Hi and welcome back to Love English. now today's lesson
is going to sound a little bit different in today's lesson we are going to be
learning expressions and idioms
related to relaxing unwinding decompressing
letting your hair down but we're going to be learning these
expressions through a s
m r a s m r
so asmr is a real thing there are many videos on
youtube that deal with a s
m r and essentially it's a response that many people have
to whispering or indeed
different sounds
it could also be textures or even someone stroking your hair
and it creates a tingling sensation in the back of your head
it creates a sense of well-being tranquility and calm
which i think you'd agree most of us could really use at the moment
so today's lesson we'll be looking at expressions to help you
relax unwind decompress let your hair down
common expressions and idioms in english and of course if you do like this lesson
thumbs up and if you don't like it you could
comment below and let me know why do you
feel a sense of relaxation or do you just want to punch me in the
face
expression number one to chill or
the phrasal verb to chill out to chill is an informal verb
meaning relax we can also use the expression chillax
chillax or chillaxing in present continuous form
chill and relax combined so this is clearly a more informal way
of saying that you're going to relax i really need to chill tonight
i think i'm gonna chillax at home and watch netflix informal
slang i like real english similarly to song
out song out so to song count an informal expression
meaning to relax after being very very tired
i zonked out when i got home in front of the tv
number three this is a great expression to share with someone if you think they
are stressed this is sometimes a softer way of telling someone they need
to relax so i think you should take it easy tonight and
don't do any work so
why don't you take it easy tonight and forget about work have a glass of
wine and read a book take it easy
don't work so much you can also use the expression to
take a break or of course need a break so this
is an expression that we use when we've been busy when
perhaps we've not stopped all day and you might just say
i need to take a break i need to take a break from
working i need to take a break from the kids
at the moment so to take a break to take some time out for yourself
and stop whatever you have been doing
now for many of us when we feel stressed anxious
we become quite stiff tight and the expression to
unwind is exactly the opposite it's telling us to
release the stress anxiety and become more relaxed so
you might say to someone i think you need
to unwind and forget about your problems or i might say
i really need to unwind and go for a walk to unwind
is to release that tension that has built up during a period
of stress number six to decompress a verb
decompress now to decompress is more american
so you would hear it less frequently in british english but
it's referring to releasing pressure it is more spoken
informal refers to calming down relaxing
i really think you need to take some time
to decompress you shouldn't be as stressed as you are another
phrasal verb that you might not have heard is to
mellow out mellow out
we could often use this phrasal verb when we're referring to
people changing um perhaps you had a friend or
a relative who was quite stressed um we would use the expression highly
strong and often in a state of stress
but perhaps as they've become older they have mellowed out
mellowed out meaning their personality has become more relaxed and
calm so you could also use this in the same way that you would use chill
out you really need to mellow out and calm
down mellow out it's a great reservoir i had a tough day at the office and i
needed to mellow out so i went for a drink
in the pub now this next expression is an idiom
and it involves feet any ideas
so if you say you're going to put your feet up put your feet up
it's referring to the action of putting your feet
i suppose on the sofa lying down relaxing and not working
so it was a beautiful day and i sat in the garden and put my feet
up i decided not to do anything and relax
you've been working so hard you should put your feet up
and forget about work so these last four expressions
need to be used carefully you could use them with other people
things you might say to people but make sure that you have the correct tone
of voice and you choose the person you use the
expression with carefully you might not want to say any of these
things to your boss for example
so number nine keep your shirt on keep your shirt on
this is a strong expression one you shouldn't use with
someone who might be your superior your teacher your boss your mom your dad
you'd probably use it with a friend if someone is
stressed annoyed perhaps with you you can say keep your shirt on
keep your shirt on and of course it's telling them quite directly calm
down you're being too stressed too anxious you need
to keep your shirt on it is of course an idiom so it's not literal
no one is expecting them to take their shirt off
keep your shirt on be calm relax don't be so stressed or even angry
number 10 to loosen up you need to loosen up again this is referring to
a person who is particularly stressed and doesn't have the ability to
relax so you might say to somebody why don't you have a drink loosen up
it really does imply that somebody is highly stressed
you've had a tough day at work you need to loosen up
often it implies that the person is really not helping themselves they're
not trying to relax so you are encouraging
them too number 11 simmer down simmer down
the simmer is what we usually do when we're cooking
you put the sauce on a heat and it simmers it
heats and bubbles slowly so when someone needs to sit
down it implies that they're stressed and often angry
that might mean you need to try and help them
calm down so telling them to simmer down is being quite direct
quite strong not an expression you would use with a teacher a boss a
colleague even it is quite a strong expression
so be careful how you use it and finally an expression that i'm sure you've had
probably on the simpsons take a chill pill
take a chill pill very american but again we do use this in the uk
if you tell someone to take a chill pill meaning a pill that helps them relax
you're suggesting they really need to relax in quite
a rude way so again another expression you would have to use
very carefully so there we have it 12 expressions
to help you relax unwind decompress mellow out
calm down chillax thank you very much for watching
and again let me know has this lesson helped you relax
or do you want to punch me in the face because this is a weird way to teach
but i thought let's try something different
and why not tell me some of the ways that you
relax that you unwind that you chillax
thanks for watching bye