Hi everyone, so my friends and I were at this Italian cafe last night and we'd really pigged
out. We splurged money, well and we had a very high bill to pay but we didn't feel the
pinch because we were six of us and we decided to go Dutch. Yes, when I say we decided to
go to Dutch, I mean we decided to divide the bill into six parts and everybody pays their
part, right? So no one feels the pinch and yes this is what today's lesson is about,
idioms with nationalities and countries, okay.
So let's start with the first one, it's all Greek. Now, what do you mean by it's all Greek?
Of course, it is when you can't, you know understand; when you read something or listen
to someone say something. So, now the other day, I was reading this article about politics
and I don't know it just didn’t make sense to me and I was like, what's this? It’s
all Greek to me that means I did not understand a word. So there are times when people talk
about certain things and it doesn’t click here. You could say, I don't even know what
you're talking about. It’s all Greek to me. That means you did not understand.
Okay, so it's a way of saying, I just don't understand. The next one is, go Dutch. yes,
this is what I told you, my friends and I were at this lovely Italian cafe, we pigged
out and obviously, that means we ordered a lot of food and the bill was really, really
high but we didn't feel the pinch because we decided to go Dutch. Now, we mainly use
this idiom when you want to say that you shared the expenses of a bill. So, there are ten
people, I’ll probably divide the bill by ten. So everybody gets to pay 1/10th of the
amount. So instead of saying, hey you pay the bill and hey, you pay the bill or I'm
not paying the bill. So let's just be fair, let's just go Dutch. So you say, hey, let's
go Dutch or if you use this in the past, you could say, we went Dutch. Okay, that means
you share the amount of the bill. So it's mainly used when you want to talk about paying
a bill and sharing it equally, alright.
Now, the next one is Chinese whispers. Well if you remember, we even played Chinese whispers
in school but the idiom is used when you want to talk about, there is some inaccurate information
or rumours. Okay, I'll give you an example, so often in companies, there are rumours about
people dating. Maybe, they may not be dating or may be the manager has an affair with his
subordinate and you're not sure, so you feel, the manager and our subordinate, they're dating?
No, I don't think so, it's all just Chinese whispers. That means, it's inaccurate information
or some rumours, you know or the other word, we use is the grapevine. so you just, it's
just all in the air and people are just going around, you know spreading the rumour and
that is when you say, Chinese whispers. So don't believe it, it's just Chinese whispers.
So that means it's inaccurate information or just gossip.
Well, the next one, says talk for England. Now, I'm sure this is something new. Now talk
for England is an idiom used when you want to say, that someone can talk for long hours
and hours and hours. so now I'm gonna tell you what happened this morning, I got into
work about 20 minutes late, thank god, my boss was not there but when a colleague of
mine asked me, Hey Rachna, you're 20 minutes late and I was like, I happened to meet my
college friend, okay and we got chatting obviously you meet your friend and you start chatting.
I got delayed because she can talk for England or she talks for England and that means she
can talk for hours and hours. Now, that is what happened this morning. I couldn’t really
escape but I managed to luckily but yes a friend of mine, she talks for England that
means she talks for hours and hours. So use this idiom when you want to describe a person
who can talk and continue to talk.
Okay, the next one is, Dutch courage. Again we have, go Dutch, now we have Dutch courage.
Now Dutch courage is when you drink a little alcohol, okay just to gain a little confidence
or that courage to do something. so, last night, after my friends and I finished dinner
at the Italian cafe, we went to this party, it's just a nice, social gathering, a place
where people hang out and my friend Daniel, he really liked this cute looking girl, okay
and she was her set of friends, someone unknown completely and he wanted to go and ask her,
you know for a dance. He wanted to dance with her. he didn’t have the courage to, he was
a little nervous, you know because I didn't know he was just nervous and he said, what
if she says, no? So finally, he decided to have a shot f alcohol. Just a shot for Dutch
courage. So he could go and ask her to you know, ask her for a dance. so, when you take
a little alcohol to give you that little confidence and courage, you do it, obviously, you want
to do something and you want that confidence and you have that alcohol for confidence and
courage, that means you Dutch courage.
Alright, now the next one is pardon my French. Now there are times, we are irritated, annoyed,
we kind of become rude, arrogant and sometimes we tend to use swear words, not a nice thing.
So, we say pardon my French, when you want to excuse yourself for being rude or for saying,
something that is not well accepted and especially for a swear word. So if I’m annoyed with
a friend of mine. well, I don't get annoyed but just for example, if I'm annoyed with
a friend of mine and I say, hey she always makes us wait, she's such a beep. Okay, so
then I say, oops pardon my French. It’s just to excuse yourself when you use a swear
word, especially for a swear word. Okay, that's how you use this idiom. Well in the first
place, don't use swear words but sometimes when you do, excuse yourself by saying, pardon
my French.
The next one is the Mexican standoff. Well, this is one of my favourite idioms with nationality
and country. A Mexican standoff is a typically a business situation, a business may be you
know a meeting where two parties can never come to an agreement. There is always something
that, they cannot settle down to or conclude to something or to you know reach a consensus.
So that is the time you say, a Mexican standoff. Well, this happens in most of the business
meetings, especially when there is negotiation or you know two parties have different views
and they are just unable to conclude it to one or reach a consensus and that is the time
you say, hmm. There seems to be a Mexican standoff at the meeting or it appears that
there is a Mexican standoff in this business meeting and that means two people or two parties
can never come to an agreement. Well, friends remember when you have something where there
is, still too much between two people and not able to reach a consensus, that means
there is a Mexican standoff.
The next one is the slow boat to China well this idiom comes from an American song, okay
it's a very famous song, slow boat to China. Now obviously it's very clear, slow means
something that takes long to happen. So there are certain processes that, there are certain
people who are very slow or certain new developments that are slow. So when you say, slow boat
to China means something takes too long to happen or it's just too slow. now the other
day, I was waiting for one of the architects to submit a plan and he said, I'll give it
to you, I'll give it to you and that's all he said for one week and I realized, oh I
was just taking this slow boat to China while you know I was waiting for his proposal to
be submitted. So, waiting for the architects was like taking a slow boat to China. so when
something takes too long, there are procedures, sometimes new developments in our countries
or anything that’s new, that is taking time to come into existence means you have taken
the slow boat to China.
And the last one is too many chiefs and not enough Indians. This is typically used for
a company where there are too many managers. People at a higher level but there are hardly
any people who do the actual work who do the execution or the implementation and that is
the time, you say, for example, there is a company that is not doing too well and you're
wondering why because we have so many managers. we have well-qualified people, we have hardworking
employees and that is the time, we could say, there seems to be a problem with that company
because there are too many chiefs and not enough Indians, that means there are too many
managers, I mean too many people at a higher, you know designation or authority but very
few people to do the actual work. So go ahead and yes this idiom for a company who is full
of, which has a lot of managers but less people to do the work.
Alright friends, so these are the basic idioms you could use and these idioms have nationalities
or countries in them. So go ahead and use them in your daily conversation. I'll be back
soon with a new lesson till then take care and bye.