Hello everyone!
Welcome to Idiom 100, where we learn 100 commonly used idioms by native English speakers.
All of the explanations are in English, but don't worry.
Hang in there, study hard, listen carefully and soon you'll be using these idioms in your daily conversations.
Is everyone ready? Let's begin.
Hello everyone! Welcome back.
Today's idiom is: out of my element.
Out of my element.
Alright, 'element' that's a kind of difficult word.
Okay, so let's imagine you are in a room, okay?
And in this room, you feel very comfortable, okay?
It has all of your favorite things.
You like watching TV, you like cooking, you like playing the guitar.
So, in this room is all of your favorite things that you are most comfortable with, okay?
And this room, we'll call it your 'element'.
Okay, this is where you feel so comfortable, in your element, okay?
And when you go out of your element, it's kind of a scary place
and uncomfortable and you can't relax and you can't do your best.
Out of your element, okay?
But, in your element, you feel happy and secure and comfortable
and out of your element or out of my element, is kind of scary and not a good place for you, alright?
So, let's imagine this picture with the room, your element, and out of your element and let's listen to some examples.
So, what do you think about Akihabara?
It's definitely an interesting place, but I felt a little out of my element walking next to people dressed in costumes.
Alright, so they're talking about Akihabara and he felt out of his element walking around with people in costumes, yeah.
Maybe he doesn't wear costumes and he felt a little uncomfortable, a little strange, okay?
Let's listen to another example.
How did you feel when you first went to Egypt?
Well, I felt out of my element at first, because I was in a different culture, food, language, but I adjusted after some time.
Alright, so we're talking about a trip to Egypt and at first, the culture and the food and the language was different.
Yeah, so he felt out of his element, a little strange and uncomfortable.
Alright, so to be 'out of my element' or 'out of your element' means to be uncomfortable in a different environment, yeah.
It's not the usual environment or situation that you're comfortable with.
Yeah, it's a little different and strange, new, uncomfortable, okay?
Maybe it's a bad situation or maybe it's just different from what you're used to, alright?
So, I think it's kind of important for us to try being out of our element sometimes
if we are so comfortable all the time, we're not thinking are we're not developing as people, right?
So, that's why traveling can be so important for us and if we travel to new countries and different cultures,
we can experience being out of our element and really learn about the world and the different people, right?
So, I hope that you try going out of your element and we usually use this phrase with 'be'.
So, 'be out of your element' or 'feel out of your element', right?
So, maybe you can feel out of your element just looking around and you don't feel comfortable
or you can actually be out of your element.
Yeah, if you go to a really different culture, yeah.
When I first came to Japan, I was out of my element.
I never experienced this before, I felt very new and different things, but now it's not out of my element anymore, alright?
So, let's try using this phrase next time you want to experience something different or you are in a different situation.
And I'll see you around next time!