Preparing Paper 1: Idioms and Ambiguity

Meaning can often be complicated through the use of metaphors, idioms, or simply through ambiguous relationships between words. What are the actual meanings of the first two idioms below? What are the possible meanings of the next ambiguous sentences?

• Bite your tongue: This is an expression said to someone who has just stated an unpleasant supposition that unfortunately maybe true.
• Pull my leg: When you say, "Are you pulling my leg?", it means "Are you kidding with me?"
• He is my English teacher: The problem here is that you can't tell if the persons that says this is saying that his teacher is from England or if he is a teacher of English.
• I saw the person with a telescope: Here there is another ambiguity where you don't know if the person had a telescope, or if he saw the person using a telescope.
• She doesn’t like short men or women: Here the ambiguity is that you don't know if the adjective short is used for men and women, or just for men.