I've noticed there are a number of idioms for familiarity that refer to audio phenomena (e.g. "strikes a chord", "rings a bell", etc), but try as I might I can't think of any vision based phrases. It seems a bit strange to say something like "that picture rings a bell", so I wonder if there are any similar idioms that don't reference sound?
I looked up a list of the most common english idioms, and they all seem to be either sound related (e.g. "barking up the wrong tree"), or about a specific object or action (e.g. "take with a grain of salt", keywords: "take" and "salt"). None of them involved seeing or images.
Am I just bad at thinking of things, or does english really show an aversion to vision-based figures of speech? If so, what factors influence the types of idioms adopted?
And what (if any) is the visual alternative to "strikes a chord"?
Best Answer
There is the idiom see the light meaning to gain an understanding of something. Per Wiktionary:
There is also sight for sore eyes which Wiktionary defines as:
It is often used to describe something or someone you haven't seen in a long time that you're happy to see (e.g., Sally, it's been too long; you sure are a sight for sore eyes!) or some object that is especially pleasurable in light of recent experiences (e.g., after the slop they fed us in boot camp, the hamburger and fries was a sight for sore eyes.)
And that reminds me of another: in light of. Per Wiktionary:
There are also point of view (Wiktionary):
bird's eye view (Wiktionary):
and hidden in plain sight (Wiktionary):