more than to sit in a traffic jam next to a big SUV feeling very satisfied with my contribution to saving the planet. I would also like to be given a pat on the head - always welcome in these troubling times. What about being given free Internet access? If someone said to me "Let me give you free Internet access," that would be paradise, in fact.

Who was the first person to give a heads up? Was it a US president? Maybe Hollywood. Did a leading male actor ever give his leading lady a heads up? If so, where and when?

Of course, keep your head up, which means stay alert, is entirely acceptable. He held his head up high — maintained his dignity — great, I like it. 

Whenever anyone offers a heads up to you, then a firm refusal is required.

... being lost for words.

In a recent English class the topic was favourite films. The learning objectives focused on the vocabulary and grammar required to discuss preferences. Towards the end of the lesson I asked the students what their favourite film was, and nobody had a favourite film. It also transpired that they also didn't have a favourite book, or song. I expected, at the very least, Titanic. I was completely lost for words, as were they. I wasn't sure what to do next as the last part of the lesson required them to describe their favourite film or book, or song.  I ended up finding a few words and talking about my favourite film, which took us to the end of the lesson, but rather pointlessly. My favourite film is Educating Rita, where the characters, like me, probably use too many words. Who is interested in me talking about my favourite anything?

... wandering in the temple of immensity

Uncommon idioms are always lurking in the shadows and waiting to trip us up. A student on a course I was teaching last week asked me about the idiom "hunting the dog".  I hadn't heard it before and it was impossible to make anything more than a feeble guess at the meaning.  The idiom "not pulling a full load" used to trouble me, as did "holding your/my/his/her/our/their own". Anyway, it seems to me about time I started to make up my own idioms and try to get them introduced into regular use. From the vocabulary of playing cards "flush the aces" sounds goods. Marketing manager to sales manager. "I don't know what you think, but I think we need to flush the aces on this one." "Reverse the suits" is a bit weaker, but has inherent residual qualities. From sport, "up for a googly", "in sight of the boundary", "securing the blocks" and "swimming with one ear out of the water"  are usable  In politics, "voting with his left leg" and "preemptive presidential precision" could take seed.  Anyway, perhaps it is a waste of space, and I am just treading water whilst wandering in the temple of immensity, awaiting arrival of the flame of destiny or the march of the frozen wastelands.

... being in the wrong idiom.

The other day I was more than a little disoriented. I could have been in the soup or perhaps I was in hot water. My wife suggested that I might be up the creek without a paddle, whereas my friend was sure I was in a spot of bother, although I didn't agree with him. When I checked on Bing maps it suggested I was up ship (polite p=t) street. I was pretty sure that I wasn't riding a horse with no name or had my head in the clouds. I don't think, either, that I was on my last legs and was definitely nowhere near the last knockings and was not out for the count. Perhaps I was just under the weather. Was I close to something - perhaps the edge, the bone, the wire or even the call? No definitely not. I was in something. If this feeling comes back I might find myself jumping ship and heading towards the murky depths.