Useful Idioms

Say the line Hold the line Use the line Move the line When the room gets complicated And the facts begin to split There’s a phrase behind the curtain With a handle fitted to it You can lift it, you can swing it You can make it sound humane You can carry half a doctrine In a sentence with no name Use it for concern Use it for harm Use it for the weather Use it for alarm Use it when the thought is late Use it when the room won’t wait No need to show the working No need to show the joins The words arrive already warm With handles and with points Useful idioms Useful idioms Little engines made of air Useful idioms Useful idioms Get the room from here to there Everybody learned the lines Nobody read the play Useful idioms Carry us away There are legitimate concerns There are lessons to be learned There are values under pressure There are tables to be turned There are bad-faith actors There are root-cause factors There are lived experiences And common-sense contractors Hard-working families Vulnerable groups Problematic framings Difficult truths Structural questions Serious tone Repeatable language Portable home A phrase can cross a border A phrase can clear a room A phrase can make a person sound Like they already knew Useful idioms Useful idioms Little engines made of air Useful idioms Useful idioms Get the room from here to there Everybody learned the lines Nobody read the play Useful idioms Carry us away Some are soft as furniture Some are sharp as wire Some can cool the argument Some can start the fire Keep a few for empathy Keep a few for blame Keep a few for when the facts Are difficult to name Some are marked for caring Some are marked for force Some will change direction Without changing course Some are nearly empty Some are overfilled Some are very useful When the thought has not been built Frame the thing Name the thing Claim the thing Same old thing Shape the line Take the line Make the line Break the line If the question gets too heavy And the answer feels delayed There’s a tone already polished There’s a phrase already made There’s a way to sound informed While safely unimpressed There’s a way to look concerned And never quite confess No one has to mean it No one has to lie The sentence does the labour And the speaker passes by No one needs the whole idea No one needs the weight Useful little idioms Fit neatly through the gate Useful idioms Useful idioms Little engines made of air Useful idioms Useful idioms Get the room from here to there Everybody learned the lines Nobody read the play Useful idioms Carry us away Useful idioms Useful idioms Tiny flags in tidy rows Useful idioms Useful idioms Everybody knows who knows No one needs the whole idea No one needs the strain Useful idioms Carry us again A phrase can be a shortcut A phrase can be a wall A phrase can be the nearest thing To thinking done at all Say the line Hold the line Use the line Move the line Useful idioms