Personality Idioms
Personality Idioms
Personality Idioms
Nik has realistic expectations. He doesn’t try to do anything impossible and doesn’t dream about things
he can’t do.
A good egg
Open-minded
Most people would probably walk away from you when you told them that.
Not Nik. He’s got time for any sort of idea — no matter how weird.
Straight-forward
He’ll also tell you exactly what he thinks about your pillow marriage and instrumentless orchestra. Even
if you won’t like it.
A dark horse
Then one day he casually mentions that The Beatles took him on tour for two years back in the ‘60s
because Ringo really liked the way he set out the drum kit.
Surprise, right?
Nik’s a dark horse. He has a colourful and interesting past that you didn’t know about.
Laid-back
Easy-going
A social butterfly
If you go to a party with Freya, you won’t see her much. In fact, no one will.
Moving around the room like some sort of butterfly — a social one.
Have you ever been at a social gathering or a party that was just dead?
No one was talking to each other and everyone was looking at their phones.
A people person
She’s sociable.
A good laugh
A card
She might decide to start singing while you’re in the metro for no reason.
Or she has strong beliefs about how humans actually come from Mars, and we’re just here on a sort of
holiday.
#3 Delia
A jack of all trades
Delia is very skilled. She can play the banjo quite well, fly a plane quite well, create a reasonable website
and speak pre-intermediate Mandarin, Italian and Swahili.
This idiom can sometimes be used negatively, especially in its fuller form: jack of all trades (and master
of none).
This means that, sure, she can do all of those things quite well, but there’s nothing that she can
do very well.
Sharp
She’s smart.
She’s sharp.
A go-getter
Would you be surprised if I told you that I could find way more negative personality idioms than positive
ones?
When we want to say something nice about someone, it’s fine to be direct and just use an adjective.
But if we want to say something bad about someone, it’s easier to be indirect and use an idiom.
It might also save us from getting into trouble when we’re criticising people who are loose cannonsor
who have a short fuse.
#4 Tony
An armchair critic
He just sits at home and talks about how bad your new poem is. Or how you shouldn’t have used the
piano in your new song.
But he doesn’t write poems or songs. He just criticises other people who do.
Set in his ways
He does things the way he wants, and he won’t do them any other way.
Pig-headed
“Set in his ways” is about his habits, and “pig-headed” is about his opinions.
He’ll always believe that the world is flat. It doesn’t matter how much evidence you give him — he won’t
change his mind.
That’s Tony.
Narrow-minded
Do you remember how Nik would listen to your radical ideas about starting an orchestra without any
instruments?
Big-headed
He thinks he’s the best.
A smart arse
He also thinks he knows everything — so much that he’s just really annoying.
Secondly, it’s really not polite. “Arse” is the British English version of the American “ass,” which I’m not
going to explain here. I’m sure you know what it means. If not, then Google it … but wait until you’re
home first, yeah?
A cheapskate
For some reason, we have a lot of idioms and words to describe people who hate spending money.
Especially in British English.
Now the Brits have a bit of a reputation for being the kinds of people who hate spending money.
If his washing machine is dying, he’ll wait until black smoke is coming out of it before he buys another
one.
I once had a flatmate who hung his tea bags out on the washing line so he could reuse them and who went
all the way to Poland in order to visit the dentist because it was cheaper.
He never came back.
A Scrooge
This one comes from Charles Dickens’ character Ebenezer Scrooge from A Christmas Carol — someone
who hates spending money.
Tight
Like when it’s Tony’s turn to buy the drinks, he’ll just refuse.
“Don’t be so tight.”
#5 Sibel
A tearaway
You’ll be walking down the street with her, and she’ll just start knocking on someone’s front door and
then immediately run away.
Or she’ll see a building site, and the first thing she’ll do is go in and start climbing all over it.
A loose cannon
This is more or less the same as “tearaway.”
That’s Sibel.
A black sheep
Everyone in Sibel’s family joined the family law firm. They’re all corporate lawyers making millions a
year and living off champagne and caviar.
She’s the black sheep of the family — the odd one out.
This is not always used negatively but is usually for someone who’s a little strange.
A big mouth
Sibel is always talking about how great she is. In public. Usually so everyone can hear.
She’ll also just talk openly about private stuff that you’d rather she didn’t tell anyone.
Somehow, when she’s done something wrong, she’ll always manage to avoid getting in trouble for it. Just
avoid her!
A bad egg
If a good egg is a generally good person, then a bad egg is … well … a bad person.
I don’t know why we think it’s a good idea to describe someone as an egg.
“Aunt Esther’s got a screw loose, but she’s mostly harmless. Mostly.”
Yep — she’s definitely mad. Did you see how she started throwing eggs and shouting at her own house?
“Nutter” is a particularly British English word. We use it especially for those people behaving weirdly in
public. You see them get on the bus, and you seriously consider just getting off at the next stop.
Seriously, living in the UK can be a game of “avoid the nutter” sometimes. We’ve got a lot of them.
Clingy
But the worst thing about her is that you just can’t get rid of her.
She’ll just follow you everywhere and won’t listen when you tell her you’d rather be alone or that she
isn’t invited to where you’re going — wherever it is.
A couch potato
Like a potato.
Thick as a plank
He might think he’s a smart guy, but he’s actually completely stupid.
Not the brightest crayon in the box / Not the sharpest tool in the drawer
Andy also spends a lot of his time daydreaming. 90% of the time he’s not in the real world at all — just
imagining what he’s going to do with the millions of euros he’s never actually going to make because he
doesn’t do anything.
“Don’t bother asking him — he’s got his head in the clouds.”
Scatterbrained
If you ask Andy to get some lemons, tahini, chickpeas and garlic from the shop (yep — you’re making
hummus again), he’ll probably come back with an orange and an onion.
He can’t remember things well, and he has a very, very short concentration span.
This is when you might want to use the phrase “pull yourself together.”
“Come on Andy! Pull yourself together! Where did you put the keys? I want to get back inside.”
A pain in the neck
Although Andy’s pretty annoying, we can probably call Sibel and Tony a pain in the neck, too.
OK, so there we are: 41 personality idioms to describe the people you love and the people you … well …
the people you’re not that keen on.
1. Who’s the most open-minded person you’ve met? Are they too open-minded?
2. Are you quite laid-back or more of a go-getter?
3. How do you deal with pig-headedness? Do you ignore it or try to convince the other person?
4. How do you get rid of clingy people?
5. Do you know anyone who’s as thick as a plank?
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