Today we are going to take another look at a group of idioms that are all related around a theme.  This time the theme is: animals. When you look at the phrases below you may ask yourself, “Who created these idioms anyway?”  Well, idioms usually start out as simple metaphors that enter mainstream vocabulary after repeated usage, some idioms become more popular than others over time. The following idiomatic phrases are relatively common today.  Below I have given you the idiom (in bold); I tell you what the idiom means in plain English; and I give an example of how each of these idioms is used.

Animal related idioms:

to act as a guinea pig: to allow some kind of test to be performed on you or someone
For example:
Miles was happy to act as a guinea pig in his psychology class in order to receive extra credit on his test.

to be as busy as a beaver: to be very busy
For example:
I have been as busy as a beaver all morning, getting ready for the party tonight.

an eager beaver: a person who is always eager to work or do something extra
For example:
Jane is an eager beaver and will do anything to see her business succeed.

to bark (like a dog) up the wrong tree: to choose the wrong course of action or to ask the wrong person
For example:
My sister is barking up the wrong tree if she thinks I am going to lend her money again.

a bull in a china shop: a person who upsets others or upsets plans; also a very clumsy person
For example:
Marlyn is a bull in a china shop, you never know what she is going to do or say.

cat gets one’s tongue: one cannot speak because of shyness
For example:
Adam would never speak in class, so the teacher finally asked him, “Does a cat have your tongue?”

to go hog-wild: to behave wildly
For example:
The sports fans went hog-wild when their team won the national championship.

to have a whale of a time: to have an exciting and interesting time
For example:
We had a whale of a time at the party last night.

to have a cow: to become very angry or upset about something
For example:
I had a cow when I heard that my car had been towed away.

to horse around: to play around in a rough way
For example:
Mom doesn’t like it when we horse around after dinner.  She says we need to calm down for bed.

let sleeping dogs lie: do not make trouble if you do not have to
For example:
I think you should let sleeping dogs lie and not asked your brother about what happened between him and his girlfriend.

more fun than a barrel of monkeys: very funny or fun
For example:
The neighborhood boys have more fun than a barrel of monkeys when they play together after school.

straight from the horse’s mouth: to get information directly from the person who said it
For example:
Beth heard the news about the store closing straight from the horse’s mouth so she knew it was true.

to wolf down (something): to gulp down something or to eat something quickly
For example:
I wolfed down my dinner and ran to class because I was late.

As you can see in these idioms sometimes acting like an animal is a good thing and some times it is view negatively in English language idioms.  It all depends on the circumstances and sometimes the types of behaviors we attribute to different animals, as either good or bad.  Do you know any more animal related idioms or do you want to know what an animal related idiom you have heard means?  Feel free to write these in the comments section of this post.