Useful Idioms – part 19

Lingua franca = a language used for day-to-day public communication, which is not the speakers’ own language.

  • English is a lingua franca in a lot of countries nowadays.
  • English is the lingua franca of the literate in India.

Jog someone’s memory = cause someone to remember something suddenly.

  • I tried jogging mom’s memory , but she couldn’t remember Joe’s phone number either.
  • I tried to jog Bill’s memory about our childhood antics.
  • Maybe this photograph will jog your memory.

In/within living memory = within or during the time that is remembered by people still alive.

  • The worst recession in living memory.
  • There hasn’t been a blizzard like this in living memory.
  • These are the worst floods in Kerala within living memory.

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