Formulaicity is a rather fuzzy phenomenon that partially overlaps with some lexical forms and may include other lexical forms. For instance, all the expressions traditionally termed idioms may be included as a subclass of formulaic language, but not all formulaic expressions may be idioms. Some may indeed be idioms, but among formulaic expressions there can also be collocations (e.g. teething problems), conventionalized greetings (good morning, safe journey), and many other expressions. For instance, then, kick the bucket, good morning, fish and chips, first thing tomorrow, thanks a million, money talks, safe journey, etc., are all considered formulaic expressions, but only kick the bucket may be considered an idiom. This is illustrated in
Figure 1.