2 Thumbs up!

Today, we will be talking about the thumb! 2 thumbs up is an idiom that is often used to describe movies, it means it is a great movie~! 2 thumbs down means it is a terrible movie.

This is a really old idiom that comes from the Roman Empire, when the Emperor went to the Colosseum and saw gladiators fight-he would give the thumbs up to spare someone's life and the thumbs down to say he should be killed...

So from that, we got two idioms:

thumbs up, meaning something is good

and

thumbs down, meaning something is bad

So you can say, "I gave him the thumbs up/down", which means I showed that I approve or disapprove of something.

Now, onto some more idioms!

twiddle your thumbs, this means to do nothing, you just sat there moving your thumbs in circles.

Don't just sit there twiddling your thumbs! Help me!

I hate waiting! I just sit there twiddling my thumbs!

to thumb through something, this means you look through something quickly usually a magazine, book or a bunch of papers. Think of all those people in convenience stores thumbing through magazines...

Can you thumb through my paper for me and tell me what you think?

all thumbs or all fingers and thumbs, this means you are bad with your hands, you aren't good at making things with your hands.

Don't ask me to help build your shelf, I'm all thumbs.

stick out like a sore thumb, this means you are easily noticed, it looks like you do not belong there.

I don't like going to fancy restaurants, I always feel like I stick out like a sore thumb!

under someone's thumb, this means you are under someone's control.

Bob's totally under his wife's thumb, he never does anything without her permission.

have a green thumb, this means you are good with plants and gardening. You can easily make things grow.

My wife has a green thumb, her garden is doing great!

There are other thumb idioms but I think these are the most common. I hope you enjoyed today's lesson.

Have a nice day!

Phil