Extra English Practice
Hey, everyone. Today we're going to look at some more idioms in English.
Idioms are expressions or groups of words that have a specific meaning together
that isn't the same as their meaning if you actually directly translated the words.
So it's not their literal meaning; it's just an expression. Mm hmm
We're gonna look at three expressions today that all are related to eggs.
My favorite breakfast food!
Number one.
Wow, Misha, you got a lot of eggs there! I know, I'm really excited!
That's a lot of eggs in one basket. You shouldn't put them all in one basket. What? It's fine! It's no problem.
What if you drop them?
I'm not gonna [gasp]
[sad tuba sounds]
To put all your eggs in one basket means you put all your money, all your dreams or your hopes in one thing.
So maybe you invest everything in one company or one part of the stock market
or maybe you put your whole future in one opportunity, and this is dangerous
because if that thing doesn't work out, you're left with nothing.
Yeah, this expression came from the fact that eggs are so fragile and so easy to break,
that if you put them all into one basket, and you drop that basket,
then you have no eggs. They will all be ruined.
Hey, I heard you just, uh, graduated. Yep! Congratulations. Thank you!
So what's up next for you? What are you ..what are you gonna do?
Well, I applied to Google. My friend works there, so I'm just waiting to hear back from them.
Gotcha. You haven't applied anywhere else? No, no, no ... Google. Google's got me.
But what if it doesn't work out? Maybe you don't want to put all your eggs in one basket. Hm, that's a good point.
[sighs] Hey, Misha, you okay? No, I'm freaking out! The company I put all my money in,
I invested all my money, just went bankrupt!
But surely you have other investments!
No, I put all my eggs in that one basket.
Walking on eggshells means that you have to be careful not to offend someone
or do something to upset someone. So you're being very careful.
The expression refers to the fact that eggshells are, one, painful to walk on.
So if you're walking on them, you're uncomfortable.
And, two, they break really easily. So if you were walking on them, and you didn't want them to break,
you'd have to step every step so careful. So this means that someone is upset about something,
or someone is really sensitive about something,
and you have to be careful in every little movement, so you don't make it worse.
Ugh, Misha, my husband has been so irritable lately!
I feel like I'm always walking on eggshells around him. That's awful!
Hey, Misha, I'm going to visit Sam. You wanna come?
Oh, no, the last time I was there, I broke her favorite mug
and so now I feel like I'm always walking on eggshells around her.
Misha, look, I've got six chicks!
Woah....well, I mean, you have six eggs. Don't count your chicks before they're hatched.
Yeah. You never know. Mm hmm.
They're hatching!
Oh, you were right. Guess I shouldn't have counted my chicks before they hatched. Only got five. Too bad.
Don't count your chickens before they hatch
means you shouldn't assume that something good is going to happen until it happens.
You should wait until you get the actual results of something before you count on them or celebrate them.
Yeah. So this comes from the idea that after a chicken lays eggs,
some of them will hatch into chickens, but not necessarily all of them.
So you shouldn't say, "Oh, look, I've got 12 chicks!" until you have 12 chicks. Yeah.
Misha, I just booked a really expensive vacation. I'm so excited!
What...how..how are you gonna pay for that?
Oh, I'm expecting a promotion at work, and so the money will..
But you haven't got the promotion yet.. maybe you shouldn't count your chickens before they're hatched.
Larissa, I'm so excited! My friend just won the lottery and I'm just thinking of all
the ways I'm gonna spend my share of the money!
I thought you said your friend won the lottery, not you.
Yeah, but we're really close. I'm sure she's gonna give me some of the money.
Are you sure you're not counting your chicks before they've hatched? Nah. Ok.
So we hope you enjoyed this video, and you should try these idioms out with your English-speaking friends.
And remember to subscribe so that you get all of our videos,
and there's also some more interesting ones you can watch right here. Mm-hmm
Thanks for watching! [laughter] No.
The eggs are safe. No eggs were harmed in the making of this video.
Extra English Practice. Cheep! [laughter]