Hello! We are six students of English Studies from University of Seville, and this is a project of New Technologies Applied to English Language.

APPLE OF ONE'S EYE

This idiom means a person to whom one is extremely found and proud, for instance ``Baby's Jessica is the apple of her father's eye.´´

Originally, it comes from the old high German. The "apple" here doesn't refer to the fruit, but the "pupil" in one's eye. People felt that the shape of the pupil was similar to that of an apple's. In fact, for quite some time the word "aeppel" was used to refer to both the eye and the fruit. The pupil is a priceless possession because without it we will be deprived of our vision; we will not be able to see. And vision is something that all human beings value. That's why the expression, "the apple of one's eye" came to mean something that is greatly valued or treasured.

ONE SMART COOKIE

It’s someone who is clever and good at dealing with difficult situations, for instance ``Your daughter is one smart cookie. She reads much higher than her grade level.´´

Originally a reference to "cookie" is from 1700s and refers to little cakes. It is possible that "cookie" referred to women and smart cookie referred to their being smart and intelligent even though they looked petite and seemed "softer" than the men.

USE YOUR NOODLE

This idiom means to use the brain. Think about something. For example, ``You' re going to have to really use your noodle on this crossword puzzle. It's an extra difficult one.´´

Use your noodle was originally used as an insult. Noodle being a slang word for "head", or more precisely "brain" .In more recent times, however, the term "noodle" has lost it's original crassness, and even the phrase "Use your noodle" can be used to simply mean "think about it"