That’s how it began: with the image of a pouring rain, which for the people of Maine turned into a deluge of cats and dogs; in Spain, jugs fell from the sky; in Italy, the clouds produced washbasins of water, and in France, oddly enough, umbrellas opened under a downpour of ropes.
It all began with the opening sentence on the front flap of “Idiom’s Delight” by Suzanne Brock, a captivating and inspiring book that celebrates the richness and complexity of idiomatic expressions in various languages. It shows how idioms, which are an integral and characteristic part of every language, can be found, either by similarity or contrast, in different languages.

I would like to say that this book was love at first sight for me, but to be honest, my love for words, idioms, and proverbs has always been with me and has influenced not only my studies but also my professional choices.
During my first summer work-stay in Great Britain, I bought, almost by chance, a dictionary of English idioms (“A concise dictionary of English idioms” by William Freeman). I simply thought it would be useful for my university studies, but instead, I found myself devouring this dictionary as if it were a delightful novel, reading it from the first word to the last.
Since then, as strange as it may seem, reading dictionaries of English and Italian idioms has become a real hobby for me (along with collecting owls of all shapes and materials).

With a university degree in History of the English Language, during my university studies I took and enjoyed specialized exams of glottology, Romance and Germanic philology. I then chose the path of teaching: first as an English teacher in Italy for years, and then as an Italian lecturer for ten years at two American universities. Idioms and words still being the common thread of my existence.
Then, during my first year as a university lecturer in the USA, one of the first personal computers appeared on my desk! I immediately realized that this "IT innovation" would allow me to easily catalog, organize, and manage all my current and future materials: writings, notes, and countless sheets and slips of paper.

Then came Suzanne Brock’s book, and the idea to put to good use my studies and the research and collection work I had done over the years. How? By creating a website dedicated to idioms and their variations in Italian and American English.

It all began like this: with a dictionary, a book, a computer, and the amusing image of a Frenchman holding an umbrella under a rain of ropes, while a poor Maine resident faced a deluge of quadrupeds beside him.