An expression is an idiom, if there are things that speakers may know about its form or its meaning, which they wouldn't be able to figure out by simply knowing everything else about the language.The paper deals with the lexical idiomatic expressions in the context of teaching English. These are expressions the meaning of which cannot be understood simply by putting together the meanings of the words making them up. The purpose of the paper is to draw some attention on them, and on the importance of teaching them at the English classes, because making use of ready-made expressions creates a sense of group solidarity. The interest of the paper lies in the idioms containing names of animals. We will see that there are several possible classifications of idioms: according to the animal they name, according to meaning, the function or the form they have. We will compare some English expressions with possible Romanian translations, paying attention at the same time to the differences that appear in the attitude of the English and the Romanians towards one animal or another.

idiomatic expressions; language; vocabulary; meaning

Presentation: oral