It’s Not Just You: Common American Sayings That Irritate Non-Americans

The Oxford English Dictionary lists about 171,476 words in active use — and then there are the idioms. American English is full of bizarre expressions (think “spill the tea” or “put lipstick on a pig”), and for new English learners those idioms often don’t make sense. We asked foreigners and foreign-born Americans to name U.S. phrases they never fully got — and many said they could do without them.

“Break a leg.”

Olga Grijalva Alvarez, a Mexican travel creator, says she still pictures someone with a broken leg whenever she hears “break a leg.” She first learned the phrase while studying English literally and, even after learning it means “good luck,” the gruesome image stuck.

“Put lipstick on a pig”

Lebanese language instructor Jihan Fawaz finds this expression gross and off-putting — the pig imagery bothers her.

“I’m working on it” (about food)

Brazilian teacher Virginia Langhammer is baffled when servers ask if she’s “still working on” her food — she’s savoring it, not doing overtime.

“I can’t even”

Indian tutor Firdaus Baig says the phrase feels grammatically incomplete to him; it leaves him waiting for a continuation that never comes.

“On a weekly basis”

Brazilian Eli Sousa finds this phrasing unnecessarily long — why not just say “weekly”?

“Literally”

British travel blogger Macca Sherifi dislikes the trendy overuse of “literally” when people don’t actually mean it, like “I was literally over the moon.”

“It’s not rocket science”

Olga Grijalva Alvarez notes the phrase often lands as blunt and unkind — people use it dismissively rather than gently.

“Start a family”

Irina Zaykovskaya, raised in St. Petersburg, objects on ideological grounds: she dislikes that “start a family” is commonly used to mean “have children,” implying childless people aren’t already a family — a sharp phrasing in today’s fraught reproductive climate.

“Sure” or “uh-huh” instead of “you’re welcome.”

Virginia Langhammer was startled when New Yorkers replied to “thank you” with casual “sure” or “uh-huh,” a habit she initially interpreted as rudeness but later accepted as local style.

“Bite the bullet”

Nigerian-British blogger Ipinmi Akinkugbe used to take this literally and feared it meant actual shooting — he found the metaphor hard to parse.

“First floor”

Sindy Chan, from Germany (via Hong Kong), learned that U.S. floor numbering treats the ground floor as the first floor, which sent her hunting for a desk on the wrong level.

“Used their services”

Eli Sousa says in Brazil you wouldn’t phrase it this way about people — calling someone’s work “use” feels disrespectful, as if the person is disposable.

“He/she is a keeper”

Irina Zaykovskaya struggled with this phrase because she parsed “keeper” literally (someone who keeps) and didn’t realize it’s a casual way to say someone’s worth keeping in your life.

“What?!” and “Huh?!” instead of “pardon.”

Australian Jules Hatfield finds blunt “what?!” or “huh?!” impolite compared to the more polite “pardon” she was taught.

“Hand-me-down”

Ipinmi Akinkugbe prefers a literal description — “my older sibling’s clothes” — because “hand-me-down” feels negative in connotation.

“You cannot be serious”

Macca Sherifi dislikes the insincerity he perceives when Americans use this phrase.

“Tickle me pink”

Jihan Fawaz finds the visual odd — although she gets the idiom’s intent, the image of being tickled is a little too literal for her taste.