Piece of Cake Easy: Animal Idioms

Animal Idioms
English idioms, proverbs, and expressions are an important part of everyday English.
What is idiomatic expressions? What are idioms?
ex. piece of cake = easy
An idiom is a phrase, saying or a group of words that has a metaphorical (not literal) meaning,
which has become accepted in common usage. There are many types of idioms, like body
idioms, food idioms, money idioms etc. But today we will focus more on animal idioms.
Type of activity: this activity introduces a list of animal idioms.
Can you think of any idiomatic expression with animals below?
• CAT
• DOG
• DONKEY
• BUTTERFLY
• FISH
• HORSE
• LEOPARD
• BIRD
• CHICKEN
• GOAT
• MICE
• MOLE
• Are there any idioms in Croatian language where we use animals to

talking about idiomatic meaning.
There are 20 sentences with underlined animal idioms. Your task is to figure out there
metaphorical meaning using sentence context. Write the meaning on the line. The first
sentence is done for you.
Are there any idioms among these that are the same or said similarly in Croatian
language?
WORKSHEET
1. My brother was like a dog with two tails when his girlfriend agreed to marry
him; he was really happy.
_(somebody who is extremely happy – very happy and satisfied)
2. He had kept the fact that he wanted to marry a secret although my sister said
that she had known for a while. When I asked her how she knew, she said a little
bird had told her.
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____
3. When I asked my brother’s girlfriend how much she loved my brother she said
completely although there were some things about him that irritated her. She said
that she would change those things but my mother wisely said ‘a leopard can’t
change its spots.’
_________________________________________________________________
____
4. When it came to the wedding day everyone looked beautiful although my sister
nastily said that the bride was no spring chicken. The bride was 37 when she
got married.
_________________________________________________________________
____
5. Two of the guests wore the same style of dress; when they saw each other they
started to argue and blamed each other for being copycats.
_________________________________________________________________
____
6. The ceremony went really smoothly apart from when my brother was supposed to
say ‘I do’ he didn’t say anything. We all joked that the cat had got his tongue;
he said that he was very nervous.
_________________________________________________________________
____
7. They were given lovely presents. My uncle bought them a car! We all wondered
where he had got the money for the car from because he is not working at the
moment. It was a bit fishy.
_________________________________________________________________
____
8. When I asked the bride how she felt during the ceremony she said that she had
butterflies constantly because she thought that she was going to do or say
something wrong.
_________________________________________________________________
____
9. I met a lot of people at the party after the ceremony that I hadn’t seen for
donkey’s years. I hadn’t seen one of the guests since I was a child.
_________________________________________________________________
____
10. The food at the party was excellent. I hadn’t had breakfast so by the time it got to
the party I could have eaten a horse.
_________________________________________________________________
____
11. My mother and her sister typically argued at the party about something. Mother
told me that her sister had really got her goat because she had said the cake
could have been bigger. My mother was furious.
_________________________________________________________________
____
12. My grandmother bought the couple a new cooker for their house. My brother said
that he had wanted a microwave but my mother said that he should not look a
gift horse in the mouth.
_________________________________________________________________
____
13. My father got drunk at the party which made him very talkative. When it came to
the speech he talked for a long time; I think he could have talked the hind leg
off a donkey.
_________________________________________________________________
____
14. My father is well-known for being able to drink like a fish. He can drink more
than I can and still stand up and ask for more!
_________________________________________________________________
____
15. My mother told my father not to drink too much but he said that his son only got
married once. The next day he was in the doghouse.
_________________________________________________________________
____
16. My brother’s friends horsed around at the party. They played lots of jokes on
people and even tied cans to my brother’s car!
_________________________________________________________________
____
17. My little cousins were very good during the whole ceremony; they were as quiet
as mice even though they are only ten and nine years old.
_________________________________________________________________
____
18. My sister was upset at the end of the party because someone had spilt a little
wine on her dress. You couldn’t really see the stain. She always makes
mountains out of molehills.
_________________________________________________________________
____
19. When the couple left the party they went to stay in their new apartment for one
night and then planned to go on honeymoon. When my mother saw their
apartment she said that it was really small, in fact there wasn’t enough room to
swing a cat.
_________________________________________________________________
____
The couple were happy which was all that mattered. They left the party both grinning like
Cheshire cats.
_____________________________________________________________________

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Animal Idioms

What is idiomatic expressions? What are idioms?

ex. piece of cake = easy

Type of activity: this activity introduces a list of animal idioms.

Can you think of any idiomatic expression with animals below?

• Are there any idioms in Croatian language where we use animals to

_(somebody who is extremely happy – very happy and satisfied)

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