Figaro often gets asked to talk about idioms. Here’s a recent question sent in to our companion site, ArgueLab.com. It has to do with one of our favorite idioms of all: “There will be the devil to pay.”
No, it’s not from the Bible. The expression comes straight from the British Navy, and it doesn’t mean you’re in danger of going to Hell. It means you’re going to Davy Jones’ Locker.
Watch the video for more, and feel free to email Jay with your own persuasive or figurative questions.
Meanwhile, what’s an idiom? We like to call it the molecule of language: a set of words with its own properties and meaning. You know, the way a molecule is its own thing, made up of atoms.