English colloquial pairs

[Kawaiitiet]

Dear Sirs/ Madams
Would you please to explain the meaning of these colloquial pairs? Due to I can't find it in the dictionary and as I know that, they are related to the spoken or slang English, so it would be my grateful if can receive your feedback, please see the words as follows:

prim and proper to and fro hard and fast tooth and nail down and out length and breadth safe and sound ins and outs cloak and dagger spick and span up and about ups and downs song and dance collar and tie pins and needles sick and tired bits and bobs

Awaiting for your reply

[Alan]

[Kawaii]

Hi Alan
Thanks so much.
Just one more to you, how about 'Odds and ends'?

Regards,

[Alan]

Hi,

Odds and ends is very similar to bits and pieces.

Alan
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[Kawaii]

Hi ALan
Sorry, I still don't understand what does it mean for bits and pieces?

Need your help

Thanks a lot

[Alan]

Hi Kawaii,

The two expressions: bits and pieces and odds and ends both mean the same as bits and bobs.

Alan
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[Jamie (K)]

"Odds and ends" means miscellaneous things. "He keeps various odds and ends in this drawer." Maybe he keeps pencils, shoe laces, a screw driver, a knife and a rubber ball in there.

"Bits and pieces" means something different. It means small parts of something. "He didn't tell me the story all at once. He just gave it to me in bits and pieces." "We've finished bits and pieces of the project, but we haven't started to work on it seriously yet." So, you can see that this is not the same as "odds and ends".

People in North America would not understand "bits and bobs", so if you want completely international English, I would use one of the other phrases.

[Alan]

Hi Kawaii,

I expect you must be confused with this overload of information! Bits and pieces/Odds and ends/Bits and bobs all refer, to my mind, to a collection of small objects of no particular significance. You can of course use them all in a figurative sense when they take on other meanings.

Alan
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