10 British Idioms in 10 Minutes

Guys welcome, if you haven't met me before I'm Tom the English hipster and I teach real natural British English. What do you think of my flags? Pretty cool right? The reason why I've got them is because today I'm going to teach you guys ten idioms that are going to make you sound totally British. I'm talking like Emma Watson Harry Styles if you want to sound like them then you're in the right place. Possibly the most British idiom of all is not my cup of tea. So if something is not your cup of tea it means that you don't like it or it's the kind of thing that you don't like doing. So for example you might say swimming is not really my cup of tea swimming is not really my cup of tea and that just means that you don't like doing it. Maybe you prefer running or doing other things but swimming you don't like doing it so it's not my cup of tea. We often use it in response to the question 'do you like?' so 'do you like running?' 'it's not really my cup of tea' and that just means I don't like doing it. So good If something is a piece of cake it is easy to do not a problem not difficult at all. So obviously for you guys learning English is a piece of cake right okay maybe not learning English I know it can be difficult but maybe you you did an exam and it was an easy exam So you come out of it you tell your friend ah that was a piece of cake and that just means that was really easy I might say I I passed my driving test I it was a piece of cake it was really easy. So something is a piece of cake it's really easy. I love love love this idiom this one is to go pear-shaped and it means that if a plan goes pear-shaped it fails it goes wrong it's a disaster. So for example and maybe I planned to do a Facebook live lesson for you guys and then there's no Wi-Fi, my phone breaks, someone calls on the phone then the Facebook life lesson goes pear-shaped okay it goes wrong I wasn't successful okay so to go pear-shaped is such a great British idiom. Maybe I'm planning a weekend away with my family and then I get sick, I get ill, and maybe the car breaks down it goes pear-shaped so the weekend went pear-shaped. Brilliant idiom sounds so British see if you can use it in a sentence in the comments below. For donkey years this is a great phrase now for donkey's years means a very long time it doesn't specific time not exactly 20 years or a hundred years or two weeks there's no set time it just means a long time so I could say I haven't seen you in donkey's years and that means I haven't seen you for a long time or I haven't been to the gym for donkey's years I haven't been to the gym for donkey's years and again that just means I haven't been for a long time again in your language what do you say do you have a similar idiom is it for horses years or for four counties whatever it is let me know in the comment below two idioms for one here the first one across the pond now here the pond usually it's a small amount of water in this idiom it means the Atlantic Ocean either side of the Atlantic Ocean we have Britain and we have the United States so in Britain when we talk about across the pond we are talking about in America in the United States and then if you're in the United States and they're saying across the pond it means in Britain for example if I was in Britain and I said Harry Styles is really popular across the pond that means that Harry Styles is really popular in America in addition we say down under to mean Australia because I guess we think that they're the other side of the world so they're then down there somewhere so if you're saying I it's really hot down under it means it's really hot in Australia or Harry Styles is really popular down under it means Harry Styles is popular in Australia I don't know what they say for us I put up and over I don't know so nice idiom here cheap as chips it just means something is really cheap okay so opposite of expensive cheap and so on myself I love your jacket how much did it cost is that is cheap as chips just means it's really cheap I guess because chips are quite cheap here so it's just cheap as chips maybe in other countries is cheaper something else let me know in the comments below if you have a similar phrase it's as cheap as so cheap as I don't know something else apples or cheap as mangoes or whatever it might be let me know in the comments below I'd love to hear what your idiom is for the same phrase so if something is really cheap what do you say in an India mastic form this is a fun one pardon my french or excuse my french so if you say pardon my french it's because you used or you are going to use a rude word now obviously I know you guys don't use rude words and neither do i of course pardon my french but that guy is a real and inside and in selling so you can have a lot of fun with it but remember you know I don't use bad language I hope you don't need to use bad language either we can we can communicate without using bad words this next phrase to do a run so this means to leave a place or a situation to avoid something unpleasant commonly it's used maybe to describe leaving a restaurant without paying ok so maybe at the end of the red at the end you get your bill and you just leave without paying not very cool but this is to do a runner to avoid a situation by leaving very quickly very hastily is not usually very cool to do a runner but yes I think in a restaurant is probably the context that we do we use it most so I've never done a runner there we are that's the example sentence I've never done a runner from a restaurant means I've never left without paying I promise I promise I love this idiom it she feeds so itchy is that feeling that we get maybe when a mosquito bites us and then oh it's very itchy you want to scratch it so that's the ceiling it she feet but it doesn't have the same meaning each she feeds has a totally different meaning it means that you want to do something different or go somewhere different than where you are now so often we feel it maybe and when we are in one place and we want to go somewhere different so for example when I when I'm in London I love being here but I also want to go and travel somewhere else somewhere new go to a beach in Thailand or go to walk around the city of Rome or Barcelona or Venice or something so it's that feeling of wanting to go somewhere different or do something different you can't do something to save your life can't do something to save your life this is a great phrase really natural so if you can't do something to save your life it's a very exaggerated way to say that you are rubbish at doing it you're not very good at doing it let me give you an example I am a terrible drawer I cannot draw it I when I try to draw fingers and it looks like big potatoes it's a disaster so I would say I can't draw to save my life I can't draw to save my life and that just means I'm rubbish at drawing I'm not very good at drawing this is a great phrase I can't do something to save my life so another example and I can't speak French to say in my life I learned French for six years something like that and I'm terrible it's embarrassing just read digitally which I think means I'm sorry I think so I can't speak French to save my life just means I'm terrible at speaking French guys have I left any British English idioms out which ones have I forgotten please let me know in the comments below and you can also teach your other EC dreamers as well thank you so much for hanging out any guys remember to subscribe to my channel hit the like button share this with anyone that you know that's learning English and let's help as many people as we can learn English together thank you so much for hanging out with me this is Tom the English hipster saying goodbye it's so good good cup of tea honestly a good cup of tea you just makes everything all right in the world you just feel calm relaxed all your worries disappear so good kids you

Channel: Eat Sleep Dream English

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Keywords: british english, common english expressions, british expressions, learn english, idioms, british idioms, 10 british idioms in 10 minutes, british english lesson, language, learn british english, idiom, vocabulary, british accent, english teacher, english vocabulary, accent, speak english, free english lessons, english expressions, learning, expressions in english

Id: TRwIuoWPCIk

Length: 10min 13sec (613 seconds)

Published: Tue May 30 2017