To the casual ear, expressions like 'spill the beans' or 'throw in the towel' may sound like quaint figures of speech. Yet these idioms are not only surviving, they’re evolving. The Oxford English Dictionary adds around 100-500 new words and uses of words each year. This includes the different types of expressions that they are used in.
The British Council's Amy Lightfoot, Academic Director, English and School Education and Mina Patel, Head of Research for the Future of English, look at how the everyday phrases we read in books, on social media or hear on TV are shapeshifting in the digital age.
Launched to mark World English Day, the 'Phrase-ology' project explores the origins and usage of 100 well-known English phrases, idioms and proverbs and unveils something far more profound than trivia: phrases are living artefacts of culture, history and human connection.
Take 'spill the beans', a phrase that has bounced from obscure post-WWI literature into modern everyday slang. Or its contemporary cousin, 'spill the tea', which comes from African-American and LGBTQ+ communities and now floods TikTok captions and YouTube comments. These expressions may differ in tone and origin, but their purpose is strikingly similar: to create shorthand for something deeply human - the urge to share, to reveal, and to be part of the social current, and to find creative ways of communicating concepts that might be otherwise difficult to explain.
Idioms often go beyond their literal meanings, acting as linguistic time capsules that preserve the values, norms, and global influences of the past. Take 'moment of truth', for example, the phrase entered English in the 1930s, borrowed from the Spanish 'hora de la verdad', a term rooted in bullfighting used to describe the critical instant when the matador makes the final move. In English, it has come to signify any decisive or revealing moment, showing how idioms carry cultural weight and cross-cultural connections.
In today’s hyper-connected world, new idioms can be born almost overnight. The phrase 'bucket list', now ubiquitous, barely existed before the 2007 film The Bucket List made it mainstream. Likewise, Gen Z expressions like 'main character energy' or 'no cap' may be recent inventions, but their adoption across platforms like Twitch and YouTube shows how language continues to bend toward cultural moments, memes, and shared experience.
The study also revealed that idiomatic phrases can be cross-generational. While Boomers and Gen X may gravitate toward phrases like 'turn the other cheek' or 'below the belt', younger generations haven’t abandoned idioms - they’ve just refashioned them. 'Keep it real', born in the 1960s, now resurfaces as 'keep it 100'. YOLO, made famous by Drake in 2011, turns out to have been recorded as far back as the 1800s. These phrases may wear new clothes, have a new camouflage, but the underlying ideas remain the same.
English idioms: Cultural souvenirs from around the world
The idiomatic phrases explored in the study illustrate English as a global language, celebrating its rich past and power to connect cultures worldwide. It’s almost fitting to think of English as a global patchwork. Phrases like 'long time no see' or 'moment of truth' have roots in Chinese Pidgin English and Spanish bullfighting terminology, respectively. Even 'chin chin', used as a cheerful toast, finds its origins in Mandarin and Cantonese expressions of politeness, directly translating to ‘please, please’. English idioms are undoubtedly global souvenirs.
Why does any of this matter? Because phrases aren’t just decorative language - they’re emotional, historical, and cultural. It is important to stop and think about our everyday expressions and their rich past and power to connect cultures around the world. They shape how we relate to one another, communicate shared values, and mark ourselves as part of a group, whether that group is a generation or a nation. When we say 'better late than never' or 'pipe down', we’re not just using words; we’re participating in an ongoing human tradition of meaning-making.
In a time when artificial intelligence is learning to mimic humans, idioms stand as proof that language is - and always has been - so much more than utility. It’s also heritage and identity. So next time someone spills the tea, pay attention as you’re not just hearing gossip, you're hearing how idioms tell powerful stories about people connecting across time and culture.