English Slang Idioms (156)

"Don't react when the drill sergeant is yelling at you. You are just playing into his .......... He wants you to yell at him so he can make an example out of you," Private Gonzales said to Private Smith in basic training.
goal
yard
thought
hand

He decided that he would find another job in a smaller outfit. He was currently an assistant manager but was sure that he could work somewhere else as a manager. He was sick of playing second ......... to a man who was an idiot.
base
pitcher
fiddle
pick

"I think that perhaps you should ......... the field a bit more and, especially, before getting into another committed relationship. You always go out with the first guy who asks you and then you try to date him for a long time," Christy told Dawn.
pay
play
see
plant

"Why do you always act like an idiot?" his roommate asked him. "I like making people laugh and if I have to play the ......... to do it, that is fine with me," Jay replied.
jerk
wimp
aggressive
fool

"I know you don't think that you will get addicted to cigarettes if you just smoke them every now and then. However, you are playing with .......... It is a big risk and if you are wrong, it is very hard to quit," Steve's dad told him.
forces
fire
tightrope
dead

"He is not good for this department. He is playing to the ......... by taking actions that make the department numbers look good in the short term. However, the short term gains come at the expense of long term ones," Marshall told Joel.
peanuts
pottery
choir
gallery

"I am just pleased as ......... with the way our garden turned out," Linda told Chris.
brunch
pedestals
punch
mice

"I like Jeff. He is surprisingly intelligent for one of those ......... turned gamekeeper types. He was in an LA street gang and now works for the anti-gang unit," Mark told Detective Reynolds.
painter
salesman
poacher
chief

"Watching the prosecuting attorney shred the defense's star witness was pure ......... in motion," Pete, a first-year law student told Jeff.
poetry
painting
cementing
pottery

Colleges are supposed to be places where many differing ideas can be shared. Lately, restrictions have been placed on what kind of ideas are acceptable. For instance, one must use politically ......... labels for special interest groups at all times when speaking if one wants to escape reprimand
stated
formatted
designed
correct