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A storm in a teacup idiom meaning1/6/2024 ![]() The slightly strange phrase perfect stormrefers to a very bad situation caused by lots of bad things happening at the same time: In many ways, they weren’t the perfect partners for us, but any port in a storm, I guess. ![]() The phrase any port in a storm means that when you are in a very difficult situation, you will accept anything that seems helpful or attractive, even if it is not ideal: I suspect the government will weather the storm. The minister appears to have ridden out the storm. If you weather or ride (out) the storm, you survive a difficult period, without permanent damage, often to your reputation: In a couple of weeks, everyone will have forgotten what she said. US English has the equivalent phrase a tempest in a teapot: In UK English, we use the phrase a storm in a teacupto refer to a situation in which a lot of people express anger and shock over a matter that is not important. We’ve got 15 kids arriving for Joe’s party in ten minutes. Starting with those negative ‘storm’ idioms, we talk about the calm before the storm, meaning ‘a quiet, peaceful period before a time of great activity or trouble’: This post will focus on idioms related to storms, of which there are many! For example, a storm often features in idioms as something negative, referring to a period of trouble, and a cloud is something that spoils a situation. In many of these, the weather words are used metaphorically, in a way that makes the meaning quite obvious. It may not surprise you to hear that the weather features in a lot of English idioms. ![]() Sir Francis Canker Photography/Moment/Getty Images ![]()
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