Good morning, good afternoon and good evening! Welcome to Smashing English, before we start this
vid- Sorry what are you doing? Oh I'm just uh, I'm making a video, I thought uh I thought, you know,
you're such a hard working person, I thought maybe you deserve a break, I thought I could do,
you know, bit of eye candy as well. Cool. Yeah see you later, thank you very much!
Today we're going to be talking about idioms, specifically idioms associated with
sports. We have many idioms in the English language, at least five or six of them.
Some of them come from sport so let's get started. Idiom number one: to drop the ball
and dropping the ball basically means to make a mistake. So for example: you might be working
in an office and you might make a mistake so you might have to go to your boss and say:
sorry boss, I really dropped the ball there. Idiom number two: below the belt. This idiom comes from
golf. I'm joking of course, this comes from boxing. And in the game of boxing,
it is against the rules to punch somebody below the belt or below the waist. So in everyday life,
this basically means to say something to someone that is a little bit too personal or a little bit
unfair. So for example: the other day I was talking to my friend and we were having some
banter, having some jokes about each other until he hit below the belt and called me a stinky
egghead. *laughter* Stinky! Idiom number three: to take sides. To take sides basically means to
agree with one person in an argument. For example are you team Jacob or team Edward? I'm neither
because i'm an adult. But some people will take a side based on who they agree with more.
Dreamy! Idiom number four: at this stage in the game. This basically
means at this point or at this time and that's it, easy peasy. Next one,
idiom number fiveL the ball is in your court. This idiom comes from tennis
and it basically means the decision is yours, for example where do you want to eat tonight?
I really don't care, the ball is in your court, nice. Idiom number six: to get a head start.
This idiom comes from racing and it basically means to start before anybody else.
See ya- oh I've stalled it. Idiom number seven: to jump the gun.
This idiom also comes from racing and it basically means to do something prematurely and do something
too hastily. For example, I want to book a holiday to Greece but I don't want to jump the gun
because my flight might get cancelled andIi might lose all of my money! Covid! Idiom number eight:
level playing field. A level playing field is a situation where everybody has an equal chance,
it's all fair, not one person has an advantage. It can be a noun: a level playing field or it
could be a verb: to level the playing field, to make it equal. Idiom number nine: neck and neck.
Whoa whoa there! This comes from horse racing and it basically means when two people or two
groups are level are equal with each other in a competition or a sport or a race. Well the
two horses are coming around to the final leg here oh it's looking very very close they look
neck and neck as they come to the final hurdle! Idiom number 10: up to par. This comes from golf,
sorry Laura! To be up to par means to meet expectations, most commonly we use not
up to par which means someone does not meet expectations and is performing
below average. Let's move on to another idiom from golf: par for the course. Par for the course means
what is normal and expected in a situation. For example: being tired is par for the course
of being a new parent. Idiom number 12: three strikes and you're out! This comes from baseball,
batter up! And it basically means you have three chances and that's it! Then you're out! Idiom
number 13: to meet your match. This means to meet someone who is at the same level as you
at a skill. I've always been an excellent chess player but I really met my match when I played
Charles at the park last week. Idiom number 14: to have the upper hand, get down here. This comes
from cards and it means to have the advantage over somebody. And finally: idiom number 15:
to approach the finish line. This is another way of saying to approach the end of something or
the deadline. And that is about it thank you so much for watching, if you like this video
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yeah see you soon! Bye bye! See you later! No you're supposed to say tata!