Hi folks. Welcome back to engVid with me, your teacher for today, Benjamin. We are looking
in today's lesson at idioms with the verb "to run". Now, idioms are useful because
they help to make your range of expression more interesting, and you can punctuate your
speech with the occasional idiom to really show your knowledge of English. You don't
want to overuse them, however, because that would appear unnatural, so you want to store
them up and bring them out at just the right moment. And you can use these in your social
life and at work. So, what I'm going to do in this lesson is go through and look at the
meaning of each of these, and then at the end I will show you how to put them kind of
into a context by telling you a story. Okay?
So, "run of the mill". Now, a "mill" was a relic, something from before we had everything
electric. So, a "mill" would be by a river, and it used the force of the water to grind
the grain. Yep, to turn... Basically, to make bread. So, "run of the mill" is like just
something normal that comes out of the mill. Yep. Quite ordinary, just, you know, a normal
bit of bread. Ordinary. Okay?
"To run the risk of". If you run the risk of, it just means you're... You know, whatever
you're doing, there is a risk in doing that. For example, by getting in an aeroplane, dare
I say it, you run the risk - a small risk - that there could be something that goes
wrong. Yep. Okay? To expose yourself to some sort of risk.
If something runs in the family, then think of, like, water running down. And if it runs
in the family, it's like a skill, or an attribute, or a physical characteristic. So, if you say
to your friend who has ginger hair, "It's striking, your hair. It's, you know, unusual",
and he might say, or she might say, "I know. I like it. I mean, it runs in the family."
Obviously, it doesn't have to be about hair colour. It could be about musicality. Maybe
this is something that your mother was good at, and her mum or dad was good, and so it
runs in the family.
To "run like clockwork". I don't know if you've ever seen the film with Ben Stiller and Robert
De Niro, in which Ben Stiller's character is trying to sort of join Robert De Niro's
family via De Niro's daughter. But this family, you know, he is a kind of an ex-CIA intelligence
officer, I believe, and everything runs like clockwork. You know, if they say breakfast
is going to be at 8 o'clock, breakfast is at 8 o'clock. If they're going to leave for
the airport at 9.55, they go at 9.55. So, if something runs like clockwork, it goes
exactly according to plan, not a moment too late.
Right, "in the long run". So, this is looking at the long-term picture. In the long run,
it may be better for us to start doing business in China than continuing with our operations
here in Budapest. I love Budapest, great place to go. So, "in the long run" is talking about
the - looking into the future and thinking about the impact that, you know, the overall
long-term impact. You don't want to make someone's blood run cold, yep, because then they're
going to feel very, very angry, yep, in cold blood. It's like when you're so angry you
could kill.
Now, this relates back to a few hundred years ago when the understanding of the physical
body was that you had humors in the body that sort of ran through your blood, and you were
either, you know, a calm person or an aggressive person. But if your blood goes cold, then
oh. Okay. "To make a run for it", that means you try to escape. So, if I have a student
and they are in detention, and at the end of the school day they try and make a run
for it, they don't stay for my detention, they are out the door and off they go. Of
course, they're not going to get away with it.
To be on the run, this is a slight link with the last one. This is more about sort of criminals
escaping from prison. So, if an escaped convict is on the run, then, you know, they've got
out of the prison somehow. And I'm sure you've seen one of those great films about, like,
prison escapes, like Shawshank Redemption. It's a 15, by the way, so ask your parents.
And then this is the phrase, "to be on the run". Okay.
To run around in circles. Now, if you're running around in circles, then, you know, it's very,
very busy, you're sort of going here, you're going there, but there's not a huge sense
of achieving anything in particular. So, I might say that my dog is running around in
circles trying to find the ball. Yep. So, he's going there, he's going there, yep. He's
frantically trying to find it, but he's not actually finding it. To run around in circles
means to expend a lot of effort without necessarily achieving the desired result.
To run a mile. A mile's quite a great distance. Now, it's Halloween at the moment, and I've
just been looking at pictures of my son going trick-or-treating, so if he was made up so
scarily that when someone opened the door, they ran a mile, it doesn't literally mean
that that person runs a mile, it just means that they're like, "Whoo!" You know, it's
a surprise, it's a shock. So, to make someone run a mile means to make them want to escape
quickly. I won't give you that example. Okay.
To run wild. Now, my dad's a great gardener, and he's got some raised beds that he grows
his vegetables on. But if he were to go away for a few weeks, he might find that the curly
kale, for example, had run wild. So, to run wild means to kind of - to go out of control,
like almost how nature intended it to be, to run wild, to kind of the - it's no longer
sort of controlled the appearance of this vegetable patch.
To run into a brick wall. Ow. So, brick wall. Pretty solid, yep. So, if you run into a brick
wall, you're coming across a very strong barrier, yep. It's like a huge obstacle. So, if you
are trying to - I don't know, think about me, yeah? I'm teaching this lesson, and if
I can't think of an example, if I run into a brick wall, it means, "Oh, I can't explain
it anymore." So, a brick wall is like a strong obstacle to you where you can't see any way
around.
To run out of steam. Now, I imagine this comes from steam railways. So, if the engine runs
out of steam, then it's not going to be going anywhere anytime soon. So, if you run out
of steam, then you are running out of energy. To give someone a run for their money. It's
actually pronounced like, "To give someone a run for their money. To give someone a run
for their money." So, what that suggests is that you are up for the challenge. You're
like, "Yeah, I can run fast." Because this guy is like, "Well, I can run fast." You're
like, "Come on, then. Let's run." And because we have the phrase "for their money", it's
like, "Yeah, I bet, like, ten pounds I can beat you in this race." And he's like, "Yeah,
well, bring it on." So, if you give someone a run for their money, then you lay down a
challenge to a competitor. Okay? So, you - you know, you go, "Come on, then. Let's see how
good you are." To run circles around them. So, we've got this imaginary race, and maybe
you are so fast that you can - you know, we're running this way, but you - it's like you
have a turbo booster behind you, and you're able to go, "Oh, you're still back there.
Let's go around again." So, if you run circles around them, then you are so vastly superior
that you are able to almost make it into a joke.
To run around like a headless chicken. Sometimes, if you kill a bird, it doesn't quite die when
you try and wring its neck. And sometimes, poultry, i.e. birds, can be running around
whilst missing a head. It's not a very pretty sight. I wouldn't recommend trying to see
it anytime soon. I'm not a great advocate. I'm not condoning seeing it, but unfortunately,
I have seen it before. Now, if you see a headless chicken, what you will notice is that it's
in a state of desperation, and its faculties, its abilities have been removed. Now, that's
quite a sort of graphic and strong image, okay? But when we use this phrase, it doesn't
have that serious - seriousness attached to it. So, if you run around like a headless
chicken, it's quite innocuous. It's quite an innocent thing to say, okay? It just means
that you're running around in a totally kind of crazy way. Right. Sorry. I hope I haven't
disturbed you.
A dry run or a trial run. I would probably use this phrase here, or a trial run. I don't
know if you've seen the film Cool Runnings. It's one of my favorite films about the Jamaican
bobsled team. So, before the actual competition, they get a chance to practice going down the
circuit. A trial. "Trial" means like a test, a practice run. "Run" here means attempt,
effort, go. Okay? Quite a lot of rich content there to get your head around. Yeah, try to
forget about the headless chicken. Hope I haven't given you nightmares. And I'm now
going to tell you a story about a girl called Billie, okay? Some girls are called Billie.
Billie Piper, pop singer. Okay. So, Billie was an artist. She was a very talented cartoonist,
and she was desperately concerned that she didn't end up doing a run-of-the-mill job.
She wanted to do something extraordinary. She wanted to make her mark on the world.
But her father knew that she ran the risk of ending up poor and broke. He pointed out
that it didn't exactly run in the family. None of Billie's ancestors had been artists.
Most of them had been accountants and lawyers. Why was Billie trying to do something so controversial?
Billie grew up in a household that ran like clockwork. Everything was ordered, a place
for everything, and everything in its place, Billie's dad used to say. But Billie was looking
for something more. Billie's father kept saying to her, "But Billie, sweetheart, in the long
run it makes much more sense for you to get a sensible job and to settle down." Billie
would not listen. She made her father's blood run cold. And one day she chucked a few belongings
into a bag and set off for the bright light of London town. She had made a run for it,
and she felt exhilarated, but also totally terrified, because she was essentially on
the run. She spent the first few days at friends' houses staying on their sofas, but she ended
up running around in circles because she didn't really know where to go. She knew she had
to approach some creative agencies to try and get on their books to try and get some
work, but every time she went and approached someone to try and get work, they said no
to her. Billie realized that she needed a more long-term base to go and stay, so she
went to go and stay with her aunt and uncle. When she got there, it made her want to run
a mile because it was not the existence she had imagined for herself in London. She wanted
to run wild and have lots of freedom, but at her aunt and uncle's, this was not going
to be the case. She felt like she had run into a brick wall, because she was nearer
her dreams, but yet not really anywhere close to achieving them either. And after two weeks
of knocking on doors and sending her CV to lots of different people, she felt that she
had run out of steam. She had no energy left. It was a real shame, because Billie knew that
she could give the best artist a run for their money, but she had no opportunity. She knew
that given the opportunity, she could run circles around them. And one day in a cafe,
she was just doodling on a piece of paper when an important-looking lady came past and
saw what she had done. She was impressed. She said, "Oh, you've got some talent. Maybe
you should come to our office and we could have a talk about doing some work together."
Billie was so excited that when she got home, she ran around like a headless chicken. She
was that excited. She told her aunt the good news, that she had been given a trial run
at one of London's top agencies.
Okay. I hope you understood the story. It'd be a good idea for you now to have a go at
doing the quiz, just to make sure that you have understood how these words - these idioms
- are used in sentence context. Remember what I said at the beginning about how we use idioms.
You don't want to be saying them all the time. It's like you have them in your pocket, like
it's a secret kind of - it's like a secret lollipop that maybe you give your child when
they're really, really upset. It's a bit like that. You just give them out occasionally,
okay? For special occasions, okay? And you understand them when you hear them. I hope
this has been a useful lesson for you. Thank you very much for watching it. My name's Benjamin.
Please make sure you're a subscriber so you get the new videos coming out onto my channel.
Until then, I'll see you very soon.