I Bob the Canadian here I thought I
would start this video by letting you
have a nice look at the country lane
behind me when I was out on a walk the
other day I found this country lane
across the road from me and I thought I
should do a video outside where I go to
a bunch of different places and teach
you a bunch of different English idioms
so welcome to this video we're going to
do just that
but I'm gonna step out of the frame
again so you can have a nice look at the
country lane behind me when I come back
we'll get started
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so there are two idioms that I want to
teach you as we look at this country
lane behind me but before we get started
with that though if you are new here
don't forget to click that red subscribe
button below and give me a thumbs up if
this video helps you learn just a little
bit more English so we have a country
lane the first English idiom that I
wanted to teach you is a trip down
memory lane or a walk down memory lane
we refer to memory lane as the place we
go when we're talking about something
that happened in the past with someone
else so when I sit down and have tea
with my mom if we talk about what it was
like when I was a kid we would say that
my mom and I are going for a trip down
memory lane or a walk down memory lane
so whenever you sit with someone and you
talk about things that have happened in
the past we call that a trip down memory
lane or a walk down memory lane the
other thing I wanted to talk about with
this Lane behind me if you notice it
goes up hill we have another phrase in
English called
an uphill battle so when you are doing
something that's very very difficult it
can be like fighting an uphill battle if
you could imagine it was a long time ago
and if there was an army coming from the
top and I had to not only climb the hill
but I had to fight my way up the hill we
would call that a literal uphill battle
but in life sometimes you have
situations where your life feels like an
uphill battle so that's two phrases that
I've now taught you out on this country
Lane let's go somewhere else on the farm
and in the surrounding countryside to
learn a couple more so you can see down
here that this water is flowing in one
direction there's a bit of an echo
because I'm under the bridge right now
we have two phrases in English two
sayings about water and flow one of them
is to say that you go with the flow when
you go with the flow in life it means
that you don't put up much resistance
that you just do what other people want
and you just enjoy life and you don't
argue a lot so you often just go with
the flow but if you go against the flow
or if you go against the stream it means
that you argue a lot that you sometimes
disagree with people and sometimes you
are someone who takes a contrary opinion
or the opposite opinion so when you go
with the flow
you are very agreeable when you go
against the flow or when you go against
the stream you are very disagreeable so
behind me you see a bridge and there are
two English idioms two English phrases I
wanted to talk about that have the word
bridge in it the first is the phrase
water under the bridge when we say
something is water under the bridge
we're actually talking about something
that happened in the past that we don't
think we need to worry about or think
about anymore
let's pretend that you and a friend had
a big fight
three years ago but now you want to go
on a vacation together but you might be
worried that your friend is still angry
about the fight you had you could say to
them let's just consider that water
under the bridge when water flows under
a bridge
it starts on one side it goes out the
other and then it's gone and we're
talking about the same thing here let's
think about the conflict in the past as
water under the bridge it came it flowed
under and it left let's not worry about
it anymore the second phrase with bridge
is the phrase we'll cross that bridge
when we get there
or we'll cross that bridge when we come
to it this refers to a situation where
if a couple of people are working on
something and one person keeps thinking
about step three of the project and you
still haven't done step one you could
say hey we'll cross that bridge when we
come to it or we'll cross that bridge
when we get to it basically what you're
saying is don't worry about step three
or four or five just worry about step
one right now we'll cross that bridge
when we come to it we'll take care of
step three when we get there
so this bush has a lot of thorns on it
it's it's really sure out mmm I should
be more careful
it has a lot of thorns on it and it
reminds me of the English phrase that we
use sometimes to describe someone who's
annoying we say that they are a thorn in
our side if you work with someone who is
always being difficult it makes your job
really really hard to do you could say
that that person is a thorn in your side
like one of these sharp thorns here so
you can see on this tree that the buds
are starting to open let me try to get
them in focus for you
this tree had small buds last week and
they're slowly opening and that reminded
me of an English phrase nip it in the
bud when you say that you need to nip
something in the bud it means that you
want to get rid of a problem before it
gets too big when you nip something in
the bud when you nip it usually means
that you pull something off or get rid
of it it means that you are early and
you are solving the problem when it's
still really really small
some people say nip it in the bud some
people mistakenly say nip it in the butt
that's not the actual phrase by the way
your butt is down here I'm not going to
pan the camera down so you can see it
but if you nip something in the bud it
means that you get rid of the problem or
solve the problem when it's still really
really small so winter is over and you
can see that this bush is starting to
get a little bit green and that reminded
me of the English phrase to beat around
the bush when someone beats around the
bush it means that when they're talking
to you or when they're asking you about
something
they don't get to the point let's
imagine you really want to take a day
off work and you go to your boss and you
say hey I've worked really hard lately
and I've noticed that the other people
take days off every once in a while as
you say those things your boss could say
to you just stop beating around the bush
and ask me what you want to ask me so
basically when you
beat around the bush it means you kind
of talk about a whole bunch of other
things instead of talking about the main
thing that you should be talking about
so you can see beside me here is a field
this one has hay growing in it or grass
this one doesn't have anything planted
in it yet but when I came out here to
look at my field it reminded me of the
English phrase outstanding in their
field when someone is outstanding in
their field it means that they are
really really good at the job they do
maybe you know someone who is a
scientist and they are one of the best
scientists in the field that they study
in maybe they are in the field of
medicine or research and you would say
that that person is outstanding in their
field it means that they are better than
a lot of the other people in that field
and it means that they are well
respected in that field as well so this
Creek behind me floods every year but
because this tree has really good roots
it stays where it is there are two
english phrases that i want to teach you
that have the word root or roots in it
the first is in english when you say
that you put down roots it means that
you have decided to live somewhere if i
was to move to Toronto and if I was to
put down roots it would mean that I
moved there permanently that I decided
that I wanted to leave the farm that'll
never happen and move to Toronto and put
down roots so the English phrase to put
down roots means that you have moved
somewhere permanently the other phrase I
wanted to teach you is the phrase to get
to the root of the problem so when you
have a problem in your life and you want
to figure out why you have that problem
what you do is you try to get to the
root of the problem so again roots are
what are in the ground under a plant or
a tree and when you put down roots it
means that you settle somewhere or go to
live somewhere permanently and when you
try to get to the root of the problem
you try to figure out the reason why you
have that problem so a long time ago my
brother-in-law and I built this fence
and there are three phrases three idioms
I want
teach you that have the word fence in it
now the first is that in English we
sometimes say that good fences make good
neighbors what we mean by that is that
when you live somewhere and there is a
fence between you and your neighbor when
people have something that separates
them physically it can actually be a
good thing it can help them get along
and it can help them enjoy each other's
company better because there is a
physical barrier that prevents them from
oh maybe taking each other stuff and
those kinds of things so that's the
first one the second one I wanted to
teach you is the phrase the grass is
always greener on the other side of the
fence what that means is that a lot of
times literally if you look at your
neighbor's yard you might think that
their grass is greener than yours but we
really use this phrase to talk about
times when we are jealous about what
someone else has so maybe someone has a
nicer house than us and someone might
say to you you know when you keep
talking about your neighbors house it
sounds like you are jealous but you know
the grass is always greener on the other
side of the fence so that could mean
that even though your neighbor has a
nicer house than you his life might not
be that much better so that's two
phrases that have the word fence in it
and then the last phrase I actually have
to look at my paper I forgot the last
phrase Oh
the last phrase in English is to be on
the fence when we say that someone is on
the fence about something it means that
they are undecided one way or the other
so let's say someone says to me hey do
you want to go to a movie Friday night I
could say you know I'm kind of on the
fence about that I have two other things
that I could do and I haven't really
decided which one I want to do so I'm on
the fence so anyways that was three
idioms involving offense well hey thank
you so much for watching this video on
some English phrases and idioms that I
was able to teach you in the great
outdoors I hope that you were able to
learn just a little bit more English in
this video I'm Bob the Canadian thanks
again for watching if you're new here
don't forget to click that red subscribe
button down there and give me
thumbs up if this video helped you learn
just a little bit more English and while
you're here why don't you stick around
and watch another video
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