You need to know about Idioms- Here's why!
One day a little girl named Sarah decided that she wanted to have a bike.
She went to her mom and asked her if she would buy her a bike. Her mom
said that she couldn't affort to buy her a new bike but she might be able to buy
her a used bike for her birthday. Sarah said to her mom, "I want you
to buy me a bike now. I don't want to wait for my birthday!"
Her mother was mad at her and said, "You'll have to wait for your birthday,
and anyway I don't have time to find you a used bike, I don't want
to buy
a pig in a poke!" Sarah realized that her mom must be very busy right
now, because she didn't want a pig, she wanted a bike! Moms can be weird
sometimes. Sarah phoned her friend Morgan to tell her about her bike and Morgan
agreed that moms can be weird. After talking about it for a while Morgan said to
Sarah,"Was your mom busy when you were asking her about the bike?" Sarah told
her friend that her mom had been trying to cook dinner and also cleaning up the
dishes from lunch and that the dog had just thrown up on the floor. Morgan told
Sarah,"Your mom had a
full plate when you were talking to her. You have to talk to her
again when she's not so busy." Sarah couldn't understand why her mom
could have a full plate, when she hadn't even finished making dinner.
Everyone was talking weird!
Sarah said good bye to Morgan and phoned Madison. She told all the
story to Madison who just laughed and said, "Your mom was just too busy when you
asked her for a bike and she just wanted to look at a bike before she bought
it?" Sarah said, "I don't get it Madison, how come you and Morgan
know what my Mom was saying about the bike and I don't? Morgan even got
mixed up when she said that my mom had a
full plate, dinner wasn't even ready and mom never starts eating before
everyone else!" Madison laughed again and said that her mom and Morgan
were just using
expressions called idioms to say what they meant. Sarah got mad at Madison and
said that she was just weird! Madison replied to Sarah by saying,
"Sarah, you have been a good friend, but our friendship will be
on thin ice if you don't take that back!" Sarah couldn't stand it any
longer, she wanted a bike not a pig, her mom better not be eating dinner
without calling her, and her friend Madison had some weird idea that it was cold
enough for her to be outside
walking on thin ice. She hung up on Madison, went downstairs and told
her mom that she wanted a bike not a pig and it wasn't fair that she was having
dinner when nobody else was. Her mom took one look at her, paused and said
in a very quiet voice, "Sarah, you are walking
on thin ice!" Sarah couldn't take it anymore and went back to her room
thinking that everyone she knew were just weird. All she wanted was a
bike! After dinner her mom explained that
a pig in a poke,
full plate and walking
on thin ice 
are just
expressions that don't mean want you think they might mean. Sarah
still wasn't sure when or if she was going to get a bike! She decided that
she would go to her room and start learning about idioms.
Idioms in the Story:
