Can't it just be a piece of cake?

Idioms for difficult and not so difficult times….

By Ardeen Top

October 1, 2020 

As we now enter the official season of fall in the United states, life is not easy for many people, so we might say that we thought 2020 should be a piece of cake, but that is no longer the case.   

Every language has idioms, expressions in a group of words that have their own special meaning such as ‘run into trouble’ or we are ‘in dire straits’.  I would like to offer a few that might be useful to you during these times and going forward. 

Every year we have our ups and downs, but this year is different from any other in most of our lifetimes.    

Ups and downs is usually used as a noun after a possessive pronoun, but could be used without one as well.  The meaning refers to good times and bad times, but some say it is used mainly when referring to bad times. 

When we say we are in dire straits, it means we are in a very serious situation, sometimes meaning a life or death situation or what you might feel is close to that.   

Many restaurant owners, small businesses, and their employees are in dire straits due to coronavirus shutdowns and unrest in cities. 

Or 

When I was in the hospital, I felt like I was in dire straits, but the healthcare workers were there to help me and helped save my life. 

On the other hand, we might say for others during this time, life has gone on basically without a hitch, so they have not experienced much difficulty.  In this case, these people were already working from home or mostly working online away from the office, so there was not a transition apart from things happening outside their home life.   

My online lessons have gone on without a hitch and I have continued to be able to meet with and teach all of my students as I did last year. 

Finally, we might talk about things with hope for the future and saying that we have hit a snag or run into trouble.  This means we have come upon something unexpected that has caused us problems, but the problem is temporary. 

With 2020, many have hit a snag in their careers, but found a way to adapt and change their businesses or way of life to move forward.   

So once again, I hope these idioms will help you when you speak in English about your 2020 experiences whether good or bad, or a little of both and moving forward.