hi i'm anne marie with speak confident
english and welcome to this week's
confident english lesson so last week i
was walking to a coffee shop to do a
little bit of work and while i was
walking i was chatting with a friend of
mine on the phone and we were talking
about her life what we were up to the
things we were doing at work and she
said anne-marie it sounds like we both
need to let down her hair we both need
to let down our hair what do you think
she really meant by that she definitely
was not talking about some new hairstyle
or fixing our hair and the moment she
said it i knew that i wanted to share
this idiom with you it's actually one of
my favorite idioms and I realized that I
haven't done a lesson on idioms in a
really long time so that inspired me to
do today's lesson where we're going to
focus on eight common English idioms
that focus on different parts of the
body you're going to learn exactly what
those idioms mean how to use them with
some examples and you'll have the
opportunity to practice as well
[Music]
idiom number one is to get cold feet now
to be honest with you if you've watched
any American rom-coms or romantic
comedies you've probably seen a film
about this idiom we'll talk more about
that in a moment but let's imagine that
a guy will call him Diego is going to
get married today and he's with his
friend getting ready for the wedding the
ceremony and just before it all starts
he turns to his best friend and he says
oh my gosh I don't know if I can do this
I'm getting cold feet what do you think
he means if you're not sure let me give
you another example imagine that you
have a presentation to give in English
next week you're preparing you've been
working on it but just before the
meeting or the conference you tell your
colleague is there any way we can cancel
this I'm getting cold feet the idiom to
get cold feet is a great way to express
that feeling of anxiety or nervousness
that you might have before a really big
or important event like a wedding or
giving a presentation in English now if
you ever know someone who has cold feet
about something one of the most common
things that we say or the most common
pieces of advice is don't worry everyone
gets cold feet you're going to be fine
so the next time one of your friends or
colleagues has cold feet you can
definitely use that now as I said we do
have a lot of rom-coms or romantic
comedies about this in the United States
if you've ever seen a film like the
runaway bride with Julia Roberts
that is definitely a movie about getting
cold feet
idiom number two is to get something off
your chest imagine that you're at a cafe
with a friend and you know that
something weird is going on she's acting
strange and then she says to you I need
to get something off my chest what do
you think she's really saying we use
that idiom when we need to tell someone
something that might be really difficult
to say maybe it's uncomfortable and we
know that it will cause some stress or
tension maybe we've been hiding
something or we need to confess
something in all of those situations we
can use that idiom I need to get
something off my chest
idiom number three to have a chip on
your shoulder to have a chip on your
shoulder we use that idiom to describe a
situation when someone suddenly gets
angry or frustrated one moment
everything's fine in the next moment
they're super frustrated about something
really small or something that doesn't
seem very important for example maybe
you come home and you've had a good day
at work it was a long day but it was a
good day but you arrived home and there
is stuff all over the floor it's chaos
there's dishes in the sink that need to
be cleaned their socks and toys on the
floor and all the sudden very quickly
you become frustrated and angry so maybe
one of your children or your spouse
might say why do you have such a chip on
your shoulder in other words why are you
getting so angry or frustrated about
something so small and usually that
anger or frustration comes from
something in the past something that
annoyed us or bothered us in the past
and suddenly in this moment that same
situation makes us feel really angry or
frustrated number four to pull someone's
leg let's imagine that you've just spent
the last three months working really
hard to organize a big event at your
work and
has taken a lot of time a lot of energy
and the day before the big event
your colleague says oh did you hear
we're going to cancel the event you
would probably feel a little bit
frustrated or shocked and your friend
then might say ah I'm just pulling your
leg what is your friend mean I'm just
pulling your leg we use that to say that
we're just kidding or making a joke
another example that I can give you and
this one is true my grandfather loved to
pull other people's legs it was
something he did for fun he thought it
was funny to always make jokes idiom
number five to let down your hair this
is the idiom I used at the beginning of
our lesson today when my friend told me
on the phone that it seemed like we both
needed to let down our hair let's go
back to that situation where you've just
planned a huge event for your work and
the event goes perfectly of course after
three months you're feeling a little
stressed so when the event is over your
friend says that was amazing you did
such a good job but now you need to let
down your hair what do you think your
friend means of course your friend is
trying to tell you that now you need to
relax do something fun and just enjoy
your life or your day things have been
really stressful and now it's time to
just calm down
idiom number six is a pain in the neck
now once again with organizing an
enormous event let's imagine that five
hundred people came to this work event
I'm sure that during the organization
during those three months of putting all
the details together there were probably
some moments that were a pain in the
neck now we could say that and mean that
you really do have pain in your neck but
in this situation it may
something a little different when we use
this idiomatically we use it to say that
something is annoying it's bothering us
or it's frustrating we can use this
idiom to describe people as well it's
definitely not positive but we can do it
maybe you have a colleague who's always
negative they always come late to work
and you might say ah my colleague is
such a pain in the neck idiom number
seven to get out of someone's hair this
is one of my favorites let's say you
have a huge deadline at work you have
one more day to finish a big project and
you really need to focus but during the
day all of your colleagues keep coming
to your office with questions people are
knocking on your door someone's calling
your phone every five minutes
your children are calling you there's so
many things happening and you keep
getting distracted so during the day you
might start to think I wish everyone
would just get out of my hair what do
you think that means we definitely use
that idiom when we want to say that we
wish someone or other people would stop
annoying us stop bothering us stop
getting in the way and finally our last
idiom today to rub elbows with somebody
this is definitely not about touching
someone else's elbow let's say that your
company is planning a end-of-the-year
party everyone in the company is invited
and you're feeling kind of excited but
also a little nervous about rubbing
elbows with some of the senior level
management and maybe the owner of the
company what do you think that means to
rub elbows with senior level management
or the owner of the company we use this
idiom in situations where you're going
to spend time with someone or with a
group of people who you don't normally
spend time with so another
is if you're lucky when you go to
Hollywood you might rub elbows with a
celebrity and with that we've got eight
English idioms that we use everyday in
English and you should definitely start
using these idioms as well we've talked
about what they mean
you've got examples and now it's time
for you to practice now before I share
my practice questions with you if you
enjoyed this lesson and found it useful
to you be sure to let me know and there
are three great ways for you to do that
you can subscribe to this YouTube
channel and give this lesson a thumbs up
share it with friends and colleagues on
Facebook and be sure to share your
answers to my practice questions you can
share in the comments below this video
or in the comment section at the end of
the online lesson now here are my three
questions for you number one have you
ever gotten in cold feet if you have
what was the situation and what did you
do about it did you give up did you
cancel the event or did you find some
way to go through with it
to continue number two imagine that you
need to tell your best friends something
it's something that you've needed to
tell her for a very long time what would
you say and finally number three you've
planned a really big vacation with your
family and you decided to go skydiving
it's the very last moment and you're
feeling super nervous so what would you
say again you can share your answers
with me in the comments just below this
video or in the comment section of the
online lesson thank you so much for
joining me and I look forward to seeing
you next week for your confident English
lesson
you
[Music]