Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Idioms—phrases that come to mean more than each word's "literal meaning" on their own—have been a part of spoken language for a ...

KALAMAZOO, Mich.—Many students cram for exams by "burning the candle at both ends." But that doesn't mean non-native English speakers aren't "thrown for a loop" when they hear that idiom or that their ...