English Idioms That Don't Make Sense
不合理的英文慣用語

Have you ever heard an English idiom, understood every word used in it, but still been confused about what it meant? Don't worry — native speakers experience this too, and there's a good reason for it: idioms get their meaning from how they are used, rather than from the words they include. Here are some of the strangest English idioms.

If someone tells you that something really "gets their goat," it doesn't mean that a farm animal has been stolen! Instead, it means that something really annoys them. While it's not certain, some people believe this phrase comes from a horse racing tradition in which people would keep goats with horses before a race to keep them calm.

Another strange animal phrase is "donkey's years," used in British English to describe a very long time. This expression may come from a joke about the ears of a donkey, which are quite long. "Donkey's ears" was changed to "donkey's years" for talking about time.

If something is "clean as a whistle," it's very clean. And if we say something like, "his work record is clean as a whistle," we mean the person has never done anything wrong. This phrase might come from the clear — or "clean" — sound of a whistle.

The phrase "cold turkey" has got nothing to do with the bird, or its temperature. Instead, to go "cold turkey" means to stop using or doing something suddenly. It's possible that the phrase comes from an older sense of "cold" which meant "straightforward," and "talk turkey," a 19th century phrase about talking plainly.

如果有人跟你說某件事「gets their goat」，意思不是農場上有動物被偷！ 而是指某件事讓他們真的很生氣。 鄉野流傳這個片語的由來跟賽馬有關。人們會在馬兒比賽前，把牠們和山羊關在一起讓牠們保持冷靜。

另一個奇怪的動物片語是「donkey's years」，在英式英文裡用來形容一段很長的時間。 這個表達方式可能是出自一個和驢子耳朵有關的笑話，牠們的耳朵頗長。 「donkey's ears」被改成「donkey's years」來談論時間。

如果有某個物品「clean as a whistle」，就代表它非常的乾淨。 而如果我們說了像是：「他的工作記錄乾乾淨淨。」，意思是這個人從來沒有做錯任何事。 這個片語的源由也許是哨子清晰、乾淨的聲音。

「cold turkey」這個片語跟鳥或牠的體溫一點關係也沒有。 「go cold turkey」的意思是突然不再使用某個東西或做某件事， 該片語可能是取自「cold」比較老的意思，指的是「直接的」，而「talk turkey」指的則是十九世紀關於坦率說話的片語。

get someone’s goat 使某人生氣
donkey's years一段很長的時間
clean as a whistle 非常乾淨
go cold turkey 突然戒掉某事

References: https://engoo.com.tw/app/daily-news/article/english-idioms-that-dont-make-sense/06za6ISFEeykyBPd2P2nVg