Idioms: man of something

The word man can represent both genders sometimes. It is a word very commonly used in idioms to describe people's behavior or character. If you know a man of his words for instance, it means he keeps his promises and does what he says. On the other hand, if you know someone who's a man of straw, that means he is easily beaten or changed, someone that's not authentic or of strong personality.

You can also be very specific when describing a man. If someone refers to a man of the cloth, they're talking about a priest. This time, as you must have noticed, it has actually to be a man. Sometimes what you're actually trying to refer to is actually the averageness of someone's profile, the lack of peculiarity. As for those average people, you can call them man in the street. Don't be fooled by the idea of what the idiom man in the street might convey. It's not necessarily about beggars or people living in the streets, but average people that walk by back and forth in the streets without any particularity.

But if someone you know is very talented in a number of different areas and ways, the opposite of a man in the street, you can call him a man of parts. If on the other hand what stands out in a person is actually his wealth, you can call him a man of means. But now imagine the next man we're going to talk about is the one people refer to while praying: God. Sometimes they may wanna refer to Him as the Man upstairs. You can imagine why they say that.