Taking The Scenic Route

Imagine you are choosing to ride a train. You have two choices: the fastest and most direct route to your destination, or the scenic route, the longer (and therefore slower) path that allows you to relax and enjoy the trip. Before mass air travel, train was how many vacation tours were accomplished, helping the phrase get firmly established in the language.

In idioms, "the scenic route" means the long way (whether or not there is an advantage!), as opposed to the short way, which is the most efficient path to one's destination.

Example: "Daisy was supposed to be here at 10 o'clock, but she took the scenic route when she went shopping. Who knows when she'll arrive now?"

In this example, taking the scenic route is not a compliment. It means that the person has deliberately chosen to be slow and late based on whim. This reflects how the phrase is most likely to be used in English as an idiom.

When meant literally, it can mean a wonderful vacation. Figuratively... not so much.

Being Outdoors

Literally, outdoors is beyond the doors of your residential home. Figuratively speaking, the outdoors is the wilderness.

Being outdoors is an expression for being in the wilderness, or at absolute minimum, being outside the house in a natural environment .

A park is considered natural for these purposes.

Example: Danny and his friends search for gold in rivers in New York State. "Danny and the gang say they're not disappointed if they don't find gold -- they just love being outdoors." 


From: http://money.cnn.com/2010/12/08/pf/investing/gold_fever.fortune/index.htm

A Babe In The Woods

The expression "a babe in the woods" is used to represent someone who is innocent and vulnerable and in great danger of being victimized, figuratively. 


Example: "My mother's a babe in the woods when it comes to buying cars. She ends up spending much more money than she has to because she just doesn't understand how to hold out for a better deal." Here, the speaker's mother is naive in the ways of business.

Neck Of The Woods

Your neck of the woods is your figurative location; your locale; your area. 


Example: "What are you doing in this neck of the woods? I thought you don't like places this rural and out of the way." This could be said to a friend who prefers large towns and cities who shows up in a rural area.

Big As All Outdoors

This means, on a large scale.

Example: "The politician's ambitions for higher office were as big as all outdoors."

Barking Up The Wrong Tree

When a dog being used to hunt raccoons, a dog will bark up at a tree ("up a tree") to indicate that a raccoon is within the tree's branches.

If a dog is barking up the wrong tree, the dog is making a serious mistake.


Example: Lisa: "Dave, I thought I saw you in the lounge earlier. When I went into the lounge afterwards, there was coffee spilled all over the table." Dave: "It wasn't me! You're barking up the wrong tree. I was having a sandwich at my desk while I was working on the September report. You must've mistaken me for someone else."

A Voice In The Wilderness

A voice in the wilderness is someone who expresses an unpopular opinion.


Example: "For years, she was a voice in the wilderness about the need for government reform. Only recently has her agenda become part of the mainstream."

In The Wilderness

American politics uses "the wilderness" as a Biblical reference. Someone who is in the wilderness is an outcast, a nomad, someone without a seat in a place of power.

In practice, it is used to mean a politician or party lacking the power or influence normally due.

Example: "The Senator spent several years in the political wilderness after having made comments that offended members of a major religion. Only recently has he come back in favor."

In this sense, someone who is in the wilderness is like someone who is in the dog house.