Reasons Why Poetry Might Be A Ninja I

Good afternoon, dear friends, and welcome to this edition of Floodmark's Monday Musings!

This week, we'll be discussing...

Reasons Why Poetry Might Be A Ninja

(Part One: Idioms)

From time to time, I'll be adding to my very highly-researched theory that poetry is actually a ninja. Or rather, it is composed of hundreds of tiny word ninjas who hack into your life without you realizing it. Anticipation is obviously at a high for my groundbreaking idea.

So, today let's talk about idioms. Now, even if you don't know what that word means, I can 100% guarantee you that you have used hundreds of idioms in your lifetime. In fact, you probably used one or two or ten today without realizing it. Hence the reason why they're so sneaky and ninja-like, you see. Here's a quick definition:

Also, just because it's super interesting, here are some quick etymology facts, via Google:

1) Its origins are in the late 16th century.

2) From the French idiome, or via late Latin from Greek idioma (private property, peculiar phraseology). From idiousthai (make one's own), from idios (own, private).

Now, isn't that fun? Thanks, Google, ya giant know-it-all machine! (OK, so we secretly love Google.)

So an idiom has its roots in "private property". But in this case, it's a phrase coined by an entire culture or language. It's one of those inexplicably strange and commonplace phrases that we use without a second thought. Because ninjas.

Via PoplarLeaves on Blasting Art.

Because this is just as crazy as a sack full of ferrets.
(Which is also an idiom. True story.)

The most popular example is always "It's raining cats and dogs!". Let's take a look at some of the most popular, commonplace idioms that make us English-speakers regularly look a couple fries short of a Happy Meal when foreign folk hear us speaking.

I think it's fair to say you have said literally every phrase on this list.

So, you're probably wondering how idioms relate to poetry being a ninja. Idioms are made of the same stuff as poetry: highly concentrated little images wrapped in figurative language. Let's take "Steal someone's thunder", for example. Close your eyes and picture the origin of this phrase. There is a story in every idiom. When I close my eyes and picture the story behind "steal someone's thunder", I see a young Native American man stealing the thunder from the sky and using it as his war whoop---somehow, it just seems so mythical, that I love the idea of it having its roots in the very beautiful stories that the Native American people have about the Earth. 

When you really take a minute to stop and look at these sneaky little phrases, you'll soon see that they are pieces of poetry that we integrate into our speech to illustrate our stories, our arguments, and in turn, our lives. In short, we color ourselves and other people with these idioms, and doesn't that make them worth studying? I (obviously) think yes.

Well, we've taken a look at some of the most common idioms. I also thought it might be fun to put together a list of some of the less well-known idioms for kicks and giggles. You can try to slip these bad boys into your poems for a really fun semantics twist. 

The real ninja here is obviously this bunny.

Of course, it's worth noting that every language has its own unique set of idioms. And these are only a few of the hundreds and hundreds that exist in the English language. Expand your horizons and Google around a bit if you're interested in finding more of these poetic turns of speech.

Here are your prompts:

1) Write a back-story to an idiom. Turn it into a poem.

2) Choose 1 idiom from our list of "Common Idioms", and 1 idiom from our list of "Weird Idioms". Write a poem using both idioms. 

As always, if you can dig it, leave your poem as a comment or email it to us. We love to hear what you're up to!

And that, my friends, concludes Reason #1 for poetry being a ninja. Check back in the coming weeks for Reason #2---I promise there will be so many fun memes you'll think you're in Internet heaven.  

What are some of your favorite idioms? Tell us in the comments section below!