hi everybody welcome back to our weekly
live stream my name is alicia and today
we're going to talk about everyday
english idioms i've chosen some very
common idioms that we use a lot in
american english so today i'm going to
talk about what these expressions mean
and when and how you can use them in
your everyday life too so we have a lot
of vocabulary to cover today
as i talk about these expressions please
feel free to make some sentences in the
chat on youtube or on facebook and i
will try to check in real time
sorry if i can't catch yours but please
make sure to send lots of examples with
this today all right it looks like
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rafa fallen hello everybody thank you
very much for joining us as i said
today's topic is everyday english idioms
everyday idioms that we can use at work
at school
at
your office at wherever you go these are
very common
and very convenient idioms i think we're
going to begin in about two minutes or
so so as you join please make sure to
like the video and to share the video
too so that other people can find it i
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of people are joining us now fantastic
so i'm going to share the video and then
i'm going to get started so as i said
today we're going to practice lots of
idioms i'm going to introduce
the meaning of the expression
and then how you might use the
expression and then i'll try to check
the chat to see your example sentences
to see if you've used it correctly
okay so i will share the video and begin
alrighty then so let's begin then over
here on the left side of the board
with this expression that i think many
of you know to kill two birds with one
stone to kill two birds with one stone i
was just talking to control desk control
desk has a similar expression uh
which is to kill two birds with one
bullet
okay with one bullet so this idea here
two birds
one stone this means to do one task like
to take one action in this case the
action is a stone we say stone
because a long time ago like when
hunting we had we could throw i guess
throw a stone so stone means rock
and use it to kill
an animal we were hunting in this case
two birds so to kill two birds with one
stone means to achieve
two things
with one action to achieve two things
with one action
so you can use this at the office for
example maybe you have a meeting
and the meeting is with someone you
haven't seen for a long time so you can
maybe say oh i'm going to kill two birds
with one stone i'll catch up with this
person and we'll meet about a specific
topic so to kill two birds with one
stone means to achieve
to achieve two things
with one action
two birds with one stone so i think many
people uh are familiar with this
expression to kill two birds with one
stone
so a good warm-up one
uh and as i said if you have an example
sentence please feel free to send that
in the chat i will try to check okay the
next one i use a lot on this channel and
i use it a lot on like social media or
to talk about
the things that we are doing here to
keep an eye out to keep an eye out and
usually the preposition that we use here
to keep an eye out for
something to keep an eye out for
something so i say like uh please keep
an eye out for our next video or please
keep an eye out for
uh the new
series we're making
so please keep an eye out for means
please
watch
carefully
or please like wait carefully so it's
like something something is coming
something is coming soon and i hope you
are ready for it so i want you to be
ready for it please keep an eye out for
our next video please keep an eye out
for a new restaurant in the neighborhood
so please keep an eye out for means
please look for
so this means like keep
one eye specifically you might hear keep
your eyes also in the plural form means
like please use your eyes to watch
carefully
for something use your eyes to watch
carefully for something so keep an eye
out for something
okay
uh i don't see any examples yet but i
will check throughout today's lesson
let's go to the next one this next one
is maybe a little bit more uh
challenging to understand oh sorry uh
black cow kim yes you can use the plural
form keep your eyes out for is also okay
okay um so let's go to this next one to
add fuel to add fuel to the fire so fuel
what is fuel
fuel is like the stuff you put in a car
or another machine
to make the car run so gasoline or maybe
petrol so gasoline is an example of fuel
to add fuel
to the fire to add fuel to the fire so
fire of course fire
is not a good situation so fire is
dangerous fire is bad so to add fuel to
the fire
means to add something else to the fire
it begets it gets bigger and bigger in
other words so to add fuel to the fire
we always use the definite article here
not uh to add fuel to the fire means
to make
to make oh this is nice to make
a bad situation
to make a bad situation worse
to make a bad situation
worse so there's already a problem
and then when you add fuel to the fire
something happens or someone makes a
decision
that makes a bad situation
an even bigger problem to add fuel to
the fire so we might use this in an
example where like
there's been a mistake in a project but
then
uh the leader of the project gets sick
and we're like oh no this adds fuel to
the fire this makes the problem worse to
add fuel to the fire
okay
uh edgard on youtube says is this like
teasing someone who's already angry in
that case we have a different expression
so edgard i'll add one to today's list
to tease someone who is already angry
like you're doing it on purpose
uh i'll add that down here
we have the expression
to poke the bear to poke the bear
so when you want to for some reason
uh
tease somebody so to tease someone means
to make jokes or to kind of insult them
you poke poke is this motion poke is
this motion and bear is the animal so a
bear is like an aggressive animal so we
use the expression to poke the bear when
we want to tease somebody who is already
upset or is already angry
so to add fuel to the fire usually
describes a situation specifically a
situation
okay um
let's see other examples good okay i
don't see other questions so let's
continue to the next one the next one is
to wrap your head around something to
wrap your head around something
to wrap this verb is used for like
presence yeah so we cover a presence we
cover a box
this action is called wrapping to wrap
something
but uh here this expression to wrap your
head
around something like we cannot actually
put our head around an object
this expression just means to understand
something
to understand
something
to understand something usually
something that is confusing
and we often use this expression in the
negative form like i can't wrap my head
around why he made this decision or i
can't wrap my head around why he wrote
that message so i can't understand that
thing so to wrap your head around
something kind of makes it sound a
little bit more like uh you're closer to
the situation it has a more casual feel
about it i can't wrap my head around
this so we often use this idiom in the
negative form i can't wrap my head
around that okay
on to the next one to call it a day to
call it a day we use this expression at
the end of the day like when we are
leaving the office or like we're leaving
school and we usually say
i'm gonna
call it a day i'm gonna call it a day so
to call it a day means to finish or to
decide
to decide to finish
to decide to finish work to decide to
finish school
so maybe you've been working all day you
reach the stopping point in your work
and you think okay i'm finished for
today i'm going to call it a day so it
here is today so i'm going to say today
is done today is one day i'm finished
with the day i'm going to call it a day
so we use this at the end of the day
usually when we leave work or we leave
school or we leave some place where we
have responsibility of some kind
good i don't see any questions yet some
good examples are coming in about
wrapping your head around something lily
says why aren't you wrapping your head
around this it's not your business oh
why are you wrapping your head around
this that one's a little that means to
understand so
uh i we wouldn't use this to mean no
like ins in that case maybe it seems
like why do you know that
or how did you know that it's not your
business we would use it in that way we
use wrap your head around something to
try to understand something confusing we
do not use this expression for like um
asking why someone knows something or
how someone knows something
uh
yeah dude guy have a funny name on
youtube has a good uh
response to your answer the to butt your
head into something that's good for your
situation
okay on to the next one time's going
quick last one i have a beautiful visual
for this is a rocket the expression is
it's not rocket science it's not rocket
science this expression means
it's not difficult
so
why did we choose this expression
so rocket science means science we need
to use to launch a rocket like to send a
rocket to space which is difficult or at
least it has the uh
we associate that we think it's a
difficult topic so it's not rocket
science is used when we kind of want to
tease someone
and say this really isn't difficult you
can do it so for example like sending an
email
maybe someone is having trouble sending
an email and we want to tease them like
come on it's not rocket science so it's
not a difficult task you should be able
to do this it should be no problem it's
not
rocket science
okay it's not a big deal
all right uh so we'll end there for the
first part that was a lot of explanation
i gotta go quickly in the next part
so we'll take one quick break i will
introduce now a couple of the new pdfs
that i mentioned at the beginning of the
lesson we have ah the other camera today
cool so i picked up i think i showed
this one last week
a little bit
there are i'll show you these two
for now this one i showed last week
this is the talking online pdf
this one has lots of
internet phrases on the back here
so if you uh like if you see these
online this is what these common
expressions mean and then there are some
other common phrases and questions you
can use as well as vocabulary words
about the internet
this other one i wanted to show this is
leisure it says leisure this means
hobbies so talking about your hobbies
and then again on the back
is some extra vocabulary to help you
express
specifically your hobbies so pick one of
these up you can choose one of these
there's a lot more too so you can take a
look at these you can find these from
the link below the video on youtube or
above the video on facebook if you're
watching on instagram please check
youtube or facebook okay so with that
let's go to the next part if you're just
joining today's topic is everyday
english idioms and please make sure to
like and share the video if you haven't
already so others can find it all right
let's go to the next part the next part
is here this one i also have a beautiful
visual for okay so this next expression
is to burn the candle at both
ends to burn the candle this is my
candle you'll notice it's looking weird
so to burn means like to have light
something on fire and it gradually goes
down like a candle right so usually when
we burn a candle it's at one end so this
is one end of a candle this is the other
end of a candle to burn the candle at
both ends however
means
to work
extremely hard
so it means to work hard yes
but
usually
with negative effects
so yes you're working hard
but because you're burning the candle at
both ends
the candle
we imagine the candle as like your
health like your body's condition or
your mental condition so if you burn the
candle at both ends your mental or your
like physical condition
goes down very quickly so there are
negative effects to burning the candle
at both ends so maybe for example
someone who's at the office like every
night until two in the morning they're
burning the candle at both ends like
they're working too hard it's having a
negative effect on their mental state or
on their physical state to burn the
candle at both ends to burn the candle
at both ends
okay good on to the next one to be in
the dark to be in the dark so in the
dark we always use
this the we always use the definite
article in the dark in this expression
so dark dark means there's no light so
like at night time there is no light
there's no sunlight there's nothing
this expression means to have no
information
to have no information
so
we use this expression
when we want to share that we don't know
something but maybe other people do
so maybe you didn't check an email or
you didn't get some information you need
so you can say uh i'm in the dark about
the topic for today's meeting or
i'm in the dark about the plans for this
weekend what's going on so i'm in the
dark means i have no information i don't
know anything i can't see anything i'm
in the dark in terms of information
okay good some examples are coming in uh
i'm burning the candle at both ends
improving my english okay but be careful
because this is like remember there's
kind of a feeling of a negative effect
like it's a little bit too much maybe
uh but good
other i saw one more uh ah someone i
think lily wrote i'm burnt out right now
i'm burnt out yes so burnout isn't
similar a similar expression which means
i did too much i did too much
okay on to the next one then this one to
play devil's advocate this is a really
interesting expression with a really
interesting history that i don't have
time to talk about i don't think so
let's look at just the meaning to play
to play here does not mean like to have
fun or like to go out and enjoy yourself
to play here
refers to like an actor or an actress
playing meaning being in the role of so
to play devil's advocate so the devil
like to give like a little
image of it the devil is like this bad
this bad creature right evil creature
so devil's advocate so an advocate is
someone who works for
someone else like you're trying to
convince someone of something for
someone else so in this case if i make
myself an example sentence i say i'm
going to play devil's advocate this
expression means
to argue
against something
to argue against something
uh
for
discussion purposes
so
this is very
very common in
business or in like any kind of debate
or discussion to play devil's advocate
so this means i don't believe
the question i'm asking you but i'm
going to ask you the question
so that we can talk about it so for
example if a friend shares an idea a
business idea with me and she says i
want to create a bar this is my concept
i might say okay i'm going to play
devil's advocate here so maybe i think
it's a good idea but we need to talk
about all the possibilities so i say
okay like how are you going to get money
or how are you going to promote this so
we say i'm going to play devil's
advocate in other words i'm not going to
just agree with you i'm going to ask you
questions so you have to explain
yourself so a lot of people sometimes
i've noticed they get kind of like not
sure when they have to explain
themselves but this is very very common
in like english business
and as well just in
in sharing ideas in english discussions
okay on to the next one time's going
quick to draw a blank to draw a blank
means to be unable to remember something
to be unable
to remember something
a great visual to remember something a
great visual for this
is when someone asks you something and
you think you've heard of it before
maybe you don't know but you can't
remember it's like in your head
someone says like hey do you remember
that english channel from the internet
you're like
uh
yes but i can't remember i can't
remember so in your head you're like
this maybe you know this symbol on like
uh in like text so
you're reading text
and there's a blank like i just drew a
blank there's something here
that i can't remember to draw a blank
means to be unable to remember something
i can't remember this thing
sorry i'm drawing a blank on her name or
i'm drawing a blank on that company
means i can't remember it in my mind
there's a blank space right there
to draw a blank
okay
on to the next one another fire
expression to fight fire with fire to
fight fire with fire means to use
the same weapon
or the same well let's go with weapons
to use the same weapon
as your opponent
so to fight fire with fire means to do
the same thing as the person opposing
you as your enemy so this doesn't mean
in like fighting
but it usually means in like arguments
so for example if your neighbor shouts
at you and says you're too noisy then
you might shout back you use the same
tactic shouting to say well you uh stay
up too late and make lots of noise so to
fight fire with fire means to use the
same strategy in a competition or in a
fight to fight fire with fire so if i
use fire
my opponent will also use fire to fight
fire with fire
okay onward we have lots to talk about
still to go viral to go viral means to
get very popular on the internet in a
very short period of time so like maybe
a 24-hour period of time or something
like that to go viral so my video went
viral or this picture went viral this
went viral we use it in past tense a lot
to go viral in past is we went viral my
video went viral something went viral
okay is facebook okay
hmm interesting okay i think youtube is
okay let's go then to
this last one for this category hair of
the dog hair of the dog this is
specifically used uh in alcohol related
situations so
hair of the dog that bit you this is
used uh on the day after drinking you
have a really bad what's called hangover
that feeling of you drank alcohol you
feel bad the next day
so we say to cure a hangover try the
hair of the dog that bit you i don't
have time to explain like the whole
history of this phrase but it means
drink a little bit of the alcohol you
had the night before to fix your
hangover
the hair of the dog is alcohol means
alcohol a little bit of alcohol
okay on to
i guess we'll continue on i think there
might be an issue with the facebook
stream sorry about that some kind of
delay maybe um but i hope that it's okay
so i'm gonna continue on i think youtube
is still okay which is good so let's
continue to the last parts the last ones
are pretty quick
pretty quick expressions first one is
hands down hands down means no doubts
no
doubts so for example hands down she is
the best actress or hands down that was
the best movie of last year hands down
that was the most amazing concert i've
ever seen that means no doubts so the
image here is like
like there's no hands there's no other
people suggesting something different so
that means there's no doubts there's no
other ideas so hands down we use it
right before a strong opinion
usually so hands down that was the best
dinner you've ever made
no doubts no doubts
all right
next one not my cup of tea not my cup of
tea
means i don't like it
i don't like it
so we use this
to try to softly say we don't like
something so like cup of tea
is yes a very simple kind of everyday
thing but when we say that's not my cup
of tea it means that's not what i prefer
that's not the thing that i like it's
not for me
so like
that movie wasn't my cup of tea
or
i don't think that restaurant is my cup
of tea
so it means maybe other people like it
that's fine but it's not for me i don't
really like it very much it's not my cup
of tea it's not my cup of tea
alrighty
almost done on the fence is the next one
on the fence so on the fence maybe let's
add a visual here let's say that this is
a fence so good at drawing okay so on
the fence if we're here on the fence
let's imagine this is a person
on top of the fence
this expression means
not able to decide something on the
fence so i can't decide i can't decide
i'm on the fence about we use we usually
use the preposition about i'm on the
fence about something like i'm on the
fence about which place i should move to
or i'm on the fence about which job i
should take so when you have two options
in a situation
and you can't decide oh i should go this
side or i should go this side to be on
the fence means to be unable to decide
we express our indecision with that like
i don't know
i don't know so we say i'm on the fence
i'm on the fence okay last three to read
between the lines to read between the
lines is a very common expression
imagine
as you're reading text
there are many
lines in text so in a book or in the
newspaper we have
this is one line or two lines of text so
as we read
we see this information
and
in
conversations of course in conversations
we don't have
these lines of course so to read between
the lines
means to understand the meaning that is
not being said it's to understand the re
the meaning that's not being said so i
think uh other like i know an expression
in in japanese is to read uh the air to
read the air this is the english version
to read between the lines so that means
to understand something that is not
being said directly someone didn't
directly say it but we need to try to
understand it
so like maybe a party host is it's late
at night and there are still many people
at the party the party host starts to
clean up maybe cleaning up from the
party and you might say oh like let's
read between the lines here the party
host wants us to leave so they didn't
say
please leave but they're showing like
it's time to go so to read between the
lines means to understand something
that's not said
all right
last two last two this one is long but i
this is an interesting expression to me
i think about this expression a lot the
expression is to take the wind out of
someone's sails to take the wind out of
someone's sails the meaning of this
expression is
to cause someone
to lose confidence
so
this is a great one for an image i will
draw very quickly
so this comes from like a boat
a sail
a sail on a boat oh gosh it's so hard to
see is the big sheet that a boat uses an
old boat uses to move so the boat needs
wind yeah the wind
is caught in the sail and that pushes
the boat along
so to take the wind so that means to
remove the wind
from someone's sail so imagine a person
okay imagine a person is a boat
and you or someone removes the wind
from that person's sails that means you
take their confidence away like they
can't move or they feel stuck you're
taking away their motivation so that's
to take the wind out of someone's sails
like ah
my boss told me that my my work was bad
last week that's like uh like that
person took the wind out of my sails
like they took away my confidence they
took away my motivation or like i
invited my friend
for coffee but she just ignored my
message like it took the wind out of my
sails so there's like
a loss of confidence involved there
okay last one
last one hit the hey easy one i finished
with an easy one she means to go to
sleep to go to sleep i'm gonna hit the
hay means i'm gonna go to sleep you
might also know uh hit the sack uh
that's another one that means
go to sleep leah yes stealing my thunder
is a little bit different stealing my
thunder means taking
uh like taking over when someone else
has an exciting moment so like kanye
west taking over for taylor swift
remember wasn't that when he like was
like beyonce did the greatest album okay
nevermind i'll tell you later leah um so
these are some everyday english idioms
that you can use at work at school at
home uh yes to take the wind out of
someone's sails is to demoralize them
person
all right but i have to finish up
today's lesson if you are watching on
facebook sorry i think there might have
been a little network problem there but
i hope it's okay so we'll finish up
there for today uh
thanks very much for sending lots of
example questions or example sentences
uh we'll be back again next week next
week i'm going to talk about used to and
would used to and would so next week
will be august 28th
august 28th uh wednesday august 28th 10
p.m eastern standard time there's an st
there it should be th but uh just for
them just so they know uh that will be
10 p.m eastern standard time that is new
york city time if you don't know your
local time please google it so
uh so please join us to talk about used
to i'll talk a lot about distant past
expressions so how to explain like your
childhood or maybe your school studies
or whatever so please join us again next
week for that lesson and i showed you a
couple of these the new
the new pdfs if you haven't checked it
out there's a lot of new stuff to look
at from the link below the video on
youtube and above the video on facebook
so go get these you can download these
these are free
check them out we'll finish there for
today though so thanks very much for
joining us don't forget to send some
questions to ask alicia please and we'll
see you again next week enjoy your week
enjoy your weekend thanks for liking and
sharing the video and we'll see you
again soon bye bye
you