International Journal of Biological Engineering and Agriculture American Journal of Science and Learning for Development Volume 1 | No 2 | Dec-2022 Published by inter-publishing.com | All rights reserved. © 2022 Journal Homepage: https://inter-publishing.com/index.php/IJISE Page 106 Idioms Describing Human Character as an Important Component of the National and Cultural Aspect of the English Language Omonturdieva Zebokhon Bunyod qizi Master student of the Uzbekistan State World Languages University Abstract: the article deals with ideoms reflecting the character of a person, the direct connection of the inner world, mental state, mood and stable qualities of a person with speech, the manifestation of a national and cultural character in the phraseological units of the English language. Keywords: phraseological units, set expressions, idiom, human character, mentality, national culture. INTRODUCTION An important feature of modern research in linguistics is a thorough study of the national-cultural aspect of the language. Phraseological units are at the center of our attention in this work. In their semantics, phraseological units reflect the process of development of the people and their culture, pass on from generation to generation certain cultural stereotypes that are still relevant today. Researchers, studying the problem of phraseological units, reveal the cultural code that was embedded in the expressions, all the significance and nature of a particular people. In the process of studying foreign languages, we consider not only the grammatical structures of the language with lexical stock, but also encounter set expressions, phrases, the translation of which is meaningless without knowledge of the historical and linguocultural heritage of the people. Of particular importance is the study of phraseological units associated with the nature of the individual, since this is an important part of the life of every person and the people as a whole. Idioms and phraseological units are an integral part of any language. They reflect the history of the country, the history of the development of the language, various cultural phenomena, and the national character. DISCUSSION What is the national character of the English as a whole? The phraseological system as a whole clearly demonstrates a semantic focus on a person and makes a significant contribution to the formation of a figurative picture of the world of each nation. Phraseologisms make our speech more vivid, emotional and interesting for the interlocutor. It is impossible to imagine learning English without these linguistic realities, because the quality, imagery of speech, emotional coloring, modality, and sometimes even communication itself will depend on their possession. Knowledge of English set expressions fully helps to enjoy reading original English texts, clearly characterizes the level of the speaker's language proficiency. English set expressions not only embellish speech, they also allow you to reduce cumbersome sentences to small expressions (sometimes even up to two or three words). Phraseologisms (idioms) of the English language are stable expressions that have an independent meaning, usually not coinciding with the literal translation. The word "idiom" comes from the Greek "idίōma", which means "feature, originality." Where did they come from? Over a thousand-year history, a large number of expressions have accumulated in the English language that people have found successful, well-aimed and beautiful. With the help of idioms, the language becomes alive. The range of idioms of modern English is wide and varied, most of them are American Journal of Science and Learning for Development Volume 1, No 2| Dec - 2022 Published by inter-publishing.com | All rights reserved. © 2022 Journal Homepage: http://inter-publishing.com/index.php/AJSLD Page 107 borrowed from fiction and not only English ones. Linguists have not developed a unanimous opinion about what a phraseologism is, and, consequently, there is no unity of views on the composition of these units in the language. Some researchers (L.P. Smith [1], J. Seidl, W. McMordie, V.P. Zhukov, V.N. Telia, N.M. Shansky and others) include stable combinations in phraseology, others ( N. N. Amosova, A. M. Babkin, A. I. Smirnitsky and others) - only certain groups. So, some linguists (including academician V.V. Vinogradov) do not include proverbs, sayings and catchwords in the category of phraseological units, believing that they differ from phraseological units in their semantics and syntactic structure. Russian scientists N.N. Amosova [2] and A.V. Kunin [3] studied English phraseological units in historical and theoretical-linguistic aspects. In his works A.V. Kunin divides English phraseological units into three types of set expressions: idiomatic, idio- phraseological and phraseomatic. The foundations of Uzbek phraseology were laid and then developed in the studies of a number of linguists such as E.D. Polivanov, Sh.Rakhmatullaev[4], Ya.D. Pinkhasov[5], M. Umarkhodzhaev, A.E. Mamatov and others. True English proficiency implies the ability to speak using idioms. Indeed, it is in colloquial speech that they are most often used. It should be noted that in English and American linguistics, it is not the term “phraseological unit” that is more commonly used, but the so-called “set-expression”, which means in essence one and the same, along with the latter, the concept of "idiom" is also used. In English linguistics, it does not have the narrow meaning of phraseological fusion, but denotes all set expressions in general. The most common classification of English phraseological units is thematic. For example, in A.V. Kunin’s [6] English-phraseological dictionary there are several idiomatic groups that are associated with a person and his character; with animals; with body parts with clothes; with a palette of colors; with products; with money; with color names with school and study; with household items; with the weather. In this work, we have studied the semantic group of English idioms with a component describing a person's character. There are many concepts of "character" in modern psychology. The following definition allows us to give a semantic description, taking into account the structural and grammatical analysis of phraseological units. Character (from the Greek “χαρακτήρ“ distinguishing feature, sign") - the structure of persistent, relatively constant mental properties that determine the characteristics of the relationship and behavior of the individual. Character traits are those essential properties of a person that determine a particular way of behavior, way of life. The idioms given below, denoting the character of a person, were considered from the point of view of negative and positive estimated values. Idioms expressing negative traits of a person's character Idioms expressing positive traits of a person's character Duplicity, hypocrisy: А hypocrite As slippery as an eel; To have two faces (under one hood) A honey tongue, a heart of gall. Honesty: Play a straight bat; Treat smb white; (as) straight as a die; As honest a man as ever broke bread (as ever lived by bread; as honest a man as ever trod on earth, shoe leather; honest, as honest as the skin between his brows); clean hands; straight goods; straight dealing fair play; kind (honest, simple) soul; clean liver; fair play Unsociability: Lone wolf; shrinking violet; nervous Nellie; a wimp Sociability: Social butterfly; A people person ;A party animal Meanness: A bad actor; swear black is white; paint smb black; yellow dog; false heart; Yellow streak; Underhand Sincerity: Single heart (mind); as open as the day; plain dealer; make a clean Breast of smth; he is an open look; to be open- hearted Arrogance: Holier-than-thou; mount (be on, ride, get on) the Nobility: A big heart; a high mind; good as gold; good American Journal of Science and Learning for Development Volume 1, No 2| Dec - 2022 Published by inter-publishing.com | All rights reserved. © 2022 Journal Homepage: http://inter-publishing.com/index.php/AJSLD Page 108 night horse; proud (vain) as a peacock; proud as Lucifer, high (proud) stomach; A fly on the wheel sport (sort; egg, onion); good as pie; good nature Cruelty, ruthlessness, callousness: Hard heart; cold as charity; Stony heart; hard as a flint (a stone, the nethermill stone); hard as iron. Kindness, heartiness, affability: A kind (honest, simple) soul; Kind (soft, warm) heart; Big heart; as good as gold Talkativeness, boastfulness: Hot-air artist (merchant); big mouth; a loose (long) tongue; to have a loose (long) tongue Sanity, modesty: Down-to-earth – someone who is practical and close to reality, who accepts other people as equals Insolence, shamelessness: Blush like a black (blue) dog; cool beggar (card, customer, fish, hand); dead to shame; a smart Alec; Decisiveness, strong character, reliability: Stout heart; a strong man; firm(steady) as a roc k; a hard nut to crack; a tough nut Primness: Stand-offish, niminy-piminy, square-toed, prim and proper , as stiff as a poker, old maidish, boiled shirt. Cheerfulness: Merry as a cricket (grig; a marriage bell, as maids); playful as a kitten; light heart; free liver; cheerful (gay) as a lark; fresh as a daisy (a rose; as paint, as newpaint; flowers in may); free and easy; see through rose-coloured glasses Greed: Greedy as a wolf; a miser; tight fist; close liver; a cheapskate Generosity: Bountiful, All heart, open handed Cunning, flattery: Artful as a cart load of monkeys; Old fox; sly fox; a tame spaniel; an oily tongue; to have an oily tongue; to be silver-tongued; tricky as a monkey; tricky nicky; A downy bird; A publicity hound Naivete: A simpleton A soft touch Wet behind the ears Babe in the woods Cowardice: To have a yellow streak, as quiet as a lamb, as timid as a mouse ,a tame cat, as timid as a hare, like rats leaving a sinking ship, cold feet; white liver; yellow dog; get (have) cold feet; fly (mount, show), the white feather; (as) timid as a hare; a yellow streak; to be rabbit(pigeon)-hearted; to be fainthearted; to have cold feet, a yellow belly; Courage: As true as steel , high blood; be free of one’s flesh; die game; put on a bold front; make the best of a bad job; a strong man; stout heart; bold (brave) as a lion; make the best of a bad bargain (business); make the best of it; as bold as brass; red blood; Rudeness, intemperance, irascibility: Troublemaker, gruff as a bear; hairy about (at, in) the heel (the fetlocks); surly beggar (dog); short temper; rough and tough; rough and tumble; common scold; wild and wolly; a hot head Restraint, calmness: One wouldn’t hurt a fly, a cool heart; mental ballast; put a good face on smth; in one’s sober senses; sober as a judge; clear (hard) grit; hard as nails; level head; good man; cool as cucumber; To keep a civil tongue in one’s mouth Laziness: A lazy dog Couch potato Lazybones Diligence: A willing horse; (as) busy as a bee (busy as a beehive; as a beaver; as a hen with one chicken; as a cockroach on a hot stove; as a one-armed paperhanger); work double tides; work at high pressure; аn eager beaver American Journal of Science and Learning for Development Volume 1, No 2| Dec - 2022 Published by inter-publishing.com | All rights reserved. © 2022 Journal Homepage: http://inter-publishing.com/index.php/AJSLD Page 109 CONCLUSION The study revealed the following pattern: idioms with a negative assessment always prevailed over those with a positive or neutral assessment, regardless of the distribution into groups describing various character traits. Perhaps this is due to a more acute emotional and speech-thinking reaction of people to negative phenomena. For example, in relation to other people in the English language, such character traits as “arrogance”, “cruelty”, “duplicity” are more represented. In relation to oneself, the English language is dominated by "cunning", "cowardice" and "rudeness". It is interesting that in the English language there are much more idioms of subgroups in relation to oneself "cheerfulness", "honesty", in relation to others "restraint", "sincerity". Studying phraseological units, we can observe how stable phrases reflect the attitude of the people to certain moral qualities of a person. We also observe which character traits are most important to people and are of the greatest value to them. REFERENCES: 1. Smith, L.P. Phraseology of the English language. Translated by Ignatyeva, A.R. Uchpedgiz, 1959, p. 208. 2. Amosova, N.N. Etymological foundations of the vocabulary of modern English. Librokom, 2010, p. 244. 3. Kunin, A.V. Phraseology course of modern English. 2nd edition, Moscow, 1996, p. 115. 4. Rakhmatullaev, Sh. Some issues of Uzbek phraseology. Diss. Tashkent, 1966, p. 218. 5. Pinkhasov, Y.D. Modern Uzbek literary language. Lexicology and phraseology. Uqituvchi, 1969, pp. 55-65. 6. Kunin, A.V. English-Russian phraseological dictionary. 3rd ed., Russian language, 2001.