my favorite mug in a conversation lesson
that Kate and I made recently Kate said
this that's a great question no no off
the top of my head
that's a great question no no off the
top of my head did you catch that
she said off the top of my head now many
of you asked me what this means what
does it mean when you say off the top of
my head well in this lesson I'm going to
answer that and also give you 6 other
idioms that use the word head and also
the word tongue number one going back to
the example I gave you I escaped the
question when does a winter officially
start now she didn't know the answer to
this and to be honest I didn't know the
answer then either but after some
research we learned that it was on the
21st of December but in that moment Kate
said I don't know off the top of my head
I don't know off the top of my head and
when we use off the top of my head we
are answering in that moment from memory
and without doing any research so she is
saying I don't know without thinking
about it without actually looking into
it and maybe I need to do some research
to know the answer or maybe I need to
think about it before I answer to give
the correct response
here is another example how many
countries have you been to how many
countries have you been to I don't know
off the top of my head about 12 so this
answer was given without going through
and adding up all the countries that
this person had been T here's another
example how much do you think I will get
for this camera I don't know off the top
of my head about $1,000
so you're not giving a precise answer
you're giving your best answer in that
moment number two for this next one
imagine that you have an English test
next week and you have to study hard for
this test then a friend asks you if you
want to go out with him that evening if
you want to go to a restaurant or go
bowling or whatever the activity is you
can say I'm sorry I can't I need to get
my head down for this test to get your
head down means to study hard or to work
hard so that you can complete a task for
example I have been getting my head down
recently and making lots of videos and
next week I'm going to get my head down
again and keep going with these videos
number three
continuing the same example of having a
test next week the past perfect
continuous is on this test so you need
to know it if you are studying this
tense and you're looking at lots of
examples you're watching videos you're
trying to learn as much as you can about
it but you still can't understand it you
can say I can't get my head around the
past perfect continuous and this just
means that you can't understand it no
matter how much you try to get your head
around something means to finally
understand something here's another
example I just can't get my head around
why someone would do that this means I
can't understand why somebody would do
that now we can't use this idiom for
things like speaking skills it doesn't
make sense to say I can't get my head
around speaking in English
because it's all about understanding
something with that in mind answer this
question is there an area of English
that you can't get your head around
leave your answers below number four for
this one our heads are going to fall off
but not in a bad way because there are
times when you find something so funny
and you laugh so hard that you laugh
your head off this is when you can't
control yourself because you are
laughing so hard to laugh your head off
here's an example remember when I fell
over during the wedding you were
laughing your head off
number five let's move on to the tongue
now and this one is a great one to use a
lot of people use this in everyday
English now answer this question who
starred in Mission Impossible I imagine
a lot of you answered that correctly but
sometimes when you should know the
answer but you can't quite remember the
name it can be frustrating and this is
when you can say ah his name is on the
tip of my tongue his name is on the tip
of my tongue you know the answer but you
just can't remember the name in that
moment but you know is going to come to
you soon you're going to remember the
name soon it's on the tip of your tongue
this one is very specific to the
situation I've just explained but it is
a great one to use number six now the
next one is great for any type of
situation where you stop yourself from
saying something imagine that you are at
a party and people are talking about
politics and you want to add to this
discussion you want to say something but
you stop yourself from saying it because
it may be offensive or it might start an
argument so what you do is you bite your
tongue here's an example I hated what
they were saying but I bit my tongue I
hated what they were saying but I bit my
tongue again it might not be appropriate
in that situation to say what you want
to say it's best to bite your tongue
when the whole family is together and
talking about politics number seven a
lot of learners get in touch with me and
tell me that they know English grammar
that they have learned phrases that they
have practiced a lot but when it comes
to actually having conversations with
people they feel like they just go
like that they can't say what they want
to say if you ever hesitate or if you
feel like you can't say what you want to
say in that moment then you are
tongue-tied to be tongue-tied it happens
to everyone
I especially get tongue-tied when I'm
meeting somebody new and sometimes they
ask me a very simple question but for
whatever reason I just can't answer in
the way I want to answer I don't say
things in the correct way I get
tongue-tied people especially get
tongue-tied during presentations and
during interviews any time when they
feel under pressure to say the right
things have you ever got tongue-tied
before if so leave me a comment telling
me when this happened to you and
especially leave an example of you
speaking in English and getting
tongue-tied okay so those are seven
idioms using the words head and tongue I
hope you have enjoyed this lesson if you
have please like and share it also check
out the description because I'm going to
leave a list of all the phrases that we
have used in this lesson and then don't
go anywhere just yet watch one of these
videos and continue learning with me
okay thanks again for watching and I'll
speak to you soon bye bye
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