Don't be an Idiom

An idiom is an expression unique to a particular language or culture. Literally translated, they often don't make sense in a different country or region. (An example often forwarded by e-mail is the translation of American movie titles into Japanese, Chinese, Indian, or other Asian languages.)

I learned one in Alabama that still tickles me: tore up. It usually refers to the rending of garments or manual division of a piece of paper, but I never heard an Alabaman use it that way. It has two other meanings. I learned the first when an employee told me that his lawn mower was "tore up". This guy didn't look like he could tear metal apart with his bare hands, so I was quite confused until a kind coworker explained to me that the mower was "broken". The second meaning came up when one of my employees was arrested. I heard that his mother was "real tore up" about it. In this case, it means she was "upset".

I was reminded of another idiom this morning that might be particular to New Mexico. I have heard it used by just two people, both of whom were born and raised in this state. (If you know of any other people who have used this idiom, I'd love to hear about it.) One of my college room mates apologized to me and said he dropped my towel on the ground. "What were you doing with it outside?" I wondered. "I wasn't. I was in the bathroom." Color me puzzled. This morning, I heard an employee ask about a broken branch, "Is it hanging, or is it on the floor?" Oh yes, not only did it break off the tree (or was it torn?), it dragged itself into a nearby building. Apparently, some people either confuse "floor" and "ground" or consider them to be interchangeable.

While reviewing yesterday's timesheets a moment ago, I saw that one employee had completed the following work order. "Clean up queso spilled in parking lot." For those of you unfamiliar with Spanish, queso means "cheese". It also is the shortened form of chile con queso, a spicy cheese dip commonly offered as an appetizer in Mexican (and New Mexican, for those who make a distinction) restaurants. I've heard of "cutting the cheese" (farting) and "tossing one's cookies" (vomiting), but I've never heard of anyone "spilling the cheese". Even if we are supposed to read that literally, what's someone doing with cheese (or cheese dip) in the parking lot in the first place?