Idiom

An idiom is an expression or phrase whose meaning cannot be understood based on a literal definition of the words. Instead, it refers to a figurative meaning that is known only through common use. In linguistics, idioms are widely assumed to be figures of speech.

• "Bread and Circuses" is a phrase used by Roman writers to deplore the decline in heroism in the Romans after the Roman Republic ceased to exist and the Roman Empire's ascendancy. The phrase is: "Two things only the people anxiously desire--bread and circuses." This was because the Roman government kept their population peaceful by providing free food and presenting huge spectacles at the Coloseum. Bread and circuses has come to mean government policies that short term solutions to public unrest.

• "That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." (Matthew 5:45).
  This familar quote from Our Lord is understood in most of the world exactly backwards!
  In the time and the place, (first century Palestine), it was the rain that would have been considered the "blessing", as the desert cliamte of the area already has plenty of sunshine. More sun than the usual amount was considered a "curse".