pigs might fly she paid through her nose he's playing it by his ear ah sounds
like gobbledygook to me though it is true that idiom in English can certainly
be strange and confusing but boy do we use them a lot so they are super useful
that's why today we're learning 50 of the best of British idioms including
Thea confusing and bizarre ones learning idioms will aid your understanding of
natural English but it will also make you sound more natural if you start
using them because they are a very natural part of British conversation
they also see something about the character of the language they're very
expressive and US native speakers we just love to hear you using idioms so
come with me let me take you on a journey through the strange and
wonderful world of British idioms
I've always guys don't forget to subscribe if you haven't already and hit
the notification belt so you don't miss one of our lessons right they say money
talks so let's start with money number one is a penny for your thoughts
a penny for your thoughts and basically we say this when a person is looking
thoughtful and we'd like to know what they're thinking
now remember idioms are not literal so it doesn't mean I'm going to give them a
penny for their thoughts but it does mean that I'm almost would offer a penny
in return for them sharing how they're feeling penny for your thoughts Leila
hmm oh nothing number two what a great phrase to look
like a million dollars or in American English to look like a million bucks now
to look like a million dollars is really quite easy to understand because it
means you look fantastic you look like you've dressed up fancy like you're a
rich person so if we say only goodness you look like a million dollars you look
amazing we're saying you look fantastic Leila I
have to say in that dress you look like a million dollars number three to be
born with a silver spoon in one's mouth to be born with a silver spoon in his ha
your mouth now basically this means that we are born into privilege a silver
spoon so a silver spoon meant that your parents were probably wealthy you were
born into riches now if we say this about a person it's not necessarily
positive we often mean like oh he or she did not work what they have they were
just born into it right now we're moving to idioms which are related to the body
because there are a lot of these in English number four is to cost an arm
and a leg and basically this means that something costs a lot it's so expensive
that you might as well have had to pay with your arm and your leg so often we
say this when we think something is very expensive we say oh my goodness that
glass of wine cost me and like number five to give someone the
cold shoulder to give someone the cold shoulder so basically what this means is
if you give someone the cold shoulder you ignore them it's almost like saying
you turn your back to them your your back is cold towards them so if we say
that somebody gave you the cold shoulder it means big nor gee I saw my
ex-boyfriend at the party but you wouldn't talk to me he gave me the cold
shoulder number six is to have cold feet to have cold feet and basically this
means you are nervous about something or you're having second thoughts about
something so we often use this if somebody is having doubts or second
thoughts before their wedding or before making a big life decision so a big
change in their life like starting a new job buying a house getting committed to
someone anything like that number seven is a sight for sore eyes a
sight for sore eyes and basically this means boy am I happy
to see you so if we say oh you're a sight for sore eyes we mean you're a
happy sight for my tired eyes so if we haven't seen someone for a while or if
we've had a long day at work and then we come home to see our girlfriend or
boyfriend we might say oh you're a sight for sore eyes number eight this is off
the top of my head off the top of my head and this literally means that you
haven't thought much about something you're just guessing or answering
spontaneously so a very common to hear this in conversation if someone asked
you your opinion but you're not sure about something but your initial
thoughts are this you can say hmm well off the top of my head and then say it
like that right guys if you're enjoying this lesson but you're starting to
wonder about how you're going to remember all this vocabulary which is a
common question vocabulary is of course essential for learning a language but
remembering it can be rather tricky and is why we wrote a guide to learning and
building your vocabulary which is an e-book course so it teaches you how to
learn more vocabulary by learning word families how to record it effectively
how to build up synonyms and there are pages and pages of new vocabulary we
also have three exclusive videos that come with the course now if you're not
sure yet and you'd like to learn more then you can get a free sample of the
course on our website just head to the link here so then you can try it out and
see for yourself what you think number nine to look down
your nose at somebody to look down your nose at somebody and this means to look
down on someone so to be a little bit snobby do you think you are superior or
better than other people so if you say our neighbors really look down their
nose at us it must be because they live in such a huge house so it could be that
somebody is collabora richer and higher status but obviously
it is not nice behavior so if we say someone looks down their nose we're
saying that's knobby number 10 is to play it by ear now this phrase is a
little bit confusing because of course be very difficult to play something with
your ear unless maybe you're playing Chinese whispers but to play something
by ear in fact means to play something spontaneously to not make a fixed plan
maybe because it's difficult to make a fixed plan so often we'll say yeah maybe
we could go out Saturday although I'm not sure if I'm gonna have time I've got
to all these chores but let's stay in touch and we'll play it by ear
number 11 to put your foot in your mouth to put your foot in your mouth she's
very very hard to do unless you are very good at Yoga now to put your foot in
your mouth means to say something which is inappropriate to say the wrong thing
basically we often will shorten this to saying I put my foot in it so basically
it means we accidentally offend a person by saying the wrong
by saying something inappropriate so I've done this before when I asked a
friend how his girlfriend was and I said oh how is your lovely girlfriend but I
hadn't seen on social media that they had broken up and he was a little bit
like he did not want to answer me so I felt quite embarrassed and I definitely
put my foot in it number 12 is get off my back get off my back we use this
expression when somebody is bothering us a lot criticizing us or telling us what
to do so we might say oh my boss really won't get off my back at the moment he's
all the time giving me new tasks to do or telling me I've done something wrong
they just can't get him off my back or sometimes we might talk about our
parents this way we might say oh my mum's really on my back at the moment
about things number 13 is to get something off your chest to get
something off your chest and this is when we need to talk to somebody and we
we want to tell them about how we're feeling or about a problem we have or
confess something to them so we feel like it's almost here
and we want to get it off your chest we want to not be having it in sight
anymore we want to share it with someone so after we've perhaps shared our issues
with someone we might say feels so much better now I really needed to get that
off my chest number 14 is keep your chin up keep your chin up and basically this
means come on cheer up it's like vain cheer up so if a person is feeling down
a bit blue and you want to encourage them to feel better or to be more
cheerful you could say I'll come on keep your chin up it's going to be okay
number 15 my lips are sealed my lips are sealed
now if somebody says this this means my lips are closed if something is filled
it is completely closed over we cannot get in there so for example a safe is
sealed or something like this so if we tell someone a secret it is quite
appropriate for them to reply by saying I'm going to tell anyone my lips are
sealed number 16 to be punching
above your weight to be punching above your weight and basically this means
that you are going above the level which normally you should be at or normally
you are at so if we say oh she's punching above her weight with that new
job we mean that we think she is not quite appropriate for that level of job
she's gone to a level which is too high for her not appropriate for her we often
also use this about couples if we think that one is not actually good enough for
the other we can say how did he get her he's really punching above his weight or
we might often shorten this to gosh he's punching or she's punching meaning that
guy or girl is just too perfect for them too good for them number 17 to twist
someone's arm to twist someone's arm which would be quite painful however
what it actually means is to persuade somebody so if you twist someone's arm
you're persuading them you're coaxing them to do something so if someone isn't
quite sure that they want to do something they need some persuading then
we would say we twist their arm we persuade them and it doesn't mean that
we are very forceful about this even though the phrase sounds like that it
just means that we we find a way to make them think that it is a good idea or
it's good for them now later I know you've been eating a bit of chocolate
and I think it would be good for you to go out for a good healthy walk now it's
a beautiful day the sun is shining it may be cold but once you get going
you'll be fine come on what do you say oh right then
just a short walk number 18 is to stab someone in the back to stab someone in
the back and basically this means that you've betrayed someone or someone has
betrayed you so if we say oh she stabbed me in the back it means she betrayed my
trust or she told my secret or she became friends with the enemy anything
like this right guys moving on to idioms related to food
because there are a lot of these so number 19 is food for thought
food for thought and this basically means hmm this is worth considering so
if we say okay that new offer it's it's food for thought
meaning I'm gonna think about it I'm going to consider it number 20 is gone
pear-shaped which basically means something has gone wrong gone very wrong
in fact if we so what it's all gone pear-shaped I don't know why your pear
inspired this idiom obviously a pear doesn't seem to look quite right maybe
because it's not round but basically if we say it's gone pear-shaped it's all
gone horribly wrong number 21 is in a nutshell in a nutshell and this
basically means to summarize to summarize something so if we say okay in
a nutshell the present perfect tense is the connecting tense between the past
and the present so this would mean this is it
in summary in a nutshell in a very small space number 22 like chalk and cheese if
we say that two people are like chalk and cheese it means they're complete
opposites chalk and cheese are pretty not similar so talk you can't eat cheese
you can so we could say that couple it's amazing they get on so well because
they're like chalk and cheese number 23 this is the opposite of the
phrase this is like two peas in a pod it's a very cute phrase like two peas in
a pod and it means very very similar very good friends often or very
compatible so if we say my daughters get on so well they're so similar they're
two peas in a pod I have a question for you guys do you
think Leila and I are two peas in a pod or do you think we're like chalk and
cheese what's your opinion tell us about that in the comments below number 24 is
selling like hotcakes selling like hotcakes basically this
means something is selling very fast it's really really
popular so if we say the new Harry Potter
Wow it's selling like hotcakes it means it's flying off the shelves yet many
people are buying it number 25 is the cream of the crop the cream of the crop
and if you think about the fact that cream is the richest the most delicious
part of milk this is basically what it means it means the best of a group so
crops of course are fruit and vegetables which we grow and then harvest so if we
say the cream of that we mean that the best of that so the best of a group
number 26 is the icing on the cake the icing on the cake
basically this means in a very good situation already something extra
happens that's good it's almost like the cherry on the top
which is another idiom so the icing on the cake the extra things that made it
special with something that's already good however we can also use this in the
negative we can say that was the icing on the cake as in in an already negative
situation the extra thing that made it even worse
number 27 this is a nice easy one it is to be the breadwinner to be the
breadwinner and this is basically the person who earns the most in the family
it's a person who's bringing home the bread so bringing home the money the
food everything like that of course in many countries today you
often will have both parents as the breadwinner so this is a little bit
old-fashioned now however we do still use it sometimes number 28 is to butter
someone up to butter someone up and basically this means to be extra nice to
somebody to give them compliments to flatter them because you want something
because you would like them to do you a favor or you want special treatment
something like this so you might say I'm really buttering my boss up at the
moment I'm taking her a coffee everyday because I really need some extra holiday
number 29 is to egg some on to egg someone on and this means to
encourage a person to do a bad thing to encourage them to do something which is
a bit naughty for example so an example sentence could be she wasn't sure about
playing the practical joke on the teacher but her classmate egged her on
so they encouraged her to go on go on do it so this is to egg someone on number
30 is a nice simple one it is to have a bun in the oven and this means to be
pregnant to be expecting a baby so you have to be a little bit careful with
this phrase though because you can't say to somebody you don't know very well Oh
congratulations on your bun in the oven it's informal number 31 is to spill the
beans to spill the beans and this means to tell a secret or to tell information
that was supposed to be private for now usually this is by accident if we spill
the beans we didn't know that we were supposed to keep it secret or we didn't
know that other people didn't know something like this so to spill the
beans that's right guys 12 amazing lessons for you this Christmas Leila
don't spill the beans it's supposed to be a sweet fruit oh sorry
number 32 if to take something with a pinch of salt to take something with a
pinch of salt this means that you don't necessarily believe it's the whole truth
so if you say I'm gonna take that with a pinch of salt it means I'm not going to
completely believe that I'm not sure that it's the complete truth okay guys
these next two they're not in a particular category they are
miscellaneous but they're good ones for you to know so number 33 is to be
barking up the wrong tree to be barking up the wrong tree
so barking is of course what a dog does so imagine a dog barking at a tree and
basically it means that if you're barking up the wrong tree you have been
looking in the wrong place or you're misguided in your judge
about something so for example you could be accusing the wrong person of
something or thinking that somebody is suitable for something when they are not
so an example sentence would be he's really barking up the wrong tree if he
thinks I fancy him number 34 is a taste of your own medicine a taste of your own
medicine and basically this is that you treat someone else the way they have
been treating to you and normally this is negative so if he's so right I'm
going to give him a taste of his own medicine basically it means that you're
going to show her how she's been treating you you're going to behave in
the same way right guys now we are moving on to animals idioms with animals
number 35 is to make a mountain out of a molehill now a mole is a little animal
which digs underground and when it comes up it makes a little hill people usually
don't like them in their gardens because they ruin their lovely gardens but if we
make a mountain out of a molehill this means we make something or a big thing
out of nothing so we can say oh why did she make such a big deal about the date
of the party changing she really made a mountain out of a molehill so to make a
big thing about something which is actually very small and unimportant
number Bertie thinks is to put the cat amongst the pigeons so imagine if you
throw a cat or put a cat probably better amongst a group of pigeons the pigeons
would probably be quite worried frightened shocked so if we say that
something puts the cat amongst the pigeons it means that the reaction that
is created by that thing is shock worry confusion this kind of thing so it's
usually something unexpected that happens which causes people to feel
those emotions number 37 is the lion's share and a lion's share and basically
this means the bigger portion of something so this could be money or food
very often it's actually food so basically it means the bigger amount
which we give to someone number 30 is hold your horses hold your horses
this of course comes from the time when we used to get around by using a horse
and cart and if we held our horses this means we would slow them down or make
them stop so basically the idiom is very logical it means slow down hang on
so if somebody is making a lot of plans without our agreement or talking a lot
and we can't keep up you can say whoa hold your horses
number 39 to let the cat out of the bag to let the cat out of the bag and this
just means to reveal a secret the same as to spill the beans so when you
accidentally all perhaps sometimes on purpose say something which is supposed
to be a secret number 40 is a wild goose chase a wild goose chase and basically
this means a chase or a search for something which is probably quite
difficult to find so if we say oh it was a wild goose chase trying to find that
secret party that everybody was talking about this means it was very difficult
to find the poverty you felt like you were driving all over the place and you
couldn't find it so you felt like you were chasing a wild goose number 41 is
to be in the doghouse to be in the doghouse and basically this means you
are in trouble or you have upset another person and they are not speaking to you
because they're upset with you because you did something wrong so often we use
this about our partners for example if they forget something which they were
supposed to remember like a birthday oh we definitely put them in the doghouse
to be upset with Darlene we make them know that they were not happy with them
so an example sentence would be Layla is still in the doghouse after making her
husband miss his basketball game number 42 is to kill two birds with one stone
to kill two birds with one stone and basically this means to get two actions
done with one thing so for example if you say
okay I'm gonna pick the children up and do the shopping at the same time as the
school is near I'm gonna kill two birds with one stone
number 43 is to make a beeline to make a beeline and this means to go straight
for to head directly for something so for example when I go to airports I
always make a beeline for the duty-free perfumes and chocolates I love going to
try on the perfumes looking at the discounts so I don't do I don't go
anywhere else I head straight there so to make a beeline number 44 to smell a
rat this is when you begin to get suspicious about something something
doesn't feel quite right and you begin to suspect that there is trickery or
betrayal involved so an example sentence would be when the politicians started to
delay implementing their promises the public smelt a rat number 45 is straight
from the horse's mouth straight from the horse's mouth and this just means
directly from the original source you heard it or you were told it from the
original source you didn't hear it from someone else you heard it from that
person so if you say well I know that Jenni's going to leave the job because I
heard it from the horse's mouth this means Jenny told me herself
number 46 is to take the bull by the horns which would be very very dangerous
basically this means to face boldly a difficult situation or challenge so not
to avoid it to directly confront it so for example we could say if you really
want to promotion at work you should take the bull by the horns go and speak
to the boss directly about it number 47 is until the cows come home
and this means a very long time so if we say oh you'll wait until the cows come
home this means you'll wait for a very long time number 48 is to pig out or to
bark out this means to eat a lot pigs famously have a big
Appetite they usually enjoy their food and like to eat a lot so if we say we
pick out it means we too lot we we have enjoy a
large quantity of food number 49 is pigs might fly pigs might
fly and we say this when we think something is very unlikely to happen so
we think it's almost impossible like winning the lottery
so if Laila said to me savor it one day you might meet your dream man you might
meet Ryan Gosling I could say huh I'd like to think that but pigs might fly
finally the last one we made it to the end to chicken out to chicken out now
chickens are not known for being particularly brave so if we chicken out
of something it means we decide not to do something that we are scared of we
chicken out in fact if we think somebody is being a coward not being brave we can
say ah you're being such a chicken so to chicken out phrasal verb to not do
something that you are afraid of to decide I can't do it right guys we've
come to the end of our journey through the wonderful world of British idiom
I do hope some of these are a little bit clearer for you now and you feel more
confident about using them and I also hope that they've entertained you do try
and use any of them in a sentence and I will check that for you we'll see you
soon on love English bye bye