1 HOUR LESSON - Useful Idioms & Expressions to Build Your Vocabulary

let's learn some useful idioms to help you build your vocabulary and this is important because we often use idioms in just casual conversation you'll hear them in movies and TV shows so it's going to help your listening comprehension and if you are someone who enjoys building your vocabulary Please Subscribe turn on notifications that way I can become your teacher my name is Wes the channel is interactive English it's all about trying to help you reach your fluency goals and before we begin I want to make a quick announcement if you would like to practice and improve your speaking skills you can join my speaking course it's all about trying to help you speak confidently speak clearly and speak naturally each week there is a different speaking topic you will learn vocabulary and idioms related to that topic we do engaging speaking activities I'll teach you some of the language nuances like when to use certain words and phrases and there are also pronunciation video lessons included in the course so check out that link Down Below in the description if you would like to sign up or learn more and when you click on that link you will find a special discount just for you that's all I have to say so let's begin our lesson and learn some useful idioms I want to talk to you about some common idioms and expressions that that you can use in everyday conversation and this will really help improve your your comprehension in overall English fluency so the first idiom that I want to talk to you about is to turn over a new leaf and this just means to start fresh to start new you really want to to change your attitude or your circumstances so for example maybe somebody might lose their job and they say okay I need to turn over a new Leaf I need to start fresh and I need to change these circumstances I need to start looking for another job start a new start fresh maybe a road trip is exactly what I need right now I'm turning over a new Leaf starting tomorrow I am turning over a new Leaf time with you is my my number one priority I'm turning over to New Leaf and my good luck Starts Now the next idiom is the Autumn years and well Autumn is another word for fall and if somebody's referring to the Autumn years they're talking about uh the later point in someone's life they would refer to it as the Autumn years when somebody gets older and yes this this is not your Autumn years that's our little girl Emmy she she's just a little baby but when you're talking about later on in somebody's life you may hear you may hear them refer to it and say the Autumn years you're getting a little philosophical for me I suppose so they say it happens in the Autumn years I may teach I may write a book whatever the hell one does when one approaches the Autumn of one's years then we have the idiom to drive someone nuts and this is relevant I think of fall I often think of nuts you can find them on the ground and nuts is also an informal word uh kind of slang that means the same as crazy so if you Drive someone nuts it just means that you making them crazy perhaps a person could be driving you nuts or maybe a situation is is just driving you nuts it's making you crazy hey yeah I'm not going to mince words Mitchell kid is driving me nuts you better think your lucky stars I'm not in this competition because I would eat you for breakfast you're driving me nuts babe you your mother drives you nuts then we have one of my favorite idioms cuz I like I like using it from time to time especially when I feel sick and that idiom is under the weather and you say that somebody maybe feels a little bit under the weather and what it means is that person is kind of starting to feel a little sick so it's not like they're really sick it's just maybe they're a little sick or they're starting to feel sick and say yeah I'm feeling feeling a little bit under the weather right now yeah um heard you were under the weather oh I uh I didn't think I was going to get to see you until tomorrow yeah well Bernadette's a little under the weather but this you sound unwell well I have been feeling a little under the WEA but I'm feeling much better now next is neck of the woods and if you hear somebody talking about like oh for example what are you doing in my neck of the woods they're talking about a particular area or maybe even a particular neighborhood so that's what it means neck of the woods and often times yeah people might ask a question like I just did and they say Hey you know you see somebody in your neighborhood and you say hey what what are you doing my neck of the woods or perhaps in the office that you work at somebody in another department comes and visits you in your department and you say hey yeah what are you doing in my neck of the woods what are you doing in in this particular area this what brings you to my neck of the woods a few errands I'm going to be in your neck of the woods soon and um it would be very nice to see you well if you ever get down in my neck of the woods you got a place to stay another idiom with Woods is not out of of the woods because when I think of the Fall I often think of the woods and if you say that you are not out of the woods it just means that you are not out of danger so out of the woods is talking about out of danger and I think most of the time you hear it with the word not somebody is trying to say that they are not safe they are still in a dangerous area they are not out of the woods just yet I think you might hear this in like TV shows and movies if somebody is being chased by another person or a group of people and they they haven't lost that group they're still being chased they say you know we're not we're not out of the woods just yet we need to keep running Mike's going to be okay can you see him not out of the woods yet I guess one of you could go in for just a minute the heart be stronger but we're not out of the woods need to get things going now the cord is wrapped around the neck the next idiom is shaking like a leaf and if somebody is shaking like a leaf it's a way to describe somebody who is trembling this person is shaking they're trembling mostly because of fear you can say oh oh they they were shaking like a leaf the same way that in Autumn Leaves they tremble they shake and then they fall to the ground and again if somebody is trembling then you could say they are shaking like a leaf come set in your chair de you're shaking like a leaf he's going to be on muscle muscle shaking like a leaf how's he going to do anything he wanted to talk about his father's symptoms he Skyped and there he was he was shaking like a leaf then we have to get wind of something and if you get wind of something it just means that you hear some rumor about something it could be a rumor about something or a rumor about someone and and you get wind of this information you learn about it you hear about it you could say yeah you know I I got wind of that I heard about that rumor or I heard that piece of information to get wind of something I thought the publicity would really help zip couch boy once the Press gets wind of this you know bolivians get wind of this you know what they're going to say they're going to say you wear pissy pants if the Community gets into morning jogging oh God help us then we have the apple of someone's eye and if if you're talking about the apple of someone's eye it just refers to a person who is loved the most by someone else so for for example yes I could say that that Emmy right here you are the apple of my eye that yes she is love the most by me she is the apple of my eye um as well as you want they are both they are the apples of my eye so if you describe someone as the apple of your eye it just means that they are loved the most by you what are you doing want kiss oh look who it is my husband the apple of my eye hello oh apple of my eye love of my life night and [Music] day I mean his household was a joyous place and his wife Dolly well she was the apple of his eye then we have the idiom cold turkey and you you just got to include this because turkey Thanksgiving it is a very very popular word around the around fall so if somebody you might talk about quitting cold turkey and what that means cold turkey is that somebody stops a bad habit immediately and and maybe suddenly as well and you would quit something cold turkey often I think of smokers somebody is a smoker they've been smoking for years and then they just suddenly quit they would say I quit cold turkey so any kind of bad habit that somebody might have whether it's smoking or drinking and then they suddenly stop you could say that they quit cold turkey so no it's not your fault you know it's partly my phone cuz I made you quit cold turkey you're right Lisa love isn't about fixing someone I'm just going to give her up cold turkey you need to prove to Tara that you can be trusted cold turkey Jacks no booze no weed I'm serious the world can't just quit on oil and nuclear power or cold turkey you'll dismantle our entire economy overnight so there you have it those are some great idioms that you can use in everyday conversation they are all related to the fall but you can use them in a variety of different situations and context you are someone who loves sports then you are definitely going to love this idiom lesson I'm going to teach you some idioms that are related to sports that doesn't mean that you can only use these idioms when talking about sports they can be used in a variety of different situations I'll give you some example sentences as well as show you some videos so you can see how these idioms are used in context so let's begin the first idiom is a tennis idiom and it is the ball is in your court and what this means is that it is up to you it is your responsibility to do something or to make a decision the ball is in your court so example when when you're playing tennis you hit the ball to somebody else and then the ball is in their court it's up to them to act so this can be used in a variety of context it could be used in business in a negotiation for example maybe you make an offer to buy something and then you'd say well okay here's my offer the ball is in your court it is your responsibility to make a decision now or tell me what you want to do and we often use this idiom as just a standalone statement and you would tell somebody you know the ball is in your court now it's up to you the ball's in your court call me back if you want balls in your court I said no would me right back in the driver's seat so the ball is in his court the next idiom is to get off the hook and if if we're talking about hooks you can probably guess that this is a fishing idiom when you're fishing you use a hook to catch the fish so if a fish gets off the hook then they are able to escape danger they're able to escape punishment and that's exactly what this idiom means you are escaping responsibility for something that that you are no longer responsible for this this action that happened that was bad or wrong you are no longer going to get punished for this thing you are able to get off the hook I don't have a choice I guess I'm kind of hoping you'll come back over the rail and me off the hook here so for example when I think of this idiom because I'm a teacher I I think of students that when they don't do their homework and maybe there's a punishment and they're trying to think of an excuse I might tell them and say you know you're you're not going to get off the hook that easy you are not getting off the hook that easy mister and that is a common sentence in which you might hear this idiom being used that you would tell someone you're not going to get off the hook that easy that you you need to be held responsible for for something that happens you're not going to have it completely removed you're going to have to suffer the consequences a little bit you're not going to get off the hook that easy then we have a baseball idiom go to bat for someone to go to bat for someone means just to to defend somebody so in baseball when you go to bat for another player player that that you're basically helping that person out they don't have to bat because you're going to do it for them you're going to help that person you are going to defend them just go to bat for them I'm tired of going to bat for you and your show I want to thank you for going to bat for me last week next is a hunting idiom and this idiom I is used quite often and it is to give it your best shot and often people would just say it as a sentence and just say give it your best shot and just means that you should just try your hardest do your best so when you're hunting even though I'm not a hunter you are shooting something and you want to give it your best shot you tell people this all the time whether they're doing sports or or business you would tell them and encourage them and say give it your best shot I'll go ahead and give it your best shot come on then Nigel give it your best shots okay o Conor Give Me Your Best Shot so for example I would tell you guys this if you're thinking that learning English is too difficult I don't know if I could do it I would encourage you and say you know give it your best shot just try your best that's all that we're asking you do give it your best shot next is an idiom that comes from horse racing and that is the home stretch and if you're talking about the home stretch you're talking about the end so when talking about horse racing at the the end of the race you might hear somebody say the horses are coming down the home stretch they're getting close to the end and you can use this when you are getting close to the end of something specifically when you're about to complete something or finish something so with this lesson uh I'm just about halfway through it I'm not quite in the home stretch just yet we're almost done home stretch this is the home stretch all we got to do is focus ain't tough you're in the home stretch next is a golf idiom and that is not up to par so in golf you you have a score that you try to get for each hole and if you match that score then that would be par so that's your the average score that's what you want to do if somebody's not up to par then that just means that they're not good enough to do a a job or a position and you you just don't have the skills or abilities to do something and somebody might say you know uh yeah it's you know this work it it's not up to par so if I'm not up to a par performance-wise Jim this isn't exactly a Turn on there's a thing called proposition 48 says that if your grades aren't up to par and take the SAT if you score 700 or more you can get into college I hope these video lessons are are definitely up to par for for you guys I hope so next is a boxing idiom to throw in the towel and in boxing if somebody throws in the towel then that just means they give up the match is over and that's exactly what it means to give up something so if you're tired of doing something you don't want to do it anymore you'd say you know I'm I'm just going to throw in the towel I'm done I give up or you might hear it being used that somebody's you know they're trying to encourage you and tell you not to give up and they'd say don't throw in the towel don't throw in the towel just yet keep going keep working hard they're throwing in the towel he says once the debts are paid there would't be too much left round after round I kept getting franker to patch me up he's talking about throwing in a towel but he ain't my manager he can't throw in nothing maybe it's time to throw in the towel if you guys are thinking you know I'm done learning English it's too difficult I don't want to do it I would tell you don't give up don't throw in the towel just yet and I'm not going to let you off the hook that easy I'm always going to encourage you and tell you to keep going and give it your best shot and I'm just going to keep using these idioms over and over so that you'll remember them let's just keep going we're coming down the home stretch which means we're getting close to the end but don't leave just yet I have some more great idioms for you and this next one is a football idiom it's an American football idiom and I'm sure some of you might be rolling your eyes like H American football nobody watches that but this idiom is a good one and it is blindsided and if somebody is blindsided it just means that they did not see something coming they did not expect this thing to happen you were were blindsided by something so for example somebody might tell you some news that is shocking like oh they're getting a divorce you're like oh my goodness I I was just blindsided by this like you were as blindsided by this as I was I can't believe she blindsided me like this being so nice and and friendly to my face so when you're blindsided it's not really a good thing it's something that you weren't expecting and you would be blindsided by something so we often use it with the preposition by I was blindsided by this thing that was not good and I was surprised I was blindsided then we have a basketball idiom slam dunk this is probably a a phrase that you've heard before especially if you're a basketball fan in basketball a slam dunk is when you take the ball and you slam it and hang on to the Rim Yeah I I can't slam dunk the basketball I can't jump so if something is a slam dunk then it just means it's a sure thing it's easy to do it's easy to accomplish you know that you're going to do this thing and you say well you know it's a slam dunk so you're watching this video right now and I'm thinking like hm I wonder if they're going to hit that like button but I know you know it's a slam dunk it's a sure thing you're going to hit that like button right unless you think this lesson's not up to par it's a slam dunk I hope it's a real slam dunk to me this decision is a slam dunk the next idiom is call the shots this is a Billiards idiom because when you're playing Billiards you you often have to call your shots and point to the pocket where you want to shoot the ball so if somebody calls the shots it it just means they are making the decisions you might often hear this idiom in business because there there's a hierarchy of people from the boss the manager and then you and and your boss would call the shots they would be making the decisions I call the shots I do what I want to do so you're calling the shots now huh I'm was going to see nothing but the bench this year you ain't calling the shots You'll Play so I'm a bit curious if you knew some of these idioms already I hope that you weren't completely blindsided by these idioms and I hope that you can go on to use them and try to use them and give it your best shot right now we're going to walk right out that door and I'm going to find some super useful and common idioms to help you improve your fluency let's go today I am out and about I'm outside and I'm going to try to find some different idioms to help you improve your overall fluency so let's just go let's go let's get out of here second I should probably take you with me and the camera here we go so here we have some bushes and the next uh idiom that I want to teach you is to beat around the bush and what it means if somebody is beating around the bush it just means that uh let me have a seat real quick it means that somebody is not speaking directly or they're speaking indirectly so instead of saying what's on their mind instead of just saying it straightforward they beat around the bush and they kind of maybe give you Clues and sometimes the reason you do this and you don't say things directly is because you're trying not to upset someone and I think this is very common in certain environments like work or home if you're talking to a colleague and you don't want to upset them and you have some news that you need to tell them you might beat around the bush or at home something happens and it's bad news and you don't want to tell your mother father husband wife you might uh beat around the bush instead of just coming right out and saying it directly so I think this is something that well I think a lot of us do it uh some of us I think are very direct and we don't beat around the bush but I think a common way this idiom is used is somebody is speaking indirectly and the other person would say stop beating around the bush just tell me tell me what you have to say stop beating around the bush please I will never beat around the bush like that in have a seat I'm not going to beat around the bush here will you don't have to beat around the bush I know exactly what you're getting at another great idiom is to bark up the wrong tree and what this means is that you're trying to tell someone that they're making a mistake that whatever they're saying or doing is wrong and it's almost like you know what the the right answer is or what this person should be doing and they're making a mistake and you could tell them look you're barking up the wrong tree th this is a mistake you shouldn't be barking up this tree you you should be barking up that tree over there I've got my BDI on you you're barking up the wrong tree and there's heaven but who's that confucious boy have I been barking up the wrong tree so you can see right behind me here is the river and a river well a river will flow so the next idiom that I have for you is to go with the flow and what this means if you say well I'm going to go with the flow it means that you are going to accept a situation and kind of relax you're not going to try to to change things you're just you're just going to go with the flow so I think this is a a great idiom that can be used if somebody might be asking well what are you going to do you're going to enter a situation and what what's your reaction going to be and say well I'm just going to go with the flow I'm not going to try to control things I'm going to relax I'm going to see what everybody body else is doing and I'm just going to accept what is going on I'm going to go with the flow when I'm traveling especially with a group of people and everybody maybe they want to do different things I like to just go with the flow but you know what we're not going to rush this time we're just going to go with the flow so you're on board now yeah I just go with the flow a good fighter needs to know how to improvise to go with the flow oh I don't care you know me I just go with the flow all right so let me show you this right here here is a bud all right and that's going to help you understand the next idiom which is to nip something in the bud so if you think of like um well like a flower like we're looking at right now before a flower blossoms it it's in these the bud and then the bud will Blossom so to nip something in the bud is to stop something at an early stage and you're stopping it before it becomes established and most of the time you're going to use it and say okay you know the situation you know what you need to stop and you might say we need to nip this in the bud we need to stop it we need to stop something at this early stage before it develops before it grows before it becomes a thing something that's established and then you cannot stop it anymore and you want to nip it in the bud I never should have let her do this Max from thinking in the first place going to nip this thing in the bud is going to make a public apology tomorrow on hard ball yeah I I got to nip this in the bud this has catastrophe written all over it and you can expect the same thing from everyone in this office if you don't nip this whole Employee of the Month situation in the bud so the next one that I have for you it's actually an expression and that is to knock on wood and if somebody says this it means that they are just hoping for good luck to happen and you could say it to somebody else El and just say you know knock on wood and actually I don't know if this is real wood but you you will hear this quite often if you want to well wish someone luck or hope that they have good luck for a performance or a test or basically anything and you just say you know knock on wood or maybe you want to you're you want to give hope to yourself for something you're getting ready to do so I I I wish for the best I hope I do well knock on wood actually this would be my first Fay into trial process I haven't had to go to court yet KN on wood let him see he's not the only one who builds solid houses you know I think you'll be pretty impressed knock on wood so all along right here these are well these are rocks actually they're kind of like uh they're more like pebbles but it really has to do with the the next uh idiom that I want to teach you and that is if you say that someone is living under a rock and if somebody says this if you hear it it means that if somebody has been living under a rock it means that this person is ignorant to something that is well known that there is some event something is happening that you think everybody should know about and if somebody says well I don't know about this thing then you could ask like whoa what's wrong with you have you been living under a rock so if you hear this expression it means that yeah they're referring to somebody who is ignorant to some news some information that is very well known that you think everybody should know about to be living under a rock they all work together God have you been living under a rock no David geta have I been living under a rock yeah that song Is My Jam hi am the Beast Master from the movie Beast Master what rock have you been living under this what have you been living under a rock this is the new meme cat breed Taylor Swift reporting so we're outside having a little bit of a picnic right now and you can see that that this right here is grass uh there's there's quite a bit of it and I have it's it's actually not an idiom it's a a phrase that I want to teach you and that is Grassroots because I think this is a very useful uh phrase to know and especially it's something you may hear if you're listening to the news and what it means is it's talking about the the basic level of some activity or organization or even some cause and I think I think that's how uh people use it quite often if you're talking about some Grassroots campaign and it's happening at the most basic level um people getting informed people becoming motivated to create some change and you could say that their their campaign it's it's Grassroots it's happening at that basic level so I wanted to teach you that phrase because well we're outside and there's plenty of grass the Tea Party presents itself as a Grassroots movement uh which means it should be fiercely resistant to central control I understand that Grassroots activism actually runs in your family so I opted for a more Grassroots approach to get the word out so I'm not going to beat around the bush those are all the idioms I have for you this lesson and I hope you learn some new ones if you did please hit that like button we are now going to play in these fountains right here thank you guys so much for watching and I will see you next time do you love idioms today we're talking about love idioms today we'll talk to you about 10 love idioms and these are idioms that don't necessarily have the word love in them but they are used to describe love and relationships so the first love idiom is to fancy someone and this is most mostly use in British English and it means to like someone and their company so it's not just to like someone but to enjoy spending time with them so if you enjoy spending time with someone and you really like them you would say that you fancy them you fancy that person the couple is on their first date it seems like they fancy each other number two is to fall for someone and to fall for someone means to develop romantic feelings for someone over a period of time it could be a short period of time or it could be a long period of time but that's how you say that you fall for someone I fell for West when we first started working together so number three is head over heels in love with someone so this one can be either head over heels in love or just head over heels and it just means completely and deeply in love with someone when some somebody's head over heels in love with someone else they cannot think of any other person this is the only person on their mind it's all that you think about you're very very very very into this person so you would say that you're Head Over Heels he felt head of our heels in love with her and they got married within a month number four is lydy have you heard this one before lovey doy I hear it quite a bit and it's uh kind of a way that people act it really describes how people act and how people are so you can say that two people act very lovey-dovey with each other uh that means that they're very affectionate and they really show their affection towards each other but very strongly very much and sometimes it's more viewed as a negative thing like H they're so lovey-dovey it can be almost a little too much but it's an act it's how you act towards each other they're so cute together and they're so lovey-dovey [Music] number five to be smitten it means to be strongly attracted to someone it's almost like you were smacked by love and now you're super in love with this person or very very attracted to them he is smitten with her [Music] smile number six to get hitched this is used quite a bit and it means to get married to get hitched to get married Wes and I got hitched in New York at the [Music] courthouse number seven to tie the knot this is another one that's just a synonym for uh to get hitched so it also means to get married to tie the knot my parents tied the knot in a beautiful Church number eight to go through a bit of a rough patch now this can be used as to go through a bit of a rough patch or to just go through a rough patch what it means is when a couple is having trouble a period of of problems in their lives you know something goes bad and then they're constantly fighting or arguing or they just have some issues we're saying that they're going through a rough patch or a bit of a rough patch this usually means when you say that that the period is finite and that things are going to get better they're going through a bit of a rough patch right now but they'll be okay number nine double date double date means an activity that two couples do together so it can really mean any kind of activity but many times it just means like a date like going some somewhere to a picnic or to the movies or to a bar just two couples hanging out with each other it's a double date my parents always went on double dates with my aunt and uncle because all four of them were best friends and finally number 10 on the rocks on the Rocks is a relationship experiencing difficulties and is likely to fail on the Rocks doesn't necessarily have to describe a relationship between a couple but it can really be used to describe any kind of relationship like if you don't get along with your mother or your father you can say that your relationship with them is on the Rocks the man is sad because the relationship with his son is on the Rocks let's talk about some weird weird and strange idioms in English and an idiom is a fixed set of words that have a particular meaning that's very different than the meaning of the individual words so if I say something is a piece of cake many of you may be familiar with this idiom I'm not talking about food I'm just saying that something is easy and that is also it's a bit of a strange idiom as well let's begin with our first idiom which is pardon my friend French so this is a phrase that is used to apologize for some offensive language if you say some a word that is bad you would then follow it with this idiom and you might say pardon my French if you were to say like this is pardon my French it's almost like you're you're trying to say that the bad word is part of another language but this idiom is used in a really a specific context if you're talking to another person or perhaps a group of people and you kind of want to to show respect and you want to be polite but for some reason you really need to say this bad word that use this offensive language so you would follow it with pardon my French it's like you're trying to say that well hey this is not the way I normally speak I usually I do not use this language and you would say something that might be offensive and then follow it with pardon my French yeah this is not to say I don't get a ration of in every conversation pardon my French pardon my French today's been gosh dang sugar show the fact is the industry is all of us by the balls pardon my French your honor then we have to weasel out of something and I like this idiom because well I like idioms that have animals in them and to weasel out of something it means you're trying to avoid something by being dishonest and I think we could all relate to this idiom if you have some housework to do I know that I have housework that I have to do sometimes my wife might ask me to do something and I'm like well wait I got I got to go somewhere I'll be right back and yeah I try to weasel out of doing the housework I think again we can all relate to this one to weasel out of something hey stroker 10 bucks for the cage don't weasel out on me I'd be taking an even bigger risk I didn't hand this to you personally you're not going to weasel out of my deal again if you can weasel me out of this physical I will blow your mind by doing something incredibly holy at some point amen hold your horses this is well I think this is actually probably one of the more common idioms and it just means that you're you're telling somebody to be patient to wait a moment calm down relax hold your horses and I it is a very strange idiom because I have no idea how hold your horses somehow became be patient but that's the way it is so this is good idiom if you want to use it and tell somebody hey just be patient just calm down wait a second hold your horses hold your horses I'm coming well apparently it is cuz you know this is taking forever it's forever hold your horses this is disch in yeah hold your horses down in front come on sweetie hold your horses buddy the next strange idiom is pot calling the kettle black and this idiom is used to point out uh hypocrisy so if there's a situation and you're you're trying to point out this hypocrisy you would just say that that statement you'd say well that's that's the pot calling the kettle black so to to help give you a little more context and meaning say that you are trying to weasel out of something and I tell you like hey you should not avoid this you should do it you should not try to weasel out of it and then later on you you learn that I am also trying to maybe weasel out of the same thing or something else and then you would tell me you point out that hypocrisy and you would say well that's the pot calling the kettle black why don't you go put some clothes on well isn't that the pot calling the kettle black or African-American suddenly she's thinking of filing a restraining order well isn't thought the pot calling the kettle black drinking while at school is just stupid and most importantly any of guys drinking at all is illegal it's a fair amount of the pot calling the kettle black then we have kitten Kaboodle and this this weird idiom means well the whole group uh of something of people the the entire amount all of something and I think people would use this maybe to to give emphasis when you tell somebody that you want well everything I want it all I want the whole kitten Kaboodle that' be that's the whole kitten Kaboodle catch you Ladi last week my stock was worth twice what it is now I'm thinking about getting out in a whole kitten kabo L it boys I see a vast Improvement not too late to change your mind lot of good cups want to drop the whole kitten cool who wouldn't then we have tongue and cheek and this idiom yeah it's really it's the meaning is very different than those individual words because this idiom means that you are just not being serious you're making a joke but maybe you're you're saying it in a serious way like you're being sarcastic and you could say that well it's just a little tongue and Chic and I think often you might hear people use it in that way they're telling somebody else they're explaining that they're just joking that they're being sarcastic and you would say yeah it's just it's just a little tongue-in cheek after he was threatened by a group that somewhat tongue-in Chic called itself the gay we know you're as straight as an Oklahoma Highway seems like kind of an opportunity missed would have been funny well I I feel that they were just trying to be tongue-in-cheek ah a winky face I guess that could be helpful if I'm saying something tongue-in cheek here is a very weird idiom and that is wet behind the ears and it has a pretty well straightforward meaning if you would describe somebody as wet behind the ears you're basically saying that they're inexperienced and I don't know well I don't know how this came about that wet behind the ears became somebody who's inexperienced but it's it's good to know and I could say that yeah when I first started making these video lessons I was wet behind the ears I felt a little uncomfortable being in front of a camera the the quality of the videos were not that great and yeah it because I was wet behind the ears you graduated 6 years ago so you're 27 28 yeah why you don't look at thank God my last assistant was only 23 and still wet behind the ears in fact even you and some wet behind the ears FBI agent decided to put some informant in my cartel next is gungho and if you say that you are gungho it means you're very excited and eager to do something I am always gung-ho to teach you guys new English lessons each week especially ones that help you build your vocabulary that is something that I am gung-ho about and I hope that you are gung-ho to hit that like button why don't you let your new assistant take all this down wow you were gung-ho you're getting a new assistant we were all pretty happy when Jeff came around he became really gung-ho about abid's documentary yes his arm is paralyzed yes his legs are paralyzed why is everyone so gung-ho to connect those two conditions then we have a very weird idiom which is mind your p's and q's and I I in my opinion I think this idiom is perhaps a bit older it's not one that I have heard in quite some time and what it means if somebody tells you to mind your Ps and q's they're really telling you to mind your manners to be careful about the way that you behave and I I think people might use it more often if you're talking to somebody perhaps a child or somebody who's just really being very immature you could tell them to to M their p's and q's that's right Capital City toi and former member of the Soviet Union and we kindly request y'all mind your pe's and q's now I want everybody to mind their p's and q's that means no effing and jeffin the next idiom is a bull in a china shop and often you you would say that perhaps you're talking about a person and you would say that someone is like a bull in a china shop and what that means is that this person is not really careful in the way that they move around or even behave and the idiom if you think about it it it makes sense because if you have a china shop China it's very uh very fragile very delicate a bull is not the animal that you would want to have in a china shop because everything's going to break so in a way it's almost like you're saying that somebody is just not delicate in a particular in handling a particular situation and you could say that that they were acting like a bull in a china shop like an elephant in a china shop in China shop anyhow hey I am Kurt get out now get out bow in China shop out of my house my temple this is why I come to find peace dog you're coming in here like an emotional bull in a china shop then we have this strange idiom to bite the dust and I really like this idiom because I am a fan of Queen and they have a famous song called Another One Bites the Dust and if you say that someone or something Bites the Dust it means well to die to come to an end or to fail so if you don't succeed at whatever you were attempting to do you could tell somebody yeah like I I was trying to to jump over this on my bike and I just bit the dust I did not succeed I failed or if you want to talk about well something dying probably more common you would refer to uh maybe an insect as opposed to a person because you don't want to talk about people that way you don't want to act like a bull in a china shop you want to be a little more caring but if we're talking about like a mosquito and you kill a mosquito then yes that mosquito bit the dust it means his current relationship is about ready to bite the dust hard ass counselors bullies all bite the dust but Timmy Still Standing I'm laughing because yeah this next idiom I think is very strange I have no idea where it came from but Bob's your uncle and this idiom you make may hear it in the US from time to time but I think it's more common in the UK and Ireland and what it means is it's really just a way of saying well there it is it's done that's it and often I think people would use it after giving a set of instructions you're telling somebody to do something and then once you're finished telling them what to do you could just end it with Bob your uncle sit down big smiles plant the bug underneath the table easy peasy Japanese Bobs your uncle that's say so I I could give you guys some instructions and say you know first watch this entire lesson second hit that like button third write to me in the comments and Bob's your uncle there you have it it's done it's over Bob's your uncle to you like shopping like I do cuz if you do I have some new shopping idioms for you and because this is a very very common subject you are going to hear these idioms all the time so what I'm going to do is I'll give you the idioms a little bit of an explanation of how and when they're used and then an example sentence so let's get to it our first idiom is window shopping to Window Shop means to just look in the window of a store without buying anything and just kind of look and see what what is there and this is probably the one I like the least and uh the reason is because when you window shop for something you don't actually shop you don't actually go inside the store store and and buy stuff you just look which I guess it can be fun sometimes but most of the time I think it's more fun when you actually buy things we've got a lot of window shopping to do plus this is the perfect time to catch up on my window shopping I'm very well aware that there are many people who like to Window Shop and I the only thing I like to window shop for is I think like furniture and interior design stuff that can be kind of fun it gives me ideas I like to window shop for antiques so how about you what do you like to window shop for do you like it is it annoying what do you think the next IDM is ripoff a ripoff and this is used as a noun or a verb so something can be a ripoff or somebody can rip you off and either way it's not a good thing because when something is a ripoff it means that it costs way more than it should way more what what a ripoff I got ripped off a ripoff is kind of kind of an informal way to say that um somebody's stealing from you so if something's a ripoff you almost feel like somebody was trying to steal money from you that's that's how much you're paying for this particular item it's a ripoff $4 for an avocado that's a ripoff the next idiom is shop till you drop you may have heard this one uh I I hear it in movies all the time everyone always talks about how they like to shop till they drop I think it's a it's a catchy IDM because it Rhymes it it just means to shop for a really really long time until you become exhausted so if you have ever shopped till you drop you know that feeling of the end of your shopping day when you're just like tired and ready to take a nap or something at Christmas time I usually shop till I drop for the perfect gifts the next EDM is retail therapy or shopping therapy you could say either one they mean the same thing what this means is to shop to make yourself feel better so just kind of like what it sounds like this is just something that we do if we've had a bad day or if we've had a rough time sometimes we just need a little retail therapy or shopping therapy I had a bad day at work so I did a little retail therapy on my way home the next one is bargain hunting and when you Bargain Hunt you are looking for deals that is what a bargain is is a deal so bargain hunting means actively searching for really really good deals on things that you shop for anyway now we are going bargain hunting I'm not going to blow this by bargain hunting I like finding good deals but I don't think I have the patience to always go bargain hunting my mom loves to go bargain hunting on Black Friday the next idiom is to shoplift and this is a little bit of a bad one because you know it involves a CME which is never good to shoplift means to steal something from a store you shoplift you take it and hide it and walk out with it without paying for it it's not a good thing don't don't shoplift the girl shoplifted some candy from the store fit like a glove is our next idiom and we usually use it for clothes or some kind of article of clothing because when something fits like a glove it means it fits you perfectly it looks like it was meant for your body and you know it's the perfect size the perfect shape for you fits like a glove 68 years since I wore this uniform still fits me like a glove and everyone loves to find something that fits like a glove it makes us feel great I love my new shoes they fit like a glove our next stum is like a bull in a china shop I know it sounds like a mouthful but it's it's it's going to a very specific idiom what it is it's kind of what you imagine it to be so if you imagine a bull in a china shop you know it would destroy everything so because everything is breakable it's porcelain so it would break you know I'm obviously going to have to go talk to bowl in a china shop you're coming in here like an emotional bull in a china shop the idiom kind of means the same thing if somebody behaves like a bull in a china shop they are acting recklessly they are acting clumsily they they are causing trouble he marched into the meeting like a bull in a china shop our next idium is a shopping spree and the shopping spree is kind of a short period of time in which somebody buys a lot of things the word spree it just means kind of a short period of time and it kind of shows like a lot of things that are happening in a short period of time when I got pregnant I went on a shopping spree for baby clothes our next DM is pay through the nose and this one's really funny for me for some reason just imagine taking out money out of our noses it's actually not that funny in real life because when you pay through the nose it means you end up paying a lot of money for something usually more than the fair price make them pay through the nose fact they'll pay through the nose for it so it's it's not really a a fair price that you're paying you're paying a lot more than that so it's not such a good thing we waited until the last moment to get our plane tickets so we had to pay through the nose I'm going to teach you some very common and useful American idioms and expressions that you might hear if you are talking to somebody who is from the United States or maybe you can use some of these if you plan to visit the US so believe me when I tell you that this lesson it's going to be a piece of cake and that is actually the first idiom that I want to teach you many of you are are probably familiar with this I wanted to start with something a little easier and and then it'll get a bit more challenging but if we say that something is a piece of cake it just means that something is very easy so I told you that this lesson it's going to be a piece of cake I'm going to teach you these idioms and expressions and after I explain them and tell you how to use them I I think that you will have a better understanding and like I said it's just going to improve your overall fluency so this lesson it's a piece of cake what's the sound of one hand clapping piece of cake oh Bart it's a 3,000-year-old riddle with no answer and every task you undertake becomes a piece of cake what about a race based on Merit right each person individually mhm piece of cake then we have the phrase run late or run behind and they they both mean the same thing it just means to be late for something now I I guess I could say that I use this phrase quite often and I would tell people that that I'm running late and I I would use it often because yes I am sometimes late for appointments or if I'm going to meet somebody but I would call ahead and tell them hey you know don't worry I'm I'm just running a little late so in that case I think it also implies that you are on your way to to get somewhere or if you're talking about about perhaps like a project and you say you tell your boss you know I'm running a little behind you're telling them that it it may be late but that you're working on it so again this is a great expression I think uh especially if you were somebody who who tends to be late for things you could just tell somebody hey you know I'm running a little late but I will be there it's only four blocks but they are so slow I'm running late too we're running late H we're always running late we're running a little behind schedule hi sorry I'm late I've been running behind om then we have the expression to get the hang of something and this just means to learn something that's not quite obvious so for example I think often you would use this when talking about some type of game or activity you're trying to learn it and and get a little bit better at it and in that case you could you could tell somebody you know I'm I'm starting to get the hang of this I'm starting to feel a little more comfortable I understand it a little bit better and I'm starting to get the hang of it one thing I would like to point out with this expression is that it is often going to end with that pronoun it so in that case it's almost like you know what it is you know the game or activity that somebody is talking about and if you're trying to learn it a little bit better then you're trying to get the hang of it or starting to get the hang of it or you could say he he is getting the hang of it but you know the activity so it's often going to end with that pronoun it don't worry you'll get the hang of it you're going to get the hang of it we'll help you how's he doing haven't quite gotten the hang of it yet then we have the phrase all set and this just means that that you are ready and you are everything is in order so it's something that maybe you could ask to somebody if you want to know if they're ready and you could say Hey you know all set or you could tell somebody if you want to say that you are organized you're prepared and you are ready to go and you'd say you know I'm I'm all set we're all set we are ready we're organized we're prepared you could also say just to throw in another expression good to go it means the same thing if somebody says you know I'm good to go that means that they are ready they're all set ready ready all set okay we're all set let rip is it okay if I put out some candy that Pam brought back from Puerto Rico sure thanks for asking Pam we're all set let me know what you got El good to go weapons good to go you're good to go then we have the expression to sound like a broken record and it really means well kind of exactly what it says and that is that somebody is just repeating something again and again especially when it's not really necessary and you would say to another person like oh you know you sound like a broken record you just keep repeating repeating the same thing again and again and again especially when you don't want to hear it then you could use this expression and say that someone sounds like a broken record I hope that I don't sound like a broken record because I do I tend to repeat things again and again so so that you have a better understanding of all of these idioms and expressions because I just I just want you to get the hang of it you know I know I sound like a broken record we are buddies you're going to murder me like you murder my father you people sound like a broken record baby baby baby you sound like a broken record next is the phrase pitch in and this just means that you start doing something as a group especially something that is helpful so if you are working with a group of people maybe a team you want everyone to pitch in you want everyone to do some work the something that's helpful for the group or the team and in that case you want everyone to pitch in in but it's used in in that context that you might ask someone who may not be helping and you would tell them to pitch in or say you need to pitch in but it is to to do something that's helpful everyone here has a job we all pitch in glad he could pitch in he needs all the help he can get by the way if you need help with that I'm more than happy to pitch in then we have the idiom to blow off some steam and this just means to to do something or to say something that helps you get rid of of some energy often some some negative energy that if you're you're angry or upset you might try to perhaps you go for a run and you just want to blow off some steam you just want to want to get rid of that energy so you could use it when talking about a a an activity that you do something physical in order to blow off some steam or maybe it's something that you you say to someone perhaps you even might yell at someone and you're just you're trying to blow off some steam time to thing no let him go he needs to blow off some steam I've never seen him like that give the big lug a break even he needs to blow off some steam been working so hard this semester really need to go crazy you know blow off some steam you still seem stressed you want to blow up some steam then we have the expression it's not rocket science so this is a St statement that somebody would would say to another person if they want to express that something is not really difficult and it's it should be easy to understand and you'd say no look it's not rocket science the listen for this if you're watching a TV show or movie because again if somebody wants to say that like look this is not difficult they might tell somebody you know it's not rocket science so I would tell you guys you know learning these idioms and expressions it's not rocket science I think it's a piece of cake and if you just keep practicing a little bit each and every day then you're really going to get the hang of it caller apologize it's not rocket science I mean fixing your hair is not exactly rocket science because I don't want to go by myself Barb it's not rocket science you just tell your parents you're going to stay at my place afterwards then we have the expression to table something and this just means to postpone a discussion until a later time and often I think it might be used in business perhaps you're having a meeting with a group of people and and you have a list of items that you're going to go through but you want to discuss one of them at a later time you might say you know let's let's table this item for right now and then we will discuss it later so you could table some item if it's on an agenda or maybe you could just table some discussion and you will talk about it at a later time to table something suppose that we table this discussion until let's say the second nope is gone I I think what the Dan is trying to say is uh there'll be time to talk about that we can table that for a later date what is your job exactly besides making balloon animals protecting your reality okay guys can we can we table this discussion right now the fact is is that we have this stuff next is the idiom to jump on the bandwagon and this just means to start supporting something or to even start doing something because it's trendy or fashionable often I I think I would use this ium uh when talking about sports that if there is a sport team that just suddenly started winning and then everybody they they like this team all of a sudden they're they're a huge fan then you could say look you know uh he he just jumped on the bandwagon he only likes the team because everybody else does he's supporting this team he jumped on the bandwagon of course this has happened to me if I'm living somewhere and then that that city has a sports team they become really great yeah I jump on the bandwagon everything's echo-friendly this echo-friendly that I just haven't jumped on the bandwagon yet millions of people got on the anti- Denmark bandwagon show me some kind of kindness not jumping on the let's get me family bandwagon let's stick with sports for right now because the next expression is to sit in the nose bed or you could say to sit in the nose bed section and what this refers to is that you are sitting in seats that are that are very high up at the the very top of a stadium and you're very far away from all of the action because you're so high up there you are sitting in the nose bed section and the reason why we use this is because if you are at a very high altitude then maybe your nose would start to bleed because of the altitude so if you're high up there in the stadium then you could say you know I'm I'm sitting in the nose bleed section when I jump on the bandwagon and I want want to go see uh a sports team play typically I don't have a ton of money to spend so I have to find the cheapest tickets which are usually high up there in the stadium and I would sit in the nose bed section can you take me to a concert with my new friend Harper sure why not it'll be nose bleeder obstructed view seat but you know what I have a friend uh he's got a couple of seats if uh if you don't mind the nose bed section they're yours no we don't care we just want to go then we have the idiom to fall through the cracks and and this just means to overlook something so if you are perhaps doing some project you don't want to overlook the details you don't want anything to fall through the cracks I need you to be sure that things don't fall through the cracks basically I need you to be more like Dean here you do it every week and you forgot things are falling through the cracks I'm pretty sure you've worn that sweater 4 days in a row this whole uh single parent thing everything is just falling through the cracks so what did I tell you those idioms and expressions piece of cake all right it it's not rocket science and I'm sorry I know that I sound like a broken record because I keep repeating these these same idioms and expressions over and over again I hope you're not upset with me but if you are a little upset and you think you need to blow off some steam then I would suggest that you check out another video Lesson I hope that you enjoy these lessons and that you just you jump on the internet active English bandwagon jump on the interactive English bandwagon and because okay I I can't think of anymore I just trying to review as much as I can thank you guys so much for watching I hope you learn some new idioms and expressions and I will see you next time

Channel: Interactive English

Views: 159,761

Keywords: interactive english, learn english, american english, english idioms, learn english idioms, idiom english lesson, american idioms, learn american idioms, advanced idioms, learn idioms in english, common idioms in the us, useful english idioms, learn advanced idioms, difficult english idioms, learn american english, english vocabulary, build vocabulary, common english idioms, common idioms, english idiom lesson, english idioms and phrases, idioms, idioms and phrases, idiom

Id: RNc3CDY0nnk

Length: 63min 41sec (3821 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 25 2023