Idioms, one of the most powerful elements of the cultural memory that Turkish has carried for centuries, are now under serious threat due to misuse and rapidly spreading errors in digital media.
Emphasizing that the misuse of idioms should not be seen merely as a 'language error,' Lecturer Selçuk Duman, Director of Üsküdar University Turkish Teaching Application and Research Center (ÜSTÖMER), stated, “The distortion of idioms is definitely a cultural and mental loss. Every idiom carries a story, a tradition, or a historical event that gave rise to it.”
Highlighting the vital importance of protecting idioms for preserving the identity of Turkish, Lecturer Selçuk Duman said, “Because idioms are the ‘spice of life’ for Turkish. You cannot keep a language alive with only grammatical rules. It is idioms that give it its taste, smell, and color.” Duman also added that digital environments function like a ‘galat-ı meşhur’ (widespread error) production factory.
Lecturer Selçuk Duman, Director of Üsküdar University Turkish Teaching Application and Research Center (ÜSTÖMER) and Head of the Turkish Language Department, made important evaluations on the place of idioms in Turkish, the consequences of their misuse, and language awareness.
Idioms serve as a backbone in our language
Stating that idioms represent one of the most important and rich aspects of the art of 'saying much with few words,' Lecturer Selçuk Duman said, “Centuries of experience, joy, sorrow, and worldview have been poured into living words through idioms and reached us today. The ability to summarize a complex emotional state or a social situation that needs lengthy explanation with a two-or-three-word idiom demonstrates the practical intelligence of our people and the expressive capability of our language. In this respect, idioms in our language almost act as a backbone with their metaphorical and figurative meanings.”
The distortion of idioms is the erasure of cultural memory
Emphasizing that the misuse of idioms should not be seen merely as a “language error,” Lecturer Selçuk Duman stated, “The distortion of idioms is definitely a cultural and mental loss. Every idiom carries a story, a tradition, or a historical event that gave rise to it. When you distort an idiom, you break that historical link and erase cultural codes. Dismissing it as a ‘linguistic error’ is to underestimate the seriousness of the issue. Indeed, when words are lost, the ‘worldview’ they carry is also lost.”
Some commonly mistaken idioms
Duman also gave examples of idioms frequently misused in daily language: “We can list the common ones as follows: ‘Göz var nizam var’ is incorrect; the correct form is ‘Göz var izan (understanding) var.’ Similarly, the origin of the idiom known as ‘Zürafanın düşkünü, beyaz giyer kış günü’ (The giraffe's destitute wears white in winter) is ‘Zürefanın (elegant people’s) düşkünü.’ It has no connection with the animal giraffe. The phrase ‘Aptala malum olur’ (It becomes known to a fool) is actually ‘Abdala (to a saintly person) malum olur.’ These errors destroy the heritage of knowledge and tradition that the idiom carries in the background, rendering the sentence meaningless and valueless.”
This is not a natural change, but the degeneration of language
Emphasizing that the deterioration of idioms over time should not be considered a natural evolution of language, Lecturer Selçuk Duman stated, “There is natural change and development in language, but the distortion of idioms usually stems from ‘ignorance’ and ‘hearsay use.’ Errors made by being misled by the phonetic similarity of a word without understanding its figurative aspect (like using ‘Safe’ instead of ‘safa’, ‘nizam’ instead of ‘izan’) become widespread over time, displacing the correct forms. This is not a natural evolution, but the degeneration of language.”
The digital environment produces ‘galat-ı meşhur’
Lecturer Selçuk Duman, also touching upon the impact of social media and digital platforms on language, continued as follows:
“The digital environment works like a ‘galat-ı meşhur’ (widespread error) production factory. When an incorrect usage becomes popular on social media, even those who know the correct form find themselves in the minority, leading people to doubt ‘am I the one who is wrong?’ Instead of institutions that set language standards, the language use of social media influencers begins to be decisive, which creates the risk of Turkish becoming unregulated.”
Using idioms without knowing their meaning is alienation from the language
Duman stated that the unconscious use of idioms is an indication of an individual’s alienation from their own language: “Using an idiom without knowing its meaning is like sailing a ship without knowing its course. In such a situation, linguistic accidents become inevitable. Language awareness requires knowing not only the sound of a word but also its spirit and roots. This awareness protects one from speaking by rote and without thinking.”
The young generation is moving away from the connotative world of idioms
Evaluating the relationship young people have with idioms, Lecturer Selçuk Duman said, “Unfortunately, I find it weak and disconnected. Young people tend to think and speak more literally and in plain terms. They struggle to enter the metaphorical and abstract world of idioms. They prefer to express their feelings and thoughts with emojis or globalized English stock phrases. This weakness and disconnection cause young people to be deprived of the rich connotative world of Turkish.”
Idioms are the spice of Turkish
Emphasizing the vital importance of protecting idioms for preserving the identity of Turkish, Lecturer Selçuk Duman concluded, “Because idioms are the ‘spice of life’ for Turkish. You cannot keep a language alive with only grammatical rules. It is idioms that give it its taste, smell, and color. A language that does not protect its idioms will, over time, become mechanical, turn into a ‘translation language,’ and lose its originality. If we want to pass on our identity, humor, and intelligence to future generations, we must learn, teach, and widely use our idioms correctly.”
