Which 100 English phrases have the most interesting context in the world?

100 cụm từ tiếng Anh nào đang có bối cảnh thú vị nhất thế giới?- Ảnh 1. — High school students in an English class

Development trends of English

The British Council recently launched a collection of "Phrase-ology" that compiles 100 English idioms, proverbs and phrases that the organization believes have "the most interesting contexts" after analyzing millions of documents and online comments from sources such as Dictionary.com, Oxford English Dictionary, Green's Dictionary of Slang, blogs, newspapers, YouTube, Twitch, academic documents...

The collection is divided into eight thematic groups: "Global English" (borrowed from other languages and cultures); "Classic evergreen" (long-standing phrases); "Generational" (popular in each period); "Pop culture" (popular through mass media); "Sports" (originating from sports ); "Gen Z" (new slang and expressions); "Language of belief" (related to religion); "Shakespeare" (appearing or popularized through Shakespeare's works).

The collection was compiled by leading computational linguistics and digital humanities expert Dr. Barbara McGillivray and natural language processing expert PhD student Iacopo Ghinassi. The team tracked the occurrence and frequency of expressions, from traditional phrases like “breaking the ice” to modern ones like “ate and leave no crumbs.”

According to experts, while classic idioms like "kill two birds with one stone" are still widely used, new phrases born of the digital age are also becoming popular, such as "let them cook" or "main character energy".

Some idioms, like "spill the beans," have been around for more than a century, while new expressions, like "spill the tea," that mean the same thing have been popular since 2017 — originating in the African American and LGBTQ+ communities and spread by social media.

The collection also explores how phrases have been reinvented over time, such as “all that glisters is not gold,” which originated as a Middle English expression in 1229 and was later revived by Shakespeare in The Merchant of Venice. Some, like “bucket list,” became overnight celebrities thanks to the film of the same name.

The study also analyzed how different generations use language online. While expressions like “better late than never” and “pipe down” are popular across generations, new phrases like “glow up” are emerging mainly among Millennials and Gen Z. Phrases like “keep it real” that were popular in the 1960s are still widely used today, while the young “YOLO” is spreading to older generations thanks to the influence of social media.

The study also explores the international origins of many familiar English phrases. Phrases such as “moment of truth” are thought to have come from the Spanish hora de la verdad (a term used in bullfighting), while the toast “chin chin” comes from the Chinese qǐng (to invite). The study also highlights global linguistic similarities, such as the Nigerian phrase “to yarn dust” which is the English equivalent of “to talk nonsense” or “to spin a yarn.”

Mr. Mark Walker, Global Director of English and Assessment at the British Council, commented that English was formed by the influence of people around the world and is constantly evolving. Explaining further, Dr. Barbara McGillivray said that English is not only influenced by historical events but also by the impact of the digital age.

“English is both a living and historical entity, continually adapting and reflecting the changing world,” McGillivray said.

Here is a list of 100 of the world's most interesting English phrases, idioms and proverbs with interesting contexts:

100 cụm từ tiếng Anh nào đang có bối cảnh thú vị nhất thế giới?- Ảnh 2.

100 cụm từ tiếng Anh nào đang có bối cảnh thú vị nhất thế giới?- Ảnh 3.

100 cụm từ tiếng Anh nào đang có bối cảnh thú vị nhất thế giới?- Ảnh 4.

100 cụm từ tiếng Anh nào đang có bối cảnh thú vị nhất thế giới?- Ảnh 5.

100 cụm từ tiếng Anh nào đang có bối cảnh thú vị nhất thế giới?- Ảnh 6.

100 cụm từ tiếng Anh nào đang có bối cảnh thú vị nhất thế giới?- Ảnh 7. — 100 English Phrases with the Most Interesting Contexts

Previously, the British Council in late 2024 also published a collection of 90 influential English words that have helped shape world history over the past 9 decades. Among them are words such as "woke" (describing views considered too radical), karaoke (a musical entertainment in Japan that has now spread globally), situationship (a relationship that is more than friendship but not an official couple), artificial Intelligence (artificial intelligence)...

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/100-cum-tu-tieng-anh-nao-dang-co-boi-canh-thu-vi-nhat-the-gioi-185250503132941115.htm