When internationally educated nursing staff told us they're sometimes confused by common English expressions - like under the weather & fit as a fiddle - we decided to do something about it. Check out our new guide to figurative phrases and their meanings:

Another example, when "5% pay rise" really means "6% pay cut".

Selling out is also an expression. An example being... Your union has sold you out to the government

What about the phrase "led by donkeys" .. where does that come from @theRCN

It's not the idiomatic expressions that I had difficulty with when I was new here, the terminologies used by patients such as "sick", "feeling funny", " feeling giddy", "BM", and the list goes on...

One of my colleagues asked me what her patient meant when she asked if she could “spend a penny” -Perhaps that should be added?

"Poor as a church mouse" will soon be replaced by "poor as a a College nurse" if you don't "pull your finger out" and "face the music".

Being "Hank Marvin'" means your belly thinks your throat's been cut. Be strong as an ox Go to the ballot box Send the deal crashing t'ward the rocks Like a drunken rowing cox.

Brilliant and timely

Many international nurses have told me how shocked they were at the cost of living and low pay in the UK. It is alarming when a nurse says they were better off in India.

@RetentionMWJess