Dio (Email Removed) writes:

Most of these are not idioms. An idiom is a phrase that is not compositional. "Compositional" means you can figure out the meaning by putting together the meanings of the individual words.

Most of these are compositional, though some of them are metaphoric and others are fixed phrases with specific uses and senses in specific contexts.

These are fixed phrases, and the whole thing is a fixed repair request. The last part is a metaphor ("catch" means "understand").

"Make fun of" is a very mild idiom; it means "tease", and it's pretty clear. Only the "of" is unclear, but it's just there to hook the object onto.

This is a metaphor -- "put one's foot in it" (where "it" means something you don't want to put your foot into) means to say something embarrassing or wrong or insulting or all of the above.

"To do with" means "related to". That is an idiom, but only because "do" has so little meaning that its constructions are always vague. "Have nothing to do with" means "be unrelated to".

Another metaphor. Think of picking up a shovel by the flat metal part.

An idiom, meaning "similar to this".

A fixed phrase to indicate grudging acceptance of someone's attitude. Can be used as a challenge or to change the subject, depending on context and tone of voice. Be careful what you follow this phrase with.

"Give one's word" means to promise; "take one's word" means to accept as true. Words have to do with meaning. Not all that idiomatic; again, pro-verbs like "give" and "take", "do", "make", etc. figure in lots of fixed phrases.

A phrasal verb, most of which are technically idioms, because the particle usually doesn't contribute to the meaning. This means to register at a hotel, or, informally, to visit ("drop in").

To leave a hotel and pay one's bill, or, informally, to die (another metaphor).

An old expression; "pride oneself on" means "take pride in", or "be proud of", which you'd probably also consider idioms. There's "take" again.

A fixed phrase. It's an understatement, and means it's awful. This does come apart OK -- if it leaves much to be desired, then one must still desire much of it, which means it is undesirable as it is. So this shouldn't be that hard to understand, since it's compositional; and it's a fixed phrase, so you can just memorize it. Leave out the bang at the end, though.

"To run" an enterprise means to manage it.

"Right away" is a very common phrase meaning "immediately".

Ditto "at once".

An old verb use; "to mind" means "to bring to mind, to pay attention to". "Mind the step/gap" means "watch out for it"

"Straight away" is a British usage for "right away".

"Watch out for your head", i.e, don't hit it on that thing hanging down.

Another phrasal verb; with "out", "keep" means "stay". I.e, don't come in.

Another fixed phrase, which I guess you understand OK.

Look, practically everything in English usage is a fixed or semifixed phrase, and you just have to learn a lot of them. Sorry, that's the price you pay for a simple morphology. Read a lot, watch TV, and pick up the phrases. These are all very simple ones.

You might find something useful at http://www.umich.edu/~jlawler/aue

-John Lawler -- http://www.umich.edu/~jlawler/ -- UM Linguistics Dept -- "Academic integrity still plagues campus" -- Headline, University of Michigan Daily 11/12/02

All of these expressions are up to date in Britain.

(1) is too wordy, though. The shorter "Sorry, I didn't quite catch that" would be better.

(10) and (11) have a distinctly American feel to them. However, it is an Americanism that has now become common in Britain too. The British usually say "I arrived yesterday" and "I shall leave tomorrow". BrE Register = AmE check in. BrE check out = AmE check out, but the British mean only the paying of the bill, handing back the keys, and signing any paperwork. The Americans mean everything to do with the departure, even as far as getting into their car and driving away.

(14) is sometimes used, but usually in a rude and argumentative context. It is most likely to be asked sarcastically by a dissatisfied customer who is asserting that the hotel is badly managed and chaotic. It may also be used sarcastically by hotel staff who are tired of being told every detail of how to do their jobs by an unreasonable and overbearing customer.

If you genuinely want a factual answer to your question, it is better to ask "Which Group operates this hotel?" If you want to speak to the manager, say "Can I speak to the manager, please?"

(20) is acceptable for a notice, but abrupt and rude if spoken. Say instead "Please don't go in there".

Richard Chambers Leeds UK.