IdiomDaily Life
English
Englishand that's not the half of it
Meaning: Said after listing troubles or surprises to signal that there is even more, often worse, still untold.
Example: “He missed his flight, lost his luggage, and that's not the half of it.”
Equivalents in other languages
French: J'en passe, et des meilleurs Literally: I'm skipping some, and better ones
Origin: The phrase is built on the everyday sense of "half" as "a large part": what has been said falls short of even half the story. It has a well-known echo in the King James Bible (1611), where the Queen of Sheba, having seen Solomon's court, says "the half was not told me," though the modern conversational form is not known to come directly from that verse.
More English idioms
- be in for it To be certain to get into trouble or be punished.
- the exception that proves the rule A case that breaks a general rule, said as if it showed that the rule normally holds; oft…
- The last straw that broke the camel's back The final small burden that causes a total collapse.
- To have a frog in your throat To have difficulty speaking due to hoarseness.
- It's raining cats and dogs It's raining extremely heavily.
- To have butterflies in your stomach To feel nervous excitement.
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Words that look familiar in another language but mean something else entirely.
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