Useful Idioms in 60 minutes (Build your vocabulary!)

today you are going to learn a lot of idioms and many of these idioms are from the united states which is where i am from my name is wes and the channel is interactive english and if you enjoy learning idioms please subscribe turn on notifications so that way i can become your teacher so i am going to tell you the meaning of the idiom talk about how it's used give you some example sentences and what i've done is i've taken the very best of our idiom lessons and put them together so that you can learn many idioms in just one hour so let's begin today's lesson is all about money i want to talk to you about money this is a very important topic many people out there they love money everybody wants money we we all need money in order to survive so i want to teach you some common idioms and expressions that are all related to money i will tell you the idiom and then talk about the meaning and i'll also try to discuss how you would use this idiom and then finally i'll show you some video clips so that you can see how the idiom or expression is used in context now keep in mind i'm from the united states so some of the idioms may be specific to the u.s however i think that that they are very common and well known that people all over the world from other english-speaking countries will likely understand these idioms and expressions as well so the first idiom are well it's more so it's just a word first word that i have for you and this one i think is more specific to the united states is the word buck it is an informal word and a buck is just talking about a dollar one buck is one dollar now you would use this word i think mostly when talking about smaller amounts of money you're not going to hear people talk about 1 billion bucks that's you know people would use dollars in that case but if you're talking about a small amount of money people may say bucks instead of dollars like hey uh do you have a couple of bucks or can i borrow a few bucks and that's how i think most people would use this word when when they want to say a dollar instead they're just going to say a buck well we gave him a few bucks i mean i only got a couple bucks i made a few bucks okay whatever look if you're hungry man i can own your book it'll be worth a few bucks homer i just want a quick look see pay your buck a bookie then we have to cost an arm and a leg and this just means that well it just means that something is expensive so instead of saying that well this you know th that car it's really expensive you could say wow it cost an arm and a leg i think people would use it when they're describing something that's expensive but i in a way i think they're also saying that they don't think it's worth that much money that it cost too much it should not be that expensive so when you say well something costs an arm and a leg you're you're basically saying that it's too expensive that it should not cost this much money but in general it's just it's just really expensive these lessons they don't cost an arm and a leg they're they're free this is an advanced computer system costs an arm and a leg [Music] cost me an arm and a leg it's got gps navigation 200 watt stereo system question get rid of the old sandwich vending machine in the lobby which costs us an arm and a leg to rent and no one uses it then we have the expression pony up and if you tell someone to pony up you're you're just telling them to pay money and it's it's money that they owe that they should pay and sometimes it may be to settle a debt and you tell this other person like hey okay you need to pony up you need to pay some money so this is a very it's a very informal expression but it's one maybe you would hear somebody use this if you're watching a tv show or a movie and somebody needs to pay money for something and the other person might say hey okay you need to pony up you need to pay your money you need to pony up it's a company party and you're the ceo so pony up no if anyone should pay it should be you this thing with bobby goes to trial we're gonna have pony up some serious upfront cash what you should do is have him sponsor you for the dance ask the manager to pony up a couple hundred bucks yeah ten dollars a dance so if she makes it through twenty dances you need to pony up 200 towards her class trip to dc then we have the expression put your money where your mouth is and this is one of my favorite expressions and it just means that that it could mean a couple of things it could mean that somebody is spending money in order to improve a bad situation that someone needs to put their money where their mouth is or you could say uh that that you are telling somebody that they need to spend money so that that you know that they mean what they say and they're not just talking that instead of just talking talking talking you'd say okay look put your money where your mouth is you need to spend money to show me that you are being serious to to show me that what you're saying is true it is believable put your money where your mouth is and again i i guess i would say that this expression doesn't always have to be talking about money and spending money in another way it's telling somebody to basically well do what you say if you are talking and saying all these things and the other person maybe they don't believe you then they might say look okay let's see put your money where your mouth is let's see if you do what you're saying put your money where your mouth is put your money where your mouth is us it's you ten boots five against five you're gonna have a drink come out for a drink with me and see you as more of a laugh yeah put your money where your mouth is i wouldn't want to get any exhaust on that pretty face that you put your money where your mouth is next is the idiom to make ends meet and this just means that you are earning enough in order to live that you're not you're not making a lot of money and you have all this extra money lying around if you make just enough in order to live then you could say that you are making ends meet or perhaps you may hear somebody say well you know we're just trying to make ends meet we're trying to make enough in order to live to make ends meet would you describe your financial circumstances i was struggling to make ends meet you're a waitress for six years then i could never make ends meet tara and i are trying to buy a house and we're you know struggling to make ends meet she'd put in the in the um bushels and stuff and sell it you know because they had to you know make ends meet and stuff the next expression is to be loaded and loaded it's just an adjective and it's used to describe someone who has a lot of money who is very wealthy you could say this person is loaded he's loaded she's loaded i think well many of us out there we'd like to be loaded because well it's nice if you don't have to worry about money because there there are many of us out there just trying to make ends meet we just want to make enough money although it'd be nice one day to be loaded all right hey travis thank you got that five year old me my man is loading low dead he's loaded is that it the sapersteins are uh the stuff we smashed is worth nothing compared to that thing these guys must be loaded then we have the expression to look like a million bucks now first i i want to tell you that before i said that you don't use the word bucks when talking about a large sum of money except except with this expression to look like a million bucks or you could say to look like a million dollars it means the same thing but when you use this expression you are saying that a person looks very nice they look very elegant and you're talking about most of the time i think it's talking about the way they look the way they're dressed the way they've styled their hair and you could say wow you look like a million bucks this is a it's a way that you can give a compliment to someone so i think you would say this to somebody if there is a very formal event and everybody's getting dressed up and they they come out of the room and you see them for the first time and you could say wow you know you look like a million bucks you look like a million dollars i i like i love it if somebody were to tell me hey wes you know you look like a million bucks it would it would make me feel good and right now i want to tell all of you i have no idea what you're wearing right now but doesn't matter i think you you look like a million bucks you look like a million dollars i just wanted to let you know come on you look great okay he's like you look great look like a million bucks yeah terrific wonderful you look great you look like a million bucks and doug you can i say you look like a million bucks i have never been able to wear that dress because i just couldn't pull it off and now you just look like a million bucks then i have a couple of phrases that mean the same thing and that is shell out and fork over and you can use these interchangeably and it just means to pay for something and you may hear somebody say oh you need to you need to shell out some cash if you want to buy this thing that cost an arm and a leg or you really you need to fork over some money if you want to purchase this thing again you can use these two phrases interchangeably they are very informal so i don't think you're necessarily going to use them all the time in conversational english but try to listen for them the next time you're watching a tv show or watching a movie to shell out to fork over to pay for something he's trying to get big bad dwight to shell out for a huge repair job while lucky jimbo gets a paid vacation yeah he most certainly is people to fork over 80 grand for that well i've been on the phone all afternoon yeah had to shell out five thousand dollars to the break offs next is the expression rags to riches so if you say that somebody went from rags to riches then you are just saying that in the beginning they were very poor and then later on they became very wealthy so you're describing a person's situation over time and you could say that they went from rags to riches or that that they have a story that is rags to riches they were poor and then they became rich rags to riches so what is the secret of this rags-to-riches story here they come now the rags to riches cinderella it's like a true rags to riches story but i've always found the middle class to be just so much more real then we have the idiom bread and butter and if you are talking about somebody's bread and butter then you are just talking about their main source of income and that that would pretty much be somebody's job and for example i could say well you know making these english lessons on youtube it's our bread and butter this is the the primary way we are are trying to make a living right now we're we're making ends meet but hopefully maybe a lot in the future at some point will be loaded and it will be a story of rags to riches i just want to give you a quick little review because i think the more you hear these idioms and expressions being used the more likely you are to remember their meaning so if we're talking about bread and butter specifically you're talking about the the way what what somebody does to make their living and to make money their bread and butter restoration antiques it's my bread and butter i'm a scientist my ability to think is my bread and butter then we have foot the bill and to foot the bill just means to pay for something you are paying for some bill when i think of of this idiom being used i think it's often used to describe a situation in which someone else might be paying for this thing someone else is footing the bill you could use it where if talking about yourself that you're trying to pay for this but i think quite often it's used when you're you're referring to another person paying for this thing so for example maybe if uh the next lesson i show up with these expensive clothes and i look like a million bucks and you think wait a second i know that that these youtube videos this is wes's that's his bread and butter he's just making ends meet right now i wonder who's footing the bill who's paying for those clothes because they cost an arm and a leg who's footing the bill you would not have to do a thing and felipe will foot the bill you got your money's worth what i foot the bill while you played mother teresa we estimate the damage at 75 and frankly we think it's terribly unfair that other taxpayers should foot the bill next is the idiom break the bank and to break the bank means that you are you try to buy something that really it costs too much and you cannot afford it and you could say that well it's going to break the bank you will go into debt because this thing costs too much cost an arm and a leg you can't afford it and it's gonna break the bank or maybe you're trying to tell someone that well hey don't worry i can afford this it's not going to break the bank so you may hear this idiom being used in either the affirmative or the negative so in the affirmative you'd say well it's going to break the bank we can't afford it or if you want to reassure someone that you can afford this thing hey don't worry it's not going to break the bank but to break the bank means that you can't afford it and you will likely go into debt are you looking for a mattress that won't break your back or the bank if you want to be like me you gotta make snap decisions we're going to break the bank at the monty burns casino then we have the word penny pincher it is a a compound noun because this it's talking about a person who really tries to save all their money and they they really just don't like to spend their money and you could say well yeah this person is cheap you could say he is a penny pincher or she is a penny pincher they just really want to save all their money and they don't want to spend anything a penny pincher how can you afford a maid on what i'm overpaying you oh well you see mr pennypinch i i mean you got another job on the side then we have the expression pick up the tab or pick up the check and they mean the same thing and it just means to pay for a bill to pick up the tab or pick up the check often i i think of a restaurant and perhaps at the end of the meal the bill comes and you might say hey don't worry about it i'm gonna pick up the check or i'm gonna pick up the tab i am going to pay for this bill to pick up the tab or pick up the check i'll pick up the check ah okay uh you're gonna pick up the tab yes that's something great pick up the check i'll have to pick up the chats so there you have it those are some great idioms and expressions that are all related to money are in paris the city of lights or the city of arts and culture so today we're going to talk to you about some idioms and expressions that are related to art and culture that's coming up it is a gorgeous day out perfect day to see all the sights of paris [Music] that is the louvre one of the most famous museums in the world [Music] check out this view right here we're the eiffel tower or kind of it's right there so since we are in paris which is a city very well known for its art and culture we're going to talk to you about some expressions and idioms that that have words related to art in them of course so the first expression i want to talk to you about is to paint yourself into a corner and when somebody paints themselves into a corner that just means that they are put into a situation where there is no or there are very few good outcomes and they are painted into a corner it's not a good place to be but i bet she regrets it he's painted himself into a corner but nick has been painting me in the corner since we were kids we painted ourselves into a corner and now we have the parents holds out so there's a famous saying that goes a picture is worth a thousand words and what this means is that you can have a complex idea that can be expressed in just one single picture better expressed in fact than a description so there's so much more that a picture says than words can say picture is worth a thousand words this is worth a thousand words a picture's worth a thousand words a picture's worth a thousand words another expression is to paint the town red and when you go out and you paint the town red that just means that you are going out and you are partying and you are celebrating in a very lively way as an example you would say you know let's go out tonight let's paint the town red the world is your oyster kick up your heels paint the town red smithers don't you know how to paint the town red oh we're gonna paint a town red tonight let's paint it we'll shut it down another expression is to see the big picture or to look at the big picture and this just means to see the situation as a whole because sometimes it's very important to instead of like looking at little details to look at the situation as a whole and that means to look at the bigger picture or to see the bigger picture or the big picture [Music] so we are just chilling on a bench as you can see behind us oh where is the other way i can't show you there we go it's the eiffel tower so we're gonna we're gonna share our favorite things about paris right now what is your favorite thing about paris the food hands down that one's gonna be mine everything all the food is just like the ingredients are simple high quality and just well put together i i like the croissants or here the croissant why is your nose around because we were out in the sun all day yesterday and somebody got very rough what's your favorite side i like the versailles the gardens i thought they were really really impressive was tell me your favorite french word french word i've been saying uh mercy misty okay yeah i've been using that okay what about word favorite french word um what i'm more i don't know how to pronounce it favorite english channel interactive english obviously [Music] all right let's keep moving another expression that i say quite often is you just say what's wrong with this picture and when you're asking somebody what's wrong with this picture it means that you're asking this person or a group of people to identify what what is wrong with this situation and seeing if they can identify it so you're kind of asking them in a sarcastic way what's wrong with this picture guys what's wrong with this picture so what's wrong with this picture it can't be as simple as this look at this sorry miserable squash thing can anybody tell me what's wrong with this picture so this is an expression that's also a question and it goes do i have to paint you a picture and it's it's not it's kind of like when you're trying to explain some something to somebody and they just don't don't get it at all this is kind of asking like what else can i do to make you understand this uh you're trying to make it more clear for them you're a little bit frustrated that they don't get it and you're just asking them do i have to paint you a picture so you're just kind of trying to see like i've tried all these ways to explain it what else can i do to make you understand this another idiom is saying that something is like watching the paint dry this is a simile because we're comparing two things and you're saying that something is like watching paint dry so you're talking about something that is very boring it's dull it's tedious and it takes a long time so therefore it's like watching the paint dry so another expression is to paint a picture and why i made that um sound because you can change the adjective so something can paint a terrible picture can paint a bleak picture can paint a rosy picture and what this means is to describe something in a certain way um and many times it's used in a negative way so when you you if something paints a terrible picture it means that things appear to be pretty bad paint a pretty graphic picture in training you continue to paint far too bleak a picture of lord know you painted an extreme picture these particular circumstances paint a thorough picture of the horrific events endured in selma hope you guys enjoyed learning these expressions and getting a glimpse of our trip to paris so since everyone is so excited for the world cup i thought this would be a good opportunity to talk to you about some popular soccer idioms and expressions and yes i said soccer because i'm an american even though the rest of the world pretty much says football not sure why we say soccer americans just do but we we do a lot of things that don't make much sense keep in mind that even though these idioms are related to soccer and sports they can be used in a variety of different situations and context and i will show you that and give you some examples as we go through these expressions the first expression i have for you is to keep one's eye on the ball so when you're you're playing soccer or just about any sports you need to look at the ball you need to know where it is and you have to keep your eye on it so this basically means that you really have to pay attention and stay focused to the activity that you were doing this could be used not only in sports you could use it in business as well that you need to stay focused on what you're doing or even in school you need to pay attention you need to keep your eye on the ball okay you're doing good okay keep your eye on the ball let me keep my eye on the ball i'm only gonna have a future with a plan maybe that's true but you need to keep your eye on the ball the next expression is a little similar but it's still different and that is to be on the ball so if you say that you are on the ball it just means that you are really alert and you are aware of everything that's going on that that you're doing things right and you say you know today i'm i'm really on the ball i'm really sharp i know what's happening i'm focused i'm on the ball one of my favorite idioms is to get the ball rolling and when we say this it means that we want to start something so it means pretty much exactly what it says so if we have a ball and we want to start rolling it then we get the ball rolling we start moving along many times i would walk into a classroom and we're getting ready to begin class and i'd say all right guys let's get the ball rolling let's begin i'll tell you what i think just to get the ball rolling dollars in 27 cents wow look at you you did pretty well really because i put in the first two to get the ball rolling and to make myself feel better and so if it's okay with you i thought i'd get the ball rolling with a personal story now when people are playing soccer you have to kick the ball there's a lot of kicking going on and someone can say that they get a kick out of something which means that they really enjoy something they really like it i get a kick out of watching world cup matches i get a kick out of riding a motorcycle i hope that you guys get a kick out of watching our english lessons and will hit that like button down below another great expression is a game changer so if something is a game changer then that means that there was some new idea something happened that really shifted the game in one way or another so in sports somebody maybe gets injured and they uh oh that's a game changer or even in business maybe you have a new computer system that's going to help you and you say wow this is a game changer there's many ways that we can use this expression but if there's some new idea something revolutionary that is going to change the way that we do things it's a game changer it's a game changer it's a key good break into any system i met a girl oh really spending all this time with her and she is a game changer it's kind of a game changer come on we need a game changer this next idiom is one that i think i also use a lot and that is a game plan so if you have a game plan it means that you have a strategy for doing something that you have a plan of action that you are going to execute in order to succeed you must have a game plan so if you're playing soccer or or any sports for that matter you need to have a game plan you have to have a strategy to win and in business you need a game plan if you're gonna do some negotiations in school you need a game plan if you're working on some project even if you're organizing an event for a friend you need a game plan so in soccer there are referees out there on the field and they carry a whistle and sometimes they might blow the whistle and when you blow the whistle on someone it means that you are you're calling this person out for doing something wrong maybe something even illegal and you're reporting it to the proper authorities you can blow the whistle on another person you could blow the whistle on a company on an organization if somebody's done something wrong you can report it you can let everyone know and you are blowing the whistle on that person or company we can also change this idiom around and make it a noun and say that someone is a whistleblower and if someone's a whistleblower then that person is the one who reported the wrongdoing that is happening they're a whistleblower blow the whistle on someone never blow the whistle on family and thanks for not blowing the whistle on us you called me the other day you were going to blow the whistle right another great soccer expression which is also it's relevant to any sports out there is to say uh we were robbed and to be robbed means that something happened that was unjust that you don't think is fair maybe you just barely missed the goal or maybe there was a penalty and you disagree with it you'd say ah we were robbed a very common expression is to take sides so if you're thinking about soccer you have two different sides of the field one team is on one side the other team is on the other side and you take sides you are cheering for one team so if you are taking sides it means that you are supporting one over the other and this is very common because it's used often when when two people disagree about something and another person is there and they're trying to figure out okay who do i agree with whose side am i taking everyone's taking sides and splitting into groups well if bernadette's on amy's team i pick howard i'm not taking sides fine because i'm stuck with raj i'm sorry all right take his side i am not taking his well whose side are you taking you guys are besties someone should apologize i don't want to take sides one could be forgiven for thinking you're taking your family side and this debate i am taking the side next is to be on a roll and if a sports team is on a roll that just means that they have been very successful lately they've been winning a lot they have a streak of success so you guys are learning these idioms and expressions and you're learning so much english i'd say yeah you know you're on a roll keep it up you're doing great you guys were all today we're talking about 10 dessert idioms they're all related to dessert but they all mean different things if you want to relax with a piece of cake and an english video subscribe to our channel hungry yet number one piece of cake it just means that something is very very easy just like eating cake [Music] this lesson is a piece of cake [Music] and every task you undertake becomes a piece of cake number two to have your cake and eat it too this idiom means you cannot have it both ways you can't have your cake and still eat it because if you eat it it's gone you don't have it anymore i have it and i'm eating it and now oops it's gone and this relates to life by telling you that you cannot have everything that you want think of somebody who maybe is working all the time making a lot of money to get a really nice house but they can't enjoy the house because they're always at work you can't have your cake and eat it too we travel a lot but it's part of our work so we're not on vacation when we travel you can't have your cake and eat it too number three icing on it the cake icing on the cake means something that makes something good even better or something bad even worse so it really um amps up my situation i had a bad day at work but the icing on the cake is that the car broke down on my way home it felt so great i just wanted to go in and hit four for four and qualify for worlds one last time and winning was just icing on the cake number four to sugarcoat something this means to make something seem better more pleasant or more acceptable than it is to sugarcoat it when my friend asked me what i thought about her new haircut i had to sugarcoat my response so i wouldn't hurt her feelings you don't have to sugarcoat it i get the drill number five easy as apple pie [Music] what this means is that something is really really really easy just like eating pie so sometimes you see it um as easy as apple pie or sometimes you just see it easy as pie so sometimes it has the apple and sometimes it doesn't but it really just means that it's as easy as eating the pie not making it because making it's a little difficult learning english with us is as easy as apple pie [Music] number six flat is a pancake i really like this one i don't know why it's probably one of my favorites so you know pancake it's very very flat it doesn't have any ridges or any bumps or anything it just means that something is very very flat my hometown is flat as a pancake there are no mountains or hills flat as a pancake huh number seven nutty as a fruitcake now i don't have a fruitcake to show you because i couldn't find one today but you have to trust me they're very nutty they have a lot of nuts but when we say that someone is nutty it also means that they're a little crazy so when someone is nutty as a fruitcake it can mean anything from just being a little silly to completely crazy nutty as a fruitcake don't pay attention to wes he's nutty as a fruitcake well i can save you the trouble your nutty's a fruit egg number eight that's the way the cookie crumbles now this idiom really means that's how life works [Music] i can't believe i didn't win the painting contest ah well that's the way the cookie crumbles i'm bruce nolan and that's the way the cookie crumbles number nine to sell like hotcakes this means that something sells very well or is very very successful every time a new iphone comes out they sell like hotcakes 10 to have a sweet tooth a person who has a sweet tooth loves sweets they love desserts okay so for example i have a huge sweet tooth i love all kinds of desserts and sugar and my favorite is chocolate yuana has a huge sweet tooth she prefers sweets over food here you go sonny a little something for the old sweet tooth so that was it for the 10 idioms i hope you like them and i hope you're not too hungry now it's time to practice what we've learned i want you to look at the sentence and choose the best answer to complete the sentence say your answer out loud my exam went great i finished quickly because it was is it a flat as a pancake b nutty as a fruitcake or c easy as apple pie the correct answer is c easy as apple pie when an exam is easy you probably finish it quickly so during this lesson we ate a lot but we learned even more no now you have 10 desired idioms that you can use anytime not just when you want something sweet i think this lesson was as easy as apple pie don't you if you think so too please give this video a thumbs up like to express hope and inspiration then this lesson is for you hey everyone my name is wes this is interactive english which is all about helping you practice and improve your english skills and today i want to talk to you about some idioms that you can use to to help give other people some hope and inspiration especially if they've been feeling a little down and just need that extra encouragement to get through some situation in life so the first idiom that i have for you is keep your chin up so this idiom means that you want to encourage someone to you know stay positive if they are going through a difficult situation you want them to keep their chin up and though this idiom comes from well when people feel a little sad typically their head might be down so you're telling them you're basically saying you know keep your chin up you know things are going to get better and you just want to give them that little bit of encouragement to stay positive in some difficult situation keep your chin up often i i think it's used as a stand-alone statement it's kind of like you're giving somebody a command and saying hey you know keep your chin up all right things are going to get better stay positive keep your chin up anyway keep your chin up you keep plugging and good things will happen [Music] hey i'm gonna keep working on that for you just keep your chin up the next idiom is you know hang in there and this idiom it also means to to encourage someone to keep trying especially when they are going through some difficult situation to to keep trying don't give up just just hang in there you can do it when i think of somebody using like hang in there i think that that person is doing something that they're actually doing some kind of work or activity and they're actually they're doing something that they don't want to do and they are having to endure this thing so you may hear this used again as just a stand-alone statement somebody saying you know just just hang in there you can do it or they might say you know i need you to hang in there especially if they are encouraging you to finish because maybe you're working together and you're like you know i need you to hang in there or maybe you're talking uh about yourself and you're telling somebody and they're listening to your problems and you'd say you know i'm just having a tough time hanging in there and then the other person might tell you you know stay positive keep your chin up so again these are very useful idioms to offer that hope and inspiration have a plan and i am going to save our jobs hang in there please just hang in there a little longer okay it's okay theo just hang in there next is the expression break a leg and this is used just to to tell somebody good luck so instead of saying good luck you can just replace it with this idiom and say break a leg so you would often hear it right before somebody is getting ready to do something such as a performance and instead of saying good luck you say break a leg they're getting ready to start the competition could be a sport competition an academic competition and before they begin you could say hey break a leg you could even use it together with good luck and say you know good luck break a leg i believe in you i want to give you that that that hope so just go out there do your best break a leg grab your scripts people we open in 20 minutes break a leg thank you circus floor on a wire no wider than a human it is time oh break a leg then we have in the bag and if you say that something is in the bag it means that that you are sure of success or or you are sure of accomplishing something you are you're very confident in something and you might hear somebody say just a general statement like hey it's in the bag when giving somebody a little bit of hope or inspiration i think this idiom could be used to offer some reassurance to somebody who may not be confident about what's going to happen and you tell them you know don't worry i think you can do it you know it's in the bag you're going to have success it's in the bag don't worry this is in the bag i've got them dead to rights fingerprints witnesses it's in the bag the next idiom and it's also a very popular expression and that is sky's the limit and if somebody says you know the sky's the limit then it just means that there is no limit to your success to your aspirations and this is a great way to offer someone some inspiration by telling them you know to keep going that they can continuously grow and develop and succeed and you you can express that by saying you know sky's the limit for example i could try to offer you some inspiration if you're you're having some difficulty and tell you you know just just keep going i hope you keep learning with us throughout this year there's so much that you can achieve and accomplish and grow the sky's the limit well i turned this one into a functioning boyfriend so sky's the limit what do you want for your birthday big dog it's okay i'm good come on this guy's the limit dream big my boy then we have the idiom the world is your oyster and again i think this is often used as a standalone statement and somebody would just tell another person the world is your oyster and what it means is that that this person the person that you're telling this to will have many different opportunities to to do things in their life or their career there are so many choices that they will have you could tell them the world is your oyster often i think it's used when you're somebody is talking to a younger person that they have their whole life ahead of them and they can do all these different things and you can express that by telling them you know the world is your oyster you have so many options so many choices take advantage of it the world is your oyster i'm telling you kid from now on the world is your oyster i could do anything all bets are off world is my oyster you're a beautiful young girl the world is your oyster next is the idiom and this is one of my favorites and that is light at the end of the tunnel and somebody would say this when they want to express that things the situation is going to improve or it is going to end especially if it is a difficult or challenging situation it will improve or it's going to end that is the light at the end of the tunnel so think about the exact meaning of what this would say so if you are in a tunnel it's very dark it's a little scary nobody wants to be there you're looking for your way out of this tunnel and then you you see this light up ahead and you know that that it's going to end or things are going to improve that is what well basically again what it means light at the end of the tunnel and the reason why i really like this idiom is because i i think you could use it in in any situation no matter how bad or horrible it is you can always try to find some sort of light at the end of the tunnel and it's a great way to offer somebody that hope the light at the end of the tunnel but i finally feel like i'm a place where i can see the light at the end of the tunnel the light at the end of the tunnel is the finish line this is just my luck finally catch a break at the office finally see some light at the end of the tunnel and where gone then we have the statement there's plenty of fish in the sea now this is a statement that's used for a specific situation because what it means is that you are basically telling somebody who has ended their relationship that that they should stay positive and that things are going to be okay because there are plenty of other people out there that they can have another romantic relationship with so i think you would hear this idiom or even use this idiom often when somebody has ended their relationship and you're trying to reassure them that hey things are going to be okay don't worry about it you will meet somebody else there's plenty of fish in the city now you could also say just to throw in a little bit of grammar there are plenty of fish in the sea because fish can be both singular and plural so no matter what the the meaning is still the same there are plenty of fish in the sea or you're trying to reassure somebody else there's plenty of fish in the sea the point is you're the best guy i know you'll get over here there's plenty of other fish in the sea another sign from the universe that i'll never find love hey come on pal there's plenty of fish in the sea then we have to look on the bright side and if somebody says this it means that you should be cheerful and positive even though some kind of bad situation has occurred and usually when somebody tells you you know look on the bright side they will then tell you something to stay positive about or something that is you know good news or cheerful even though there's been some terrible situation so let me give you an example say that somebody has lost their job all right that's terrible that's a bad situation and somebody might be you know pretty sad or down about that and you want to give them a little bit of inspiration so you tell them hey look on the bright side and when you say this to your friend you need to tell them why they should be cheerful so in this case maybe you say hey you know look on the bright side you have always wanted to move to this other place but you couldn't do that the job was keeping you here now you're free so look on the bright side you can move to this other place try to find a new job it's what you've always talked about doing look on the bright side i look on the bright side i mean at least you won't have to live with this ugly chair don't cry look on the bright side we get to see our lives flash before our eyes if all our hair falls off our our wives won't want us anymore but there you go look on the bright side then we have the idiom pull yourself together and this is uh this is an idiom that means that you need to gain control over your emotions and you need to start acting normal again and behaving normal so i think often it may be used as like a command somebody telling you you know pull yourself together you need to pull yourself together if something happens and you are angry or you are frantic and you start you know you you start panicking then that is when another person could tell you hey you know pull pull yourself together you know start behaving normal so that you can solve this problem or you could even use it and talk about yourself and you're telling someone you know i need to i need to pull myself together i i need to get it together and start behaving normal so that i can solve this problem and get my life in order i need to pull myself together three hours ago you made a situation worse russell pull yourself together pull yourself together put yourself together you know what i can actually use a drink just to pull myself together next is fingers crossed and this just means that you are telling somebody that you hope that they will achieve something that will happen in the future or something successful will come to pass and that you've got your fingers crossed so you can say this to somebody else if they are telling you the things that they want to do that they want to accomplish and you say you know fingers crossed i believe in you i'm hoping for you or you could say that about yourself that you wish something will happen in the future that that would be good for you and you're trying to kind of express a little bit of hope in your own situation and you could say you know i've got my fingers crossed i i have now uh i i lost my job i i tried to look on the bright side i have moved to this other place i have applied for a new job and i'm waiting to hear back from them i got i've got my fingers crossed good luck on your 10-year review make me proud fingers crossed how about you heard that interview went well fingers crossed okay well let's just say this is gonna be great fingers crossed then we have blessing in disguise and this just describes a situation that appears bad at first but actually turns out to be pretty good and often i think it's used to reflect back on a past situation because something was bad and then since then you know some good things happen so when you think back about that first bad situation you could refer to it and say you know it was a blessing in disguise let me give you an example uh and we'll stick with that same story all right somebody loses their job and they try to look on the bright side and they move to a place that they've always wanted to live they they applied for a new job kept their fingers crossed and and got that new job and then let you know maybe they met the love of their life and they got married and they had a family and then when they think back about that initial situation all right they lost their job and you know they could say hey it was a blessing in disguise so quite often you may use it to reflect back on a past situation or you could also use it if you're you know you're trying to give somebody hope and inspiration who is actually in a bad situation now and you try to reassure them and say hey you know hey maybe it's a blessing in disguise that even though there there's just this terrible situation now in the future there will be some good that may come out of it it's a blessing in disguise i got fired from running the sweden's foundation thanks to me sorry again hey blessing in disguise i took a job at this accounting firm so you see george the whole incident was a god blessing yeah you mean a blessing in disguise yeah all i'm saying is maybe this is a blessing in disguise i don't know who the father is what so now i want to do a quick review as i offer you an inspirational message okay so i would tell you i i know that learning english can be challenging and difficult but i i want you to keep your chin up because even though it may feel that you're not making any type of progress whatsoever and that you're not improving you really are you need to take comfort in the fact that your skills are getting better and better each and every day that you practice so there is a light at the end of the tunnel and that light is english fluency so keep doing what you're doing keep watching our video lessons keep practicing a little bit each and every day write to us in the comments i want you to just hang in there and keep working hard and don't give up because the to be perfectly honest when it comes to learning another language there is so much that it will help you with about whether it's getting a job meeting other people there's so many ways that languages can help us learn and grow sky's the limit so i hope you enjoyed this lesson learn some new idioms as well as feel a little more inspired perhaps after my message all right if you did then hit that like button down below let me know are you hungry i hope you are hungry for knowledge i thought that wink would come out better i thought i'd have a sexy wink but it just like we have something in my eye so let's learn some food idioms if you want to improve your english have fun and learn even more idioms subscribe to our youtube channel we love making these videos to help our students improve their english skills today we are talking about some super common food idioms now when i was preparing for this lesson there were so so many food idioms to choose from but these ones are the ones that i heard again and again and again so they're very very common you can hear them everywhere and it's fun because who doesn't like to talk about food yeah exactly everyone likes to talk about food now i'm gonna do my disclaimer that i do for every idiom video that i make you can use idioms at any time you can use these idioms at any time but just keep in mind that idioms are a little bit more informal don't use them on job applications or any kind of formal english context so keep that in mind and come on let's have some fun with food idioms the first one number one is bread and butter one of my favorite food combinations i'm going to say that a lot in this video because i kind of love all food especially good food you know like good bread and good butter well bread and butter means somebody's main source of income it just means how somebody makes their money their main source of income for example for wes and i teaching is our bread and butter working in the factory is his bread and butter number two cool as a cucumber i love this one because cucumbers are among my favorite vegetables and i am always cool as a cucumber no i'm not because somebody who's uh cool as a cucumber is calm and relaxed and i am known to be a little stressed sometimes so i always tell myself wanna be cool as a cucumber and it works like half the time but that's what it means very calm and relaxed she remained cool as a cucumber in this stressful situation [Music] number three not my cup of tea and this means it's just something that you are not interested in or something that you just don't like naturally i love tea oh maybe i should back in now this is my cup of tea and it's huge as you can see it's as big as my face and i love tea so having tea is my cup of tea that that makes sense i'm just gonna i'm sorry if that's confusing i'll give you another example hold on i need to have my tea okay going to bed after midnight is not my cup of tea number four in a nutshell and in a nutshell means in the fewest possible words so if you can imagine a little nutshell it's very very small i'm imagining like a little pistachio they're very very small so in a nutshell just means very little saying something in as few words as you can what happened at the meeting tell me in a nutshell number five to put all your eggs in one basket this is a piece of advice which means that you shouldn't concentrate all of your efforts and resources in one area because that means that you could lose everything and it could refer to anything from feelings to to money to hopes and dreams and things like that so don't put all of your eggs in one basket when planning your investments it's unwise to put all of your eggs in one basket number six spice things up notice how i said that this one gets me happy because i love spices of course i told you by the food but to spice things up means to change things change a boring routine into something more exciting to change things up this expression is commonly found when we're talking about relationships and i mean romantic relationships maybe sometimes you want to spice things up and you want to do something different like go on a vacation or do something crazy with your loved one so to spice things up means to make things a little bit more exciting and different than you normally do they spice things up by taking a romantic getaway number seven bring home the bacon now i'm not a huge fan of bacon and i know a lot of people are going to be like what you want are you crazy why don't you like bacon i don't really like it but i'm a huge fan of this idiom to bring home the bacon doesn't refer to actual bacon but instead to material success like money bring money make money that is really what it means bring home the bacon bring home the money make money that's what it's about i don't know why i got so excited i don't even really like bacon that much we both bring home the bacon [Music] number eight is a lemon and i have a story about this one when i was younger i didn't really know what a lemon was supposed to be and i kept hearing car commercials and they kept talking about you won't get a lemon and i just kept wondering what is going on why would i want a lemon why would i buy a lemon at the car dealer it was very confusing until i found out later that a lemon is something that doesn't work very well usually we talk about lemons when we refer to machines or cars so a car that just doesn't work very well it's just called a lemon i don't really hear it about people like we don't say oh that person's a lemon it's mostly about things that don't work you do not want to buy a lemon oh no it's clear that he bought a lemon [Music] nine spill the beans now this means to reveal secret information but you don't just reveal it you kind of do it indiscreetly or by mistake that's like when you're spilling something it's not usually intentional so it's not something that you want to do to spill the beans just like you don't want to spill beans you don't want that you get a mess don't spill the beans it's a secret and number 10 our final one for today is cheesy now you're probably thinking cheesy is good right who doesn't love cheese cheese is great so cheesy must be even better but it's not it actually doesn't have a good connotation something cheesy is usually inferior or cheap or of low quality now cheesy can be used to describe many things from feelings to people to objects so you can have a cheesy smile which is not good or you can have a cheesy outfit which is also not good or maybe you can have or say a cheesy pickup line which is really really not good hey you know what would look good on you me are you tired no why because you've been running through my mind all day you know it's dangerous for you to be here in the frozen food section because you could melt all this stuff so even though we love cheese we do not want to be cheesy i've said this word so much that now i really really really want some cheese those pajamas are so cheesy [Music] okay so now that you've learned all of these 10 new beautiful fabulous food idioms i want you to use them so please please please write a sentence in the comments using one of these wonderful 10 food idioms that we learned today and if you want to choose more than one go crazy choose two three you are more likely to remember these words in fact i guarantee that you'll remember them and if you want even more practice join our social media classes they are so much fun and you will learn so much so do it join it join now i hope you've enjoyed this lesson and that now you will spice things up and use some of these idioms in your everyday conversations thanks for watching and i'll see you next time

Channel: Interactive English

Views: 199,554

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: kE7XwFvTOPc

Length: 62min 8sec (3728 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 22 2022