Welcome to Visual Vocabulary, the new animated series from EnglishAnyone.com that helps you
learn useful English expressions the same way native speakers do so you can master them
quickly, AND start using them confidently in your conversations today!
Today’s expression is “to muddy the waters.”
This is a very common phrase meaning to make a situation or issue more complex or confusing
by adding additional, and often unimportant, information or elements.
Imagine you’re standing in a shallow, beautiful stream.
It’s a sunny day in the forest, and you can look down through the clear water at your
feet.
The mud on the bottom of the stream is undisturbed, and you can see little fish swimming by your
toes.
But, once you begin to move your feet, you send mud from the bottom of the stream up
into the water, making the stream cloudy and reducing visibility.
Like muddying the waters of a real stream, when you add lots of additional, unnecessary
things to a situation or issue, you make it more confusing and difficult to understand.
to muddy the waters
“To muddy the waters” is a phrase you can use in both professional and casual situations:
A: By introducing all of that extra data at end of the meeting, Tom just muddied the waters.
B: I know.
Sometimes he can explain things too much.
A: I hope I’m not muddying the waters, but there are a few other things about the project
we need to consider.
B: I understand.
It’s important to be thorough.
A: Stop muddying the waters!
No one cares about all of these useless facts!
B: I’m sorry.
Forget everything else.
Just follow the instructions on the form.
A: Let me tell you exactly what we’re going to do each day on our vacation!
B: You’d muddy the waters of my enjoyment by explaining everything now.
Just tell me only what we’re going to do next.
Well, that’s the end of this lesson.
But if you feel like you’re muddying the waters of your English education by learning
lots of information that’s not helping you speak more fluently, take our free English
fluency test by clicking on the link in this video!
This quick, simple test will show you exactly what to focus on so you can finally become
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Click on the link in this video to take your free test now, and get personalized advice
that will help you see immediate improvement in your spoken English.
Have a fantastic day, be sure to click that like button, and we’ll see you in the next
lesson!