You may already be aware that nature inspires and refreshes our spirits but did you know that it also influences our speech? Here are a few idioms (words and phrases that hold a special meaning in a given language) that have their roots in the natural world:
A hornet’s nest <Potential trouble> ~ I don’t think anyone would care to poke this nest, even with a ten foot pole.
All that glitters is not gold < Attractive appearances can be deceiving> ~ In this photo of rocks found along the Salt Marsh Trail, it’s pyrite aka fool’s gold.
To mushroom <To grow or develop at an exponential rate> ~ This enormous shelf fungus seems to be growing more quickly than normal on a decaying tree in my yard. It’s about a foot in width, an unusual find in my neck of the woods.
Thanks to Karma at Karma’s When I Feel Like It Blog who challenged her readers to use photographs to illustrate three idioms from the English language. A photo showing ‘Hallowe’en’ was also part of her request. To me, Hallowe’en implies something scary, and to many people, next to death and public speaking, the scariest things on the planet are spiders.
Living near boggy woods, we have a lot of spiders near our home, especially around Hallowe’en. Sometimes they cross the threshold uninvited and visit us indoors. This one is probably the biggest I’ve ever found in the house. After the photo shoot, it was promptly sent on its merry way outdoors while I cleared out the cobwebs.
If you’d like to participate in Karma’s idiom challenge, you have until October 31st 2011 to do so.
Gosh what a clever post!
Dawn, I’m glad you liked it 🙂
Is that one of those big brown spiders? If you want to follow the life cycle of a whole herd of them, come to my house… we have hundreds of those little suckers in the spring!
Sandy, aren’t those big brown ones hairy and are they wolf spiders? This one seemed quite bald. You’ll have to introduce me to your herd next time I visit. I’ll bring treats.
Interesting post… I wouldn’t miss the spider
Patricia, be brave now. Think of all the mosquitos it eats.
Eeeeek! Is THAT your spider???
Oh my word. It looks *terrifying*, Amy. And much bigger than mine.
Reggie, it is indeed. It was so big you could trip on it. It was very different from the ones we usually see. We thought it had lovely markings.
I hope you used your longest possible telephoto lens to take that photo, Amy! 😉
My goodness there is a spider theme going around the blogosphere today! I am afraid to look around too closely…might be some of those pine spiders hangin’ ’round here. LOVE how you did the idiom challenge. You ROCK! (Is that an idiom? Especially if you show a picture of a rock?)
Kathy, there is just something about Hallowe’en and spiders going well together 🙂 I hate it when I walk through cobwebs in the woods, especially when I’m not wearing a hat.
Yes, I think ‘you rock’ is an idiom. Probably one of the only ones that wasn’t first penned by Shakespeare.
Great pictures to go along with the idioms. That shelf mushroom is very impressive!
I’m one of those folks who is terrified of spiders – they’re the worst thing about Halloween and no one in this house would ever dare to hang fake cobwebs and/or fake spiders for decorations…
Barbara, I’m still wondering why that mushroom is so big. I guess it’s just another mystery of nature…
The spiders don’t bother me too much. If they’re indoors, I gently shoo them out in appreciation for all the ants and mosquitos they keep out of my house.
Barbara, that shelf mushroom really is a whopper. As was that spider. If it makes you feel any better, he hasn’t been invited back.
What an interesting challenge Amy-Lynn.
That spider is fascinating.
Sybil, that spider does look quite different from the ones we usually see around here doesn’t it?
Glad you did the challenge too. We didn’t have to photograph idiom inspired by nature but I see that you took a similar approach.
Sybil’s idiom post is at
http://crittersnus.blogspot.com/2011/10/nature-idioms.html
I don’t mind spiders, as long as they won’t kill me in a single bite! At this time of year in England, the garden is full of lovely striped spider folk. They make beautiful webs that really glisten in the morning dew. Unfortunately, my two furry and stripey cats rather enjoy dismantling said spider traps, and if they get really lucky they ‘play’ with their occupants. Nice kitties aye?
Lynne, there are a lot of glistening webs here in the morning too. It’s quite magical.
I wonder if any other animals engage in torture for sports’ sake besides domestic cats. They can be so nasty.
[…] coming to you from Wanderings of an Elusive Mind. Amy-Lynn from Nova Scotia at Flandrum Hill with Idioms Inspired by Nature. Sybil from Eastern Passage Passage who is a photo hunt “challenge virgin” and begs […]
Enjoyed this post on nature inspired idioms, Amy. You can keep the spider though.
Scott, you don’t like spiders either? 🙂
Cool to see you did the idiom challenge with a Disney slant to it at
http://stphoto.wordpress.com/2011/10/27/idioms-in-disney/
Loved them. This was such a fun photo hunt.
Carol, yes it was fun. Your Hallowe’en photo at .
http://www.mysiteontheweb.us/?p=4483 is the weirdest I’ve seen yet 🙂
That is one unusual looking spider–rather pretty. Great photos, and I love your banner!
Thanks pattisj. The spider’s color and pattern make it quite the little work of art. Glad you like the banner 🙂
What a great idea for your photo hunt ! Nature always inspire beautiful thoughts and photos. This particular spider does not look too frightening, does it ? I would be more afraid of the hornet’s nest. Very well done, Amy-Lynn.
Thank you Isabelle. Nature always makes the best subject 🙂 The spider would probably look more frightening under different lighting 😉
I enjoyed your photos very much Miss Amy–even the spider, as he is yours and not mine. So big I could trip on it, eh? Nice turn of phrase there, too.
Thank you Gerry. He hasn’t been back. With the milder temperatures we’ve been having here, he’s probably still on the prowl outdoors.
What great ideas you had for the idiom posts – and how wonderful to have a theme within a theme. I’m so glad you decided to participate in this round. Thanks very much! And your spider is wicked creepy! <>
Thanks Karma, it was a pleasure to participate in your challenge 🙂
It is a delight for me, learning word origins. Adding graphics is a bonus. Fun post. 🙂
Yousei, idioms can be such a challenge for non-native speakers to understand. Glad you enjoyed the post.
[…] newbies were the next two posts: Amy-Lynn from Flandrum Hill and Sybil from Eastern Passage Passage both came in with nature-inspired posts. Welcome ladies! […]
Wow, I’ve never seen a hornet’s nest like that, OR a spider like that! Thanks for sharing!! Aren’t Karma’s photo hunts fun!
Dawn, yes Karma’s photo hunts are more fun than a barrel of monkeys 🙂 🙂
I’m not a fan of spider, and that is one scary looking spider.
Nye, like beauty, perhaps scariness is in the eye of the beholder 😉
Super and inspired idea for a post! And I, for one, adore your household spider!
Hi Julian, it is a marvel isn’t it?
A clearly inspiring exercize with wonderfully appealing results! I think your spider is handsome, although I do prefer to look than touch.
Cindy, it’s almost as photogenic as your crab spider. Hopefully I’ll get to see one of those next year, hiding in the golden rod blooms.
WoW! You found pictures to match the idioms! Thats something, and a Amyish theme too 🙂
I was ready to ream more idioms…btw, I am somewhat closer to understand the allusion to Hornet’s nest now, I have always wondered abt that idiom. (I think a picture dictionary on idioms would be good aide to remember idioms.)
Happy, healthy New Year, Amy-Lynn. I hope all is well on your side of the world. With many good wishes to you and yours. Isabelle
Oh! This is so wonderful – I’m going to link it to my FB. I love it!! All my writer friends and grannie friends will start walking around this island, armed with metaphor nets and zoom lenses as they scribble in little books as their grandchildren point at a tiny hole in the cliff, hidden behind scraggly shrub branches and say, Look Grannie, there’s a rat’s nest.
This is a super post Amy 🙂
Time for another post my friend. Your public needs you ! WE WANT A POST !
WE WANT A POST ! 😉
This is very late for me to be commenting on this post…. I remember Isa’s participation in the same challenge, and I enjoyed both of yours very much. Your choice of photographs is excellent. The fool’s gold in particular caught my attention. I have a tiny bottle of it but have never seen it in nature. It seems to be forming as natural ingots! At first I thought someone had applied gold leaf to a rock!
Janice, the fool’s gold (pyrite) does appear in nature as ingots. My friend Sybil and I are pyrite-hunting maniacs. We each have quite a collection. The nuggets are often found in gravel and are easy to spot in the sunlight after a rain has cleaned the dust off their facets.
Here is a link to an older post about pyrite and gold in my neck of the woods:
and also a link to a post on Sybil’s blog about one of our pyrite hunting expeditions:
http://crittersnus.blogspot.com/2011/09/all-that-glitters.html
My goodness! I had assumed it appears in ‘seams’. How fascinating.
I was trying to identify a spider I saw at McKee Marsh this morning on the trail. It is the same kind as you spider and was quite a Halloween thrill to see it. Did you even find out what kind it is? I agree – the markings are really interesting!
Hi Pam, I believe this was a cross spider. I haven’t seen another since this one crawled across my kitchen floor. It was pretty amazing. You can read more about cross spiders at http://bugeric.blogspot.ca/2011/08/spider-sunday-cross-spider.html
a friend of mine found the marbled orbweaver, which looked more like the one I saw…amazing world, isn’t it? thanks so much for getting back to me!