Approach of the Study
Dead metaphor is also used to call idioms. Idiom is also a common figurative expression which its usage is found daily. That is why dead
metaphor is considered the same as idioms. An idiom is a dead metaphor. That is, the person using it no longer thinks of the comparison
on which it was based Larson, 1998: 274. Another figure who said that a dead metaphor is an idiom is
Weston W. Fields in his study entitled The Translation of Biblical Live and Dead Metaphor and Similes and Other Idioms. A dead metaphor
may be defined simply as a fixed idiom, a metaphor which has become so much part of the language that the original impetus for its usage may
even forgotten http:biblicalstudies.org.ukpdfgtj02-2_191.pdf This study finds several common idioms which exists in
Coldplay’s song lyrics, they are:
No. Song Title Song Lyrics
Idiom Meaning
Source
1. Till
Kingdom Comes
For you, I’d wait till the
kingdom comes
till the kingdom
comes forever or for
a long time McGraw-Hill
Dictionary of American
Idioms and Phrasal Verbs
2002
2. Swallowed
in the Sea You put me
in a shelf and kept me for
yourself put me
in a shelf
to cause someone not
to be available
Cambridge Dictionary of
American Idioms 2003
3. Yes
But night makes a fool
of us in daylight
makes a fool
to make someone look
foolish McGraw-Hill
Dictionary of American
Idioms and Phrasal Verbs
2002
4. Trouble
A spider web it’s tangled
up with me tangled
up involved with
someone who usually causes
trouble or involved in
something that is
difficult to get out of
Cambridge Dictionary of
American Idioms 2003
5. Lost
You might be a big fish in a
little pond a big
fish in a little
pond the most
important people in a
small group of
organization who would
have much less power
and importance if
they were part of larger
group or organization
Cambridge Idioms
Dictionary 2006