Everyday idioms

• All in the same boat: to be in the same unpleasant situation as other people 

She's always complaining that she doesn't have enough money, but we're all in the same boat. 

• Go the extra mile: to try harder to please someone or to get the task done correctly; to do more than one is required to do to reach a goal.

I like doing business with that company. They always go the extra mile. 

• It's a small world: said to show your surprise that people or events in different places are connected

So you know my old science teacher! Well, it's certainly a small world, isn't it?

• The apple of somebody's eye: the person who someone loves most and is very proud of 

His youngest son was the apple of his eye.

• Back to square one: back to the beginning. (As with a board game.) 

Negotiations have broken down, and it's back to square one. 

                                                                                               

• Under the weather: feeling unwell or ill.

I feel sort of under the weather today. Whatever I ate for lunch is making me feel a bit under the weather.

• Catch someone red-handed: to discover someone while they are doing something bad or illegal

He was caught red-handed taking money from the till.                    

• Cross your fingers (also keep your fingers crossed): to hope that things will happen in the way you want them to

We're crossing our fingers and hoping that the weather stays fine.

• A leopard can't change its spots: something that you say which means that a person's character, especially if it is bad, will not change, even if they pretend so 

I doubt very much that marriage will change Chris for the better. A leopard can't change its spots.

• Beat around the bush and beat about the bush: to avoid answering a question and not speaking directly about it

Stop beating around the bush and answer my question. Let's stop beating about the bush and discuss this matter.