Collecting and categorizing the data

I acquired the show Supernatural from the streaming service Viaplay, which had all 15 seasons of Supernatural in its catalogue. I chose to collect my material from across all the 15 seasons, as I

believe this approach would give me the most accurate results from the whole show. Therefore, I chose one random episode from each season. While collecting the data, I also relied on the written transcripts of the episodes available at supernaturalwiki.com. It is worth noting that these transcripts are not official, as they are made by fans. This means, that some errors may occur in them. However, my data should not include any major errors, as I merely used the transcripts to confirm I had written what I heard correctly.

While collecting my data, I collected every possible idiom I came across in the episodes. Despite this, there is a possibility that I may have missed some idioms from the episodes I chose to watch.

As some idioms are so ingrained into the English language, they can be hard to spot. Indeed, Baker (2011, p. 69) also notes how the less sense an idiom makes in its context, the more likely a

translator will spot it. Thus, the idioms that have blended in during the years are more likely to be missed. Additionally, I was forced to collect my data rather quickly because Viaplay gave notice to its users that Supernatural was to be removed from the streaming site on 13^th of July 2022. This came to me at a short notice, meaning that most of my data was collected in just a few days.

Regardless, after watching all fifteen episodes of the show I managed to collect 200 possible idioms. When starting the collection process, I was not sure how many idioms I would find from one episode, but I quickly realized that each episode seemed to contain multiple ones. Each episode varied with how many idioms they contained, or rather, how many idioms I could find to collect.

When first collecting my data, the most important characteristic of idioms in my mind was that of semantic opacity. Based on that criterion I collected my data, and only later did I start to eliminate my data based on the whole definition of idioms used in this study, which is a conventionalized multi-word unit whose meaning cannot be parsed from its constituents. While collecting the data, when I recognized a possible idiom, I went to check if I could find it from the free dictionary’s idiom section. If the idiom was found, I collected it. However, I did also collect few possible idioms that I thought to be semantically opaque even though they were not found in the dictionary. After collecting the 200 possible idioms from the fifteen episodes of Supernatural I began the process of going through them and assessing if they were truly idioms. I first decided to go through the list by checking if the idioms were found in the Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms or in the Collins Cobuild Dictionary of Idioms. I did this because I considered them to be trustworthy sources, and

idioms found in them would surely fit the idiom definition chosen for this study. However, these dictionaries are both at least ten years old, meaning that any newer idioms would not be found in them. Additionally, as both of them are books with limited space, every single possible idiom cannot feasibly be found in them. Because of this, I decided that if the idiom was found in any dictionary, including the free dictionary’s idiom section, it would also count as an idiom. Even though the free dictionary is not an academic source, it is a constantly updating website and will include idioms that just aren’t found in official idiom dictionaries. I also decided to use all of these dictionaries as a help to distinguish idioms, since if an idiom is found in any of these, it can be counted as an institutionalized idiom. The dictionary functions as an institution that has accepted the idiom. Thus, if the collected idioms were found in any kind of dictionary, I deemed them to be institutionalized, and thus fitting into this study’s definition for idioms. This also meant that any possible idioms I had collected that otherwise fit the definition of an idiom but weren’t found in any dictionary, would be removed from the data. As a non-native speaker I cannot be sure that those are actually idioms, and even if they are, without a dictionary entry on them I cannot be sure of their definition. Examples 1 and 2 showcase two of the possible idioms which I collected, but ultimately had to leave out of the study.

Example 1:

Cecily: But most are just waiting to see who takes the belt – you or her.

Example 2:

Lucifer: I’m pretty sure he caught the last train out.

Examples 1 and 2 showcase two of the possible idioms which I collected, but ultimately had to leave out of the study. In example 1 take the belt seems like an idiom, which indicates who is going to win. However, it was not found in a dictionary, and thus was left out. Example 2 contains the phrase caught the last train out, which is definitely semantically opaque. In the context of the scene, it seems to indicate that God has left and is not expected to be back. While it otherwise fits the definition of an idiom it was also not found in a dictionary and was left out of the study.

There were also a few instances where the idiom seemed to be a slightly altered version of an institutionalized idiom, like in the examples 3 and 4.

Example 3:

Dean: I’m so in the door with this one.

Example 4:

Harry: Stay in the kitchen when the kitchen gets hot.

In example 3, Dean is seemingly using an altered version of the idiom have a foot in the door. In the context of the show, Dean has been flirting with a woman and is confident that he has almost managed to win her over. Even though the idiom have a foot in the door seems to be usually used in a more professional setting, it means ‘to have an opportunity’, which fits into the context in the episode. Even though example 3 does not contain the idiom in its original form, I believe it is quite clear that it is a slight variation of said idiom, and thus acceptable to include in this study. Example 4 showcases a similar situation, where it is quite clearly an altered version of the idiom if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. The meaning of this idiom is that ‘if you cannot stand the pressure of a given situation, you should remove yourself from it’. In the context of the show, the idiom is modified to mean that Harry will not remove himself from the situation, because he can handle the pressure. Even though it is clear from what idiom this altered version comes from, the alteration is quite heavy-handed. The original idiom is institutionalized, but this remake in

example 4 is not. If the variation was less extreme, I could include it in this study, but as it is, example 4 strays too far from the original idiom to be counted here.

After checking if the collected idioms were institutionalized, I went over them again to determine if they fit into the multiwordiness characteristic. I had collected some possible idioms that

consisted of only one word, and thus they had to be removed from my data. As one-word idioms could just be polysemous words, it is easiest to just exclude them from this research to preserve the most accurate results.

There were some difficult borderline cases when eliminating unsuitable idioms from my data. At times it was difficult to deem what words actually constitute a specific idiom, like was the case in example 5.

Example 5:

Sarah: It really threw me.

In the example 5, it is somewhat difficult to decide whether the idiom contains one or two words.

It could either constitute of just the verb or the verb and the pronoun, as the pronoun is a

changing unit. However, as we learned in section 2.1 idioms are open to slight variation, meaning that the pronoun in this idiom is a changeable part, not fixed. Thus, example 5 counts as a

multiword idiom.

There were also some other possible idioms I selected to exclude from the data, like in the case of example 6.

Example 6:

Dean: Goofer dust’ll keep ‘em out.

In example 6, appears the idiom keep ‘em out. This idiom fits into the idiom definition used in this study, but I chose to exclude it because of the context it appears in. In the scene Dean is explaining how goofer dust will keep hellhounds outside the house. Here the phrase keep out makes sense also with its literal meaning, and thus may not be meant as an idiom. Because of this, it was excluded from this study.

When collecting my data, I created an excel sheet. To this sheet I gathered the episode name and number, original dialogue where a possible idiom appears, its subtitled translation, and the meaning of the possible idiom. I was planning on also collecting the name of the translator, but that information was not available on all of the episodes. Regardless, when it was mentioned, I did write it down. Later, when all the data was collected, I added columns for idiom classification and translation strategy. After going through my material to make sure it consisted of idioms that fit into the definition used in this study, I was left with 167 idioms.

Table 2: The number of idioms in each episode.

Episode name Number of idioms

01.19 Provenance 10

02.11 Playthings 5

03.13 Ghostfacers 7

04.09 I Know What You Did Last Summer 16

05.04 The End 10

06.03 The Third Man 13

07.21 Reading Is Fundamental 8

08.17 Goodbye Stranger 11

09.10 Road Trip 28

10.10 The Hunter Games 7

11.18 Hell’s Angel 11

12.15 Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell 15

13.06 Tombstone 9

14.09 The Spear 9

15.09 The Trap 8

Total 167

The amount between different episode varied, from 5 to 28. However, the average across all of the episodes was approximately 11 idioms located.