Choose the alternative which best expresses the meaning of idiom A man of straw
Answers
An alternative to the idiom A man of straw would be "It is no good than an onion".
Explanation:
Idioms are used to describe things figuratively, phrases often give non-literal meaning to the usage. Meanwhile there are phrases which give quite a literal meaning to them.
In this case "A man of straw" means a person does not have it in him. 'Have it in him' could be a quality, a trait or any aspect about a person, a person lacking it can be described as that. So is it with the case of an onion, one can peel the onion to find nothing in it, it no more exists as the peels are removed.
A man of straw also has its origins in ancient English where an useless person was described as 'A man of straw'. It is a usage which resonates with the practice of using scarecrow in fields. Here the scarecrow is literally made of straw and a pot to resemble a human.