Seriously, without realizing it native English speakers use as few words as possible to convey ideas. We rely on expressions not grammar to communicate and it's like a secret code. English learners may know what 'cold' and 'turkey' mean, but they don't know what 'cold turkey' means because it's abstract not literal. Mercifully, the secret to the breaking the code is easy for #ESL to get. 1) It's in Chapter 5 on Expressions (pg 165) in ENGLISH IS CRAZY by Judy Thompson (free pdf if you message me your email address) 2) It's in the Backpacker's Guide to Teaching English Book #3 YOU DON'T SAY (pg 17) on #Fluency by Judy Thompson (free pdf if you message me your email address) 3) A group of amazing 'English is Crazy' using, ESL teachers in Canada worked with me to compile a dictionary of English's most common expressions based on the 2,000 most common words in English. HOW DO YOU SAY? by Judy Thompson (free pdf if you message me your email address) Cold turkey' is on pg 159 under COLD and on pg 259 under TURKEY