so i have my scissors and i think i'll
go for a run hey what don't run with
scissors all right we have this phrase
in english don't run with scissors which
simply means you shouldn't run when you
have scissors because it's a little bit
dangerous but we have a bunch of other
phrases that when you first read them at
first glance you might not know what
they mean when you translate them
literally they might not make sense so
in this english lesson we'll look at a
few of those phrases i'll try to act out
the funny literal meaning and then i
will explain to you what the actual
meaning is of each of those phrases in
english
[Music]
[Applause]
oscar fetch
we have a saying in english you can't
teach an old dog new tricks and it
doesn't mean that you can't teach a dog
like oscar new tricks what it actually
means is you can't teach people who are
old how to
how to do new things it's hard to teach
someone who
really likes doing something a certain
way to do it a new way so we use the
english phrase you can't teach an old
doc do tricks but this dog
this might be a little easier here pup
this
is walter this is a new dog and we think
we might be able to teach this new dog
some new tricks um by the way we thought
oscar needed a friend so we got another
dog
no one can sit on this side of the couch
because of this couch potato this potato
is just always sitting on the couch
doing nothing it's a real couch potato
but that's not actually what the term
couch potato means in english in english
when we say that a person is a couch
potato what we mean is that the person
sits on the couch all day they don't
really do anything maybe they just sit
and endlessly watch one television show
after another
maybe they're a little bit lazy we would
call that person a couch potato i'm
definitely not a couch potato but when
i'm old and retired i think i might be
more of a couch potato i might sit
around a lot more i might watch a lot
more television so earlier i was doing
some thinking inside this box and it
wasn't going very well so i thought i
should stop and think outside the box so
now i'm outside the box and i'll do a
little bit more thinking
but the english phrase to think outside
the box has nothing to do with a box we
don't sit in boxes when we think we
don't sit outside boxes what it means
when you say to someone you need to
think outside the box is it means you
want them to think differently about
something let's let's use school for an
example right now students learn in
classrooms and they sit in rows but if
we think outside the box students could
also learn by watching youtube videos or
maybe by going outside or going on field
trips so when you think outside the box
if at work your boss says you need to
think outside the box a little bit more
what they mean by that is they want you
to have unique and different ideas they
want you to think about things
differently and come up with something
that's just just really cool and really
awesome
so i'm just trying to hold my horses
right now i don't want my horses to get
away so i'm trying to hold my horses but
this isn't what the english phrase hold
your horses actually means if someone
says to you hold your horses they just
want you to wait sometimes when we're
going somewhere my kids all run out to
the car really fast and i say whoa hold
your horses we're not leaving for
another 10 minutes so it doesn't mean to
hold an actual horse it simply is
something you say to someone when you
want them to wait when you want them to
slow down a bit a little bit whoa hold
your horses
there i have all my ducks in a row i
like to have all my ducks in a nice
straight rope but this isn't actually
what the phrase to have your ducks in a
row means when we say in english that
you should have your ducks in a row it
means that you should be prepared or
ready for something let's say it's the
first day of school you should have your
ducks in a row you should have your
backpack and your books and a few pens
and things to write with you should be
ready you should be prepared for the
first day of school you should
definitely have all your ducks in a row
sometimes when you're in a room full of
people it's hard to talk about certain
things
because of the elephant in the room the
english term elephant in the room
doesn't refer to an actual elephant but
when we say it's hard to talk about
certain things because of the elephant
in the room what we mean is that there's
something that you just don't want to
talk about
maybe your brother and his wife got
divorced and that's a sensitive topic
it's something that people don't like to
talk about when they're all in the same
room together we would refer to that
situation as the elephant in the room
you would say something like this it was
hard to have a fun conversation because
of the elephant in the room in that case
the elephant in the room is the fact
that your brother and his wife are no
longer together so in english there's no
actual elephant in the room when you use
the phrase the elephant in the room
you're simply talking about an
uncomfortable situation that no one
wants to talk about and it kind of
prevents
normal fun conversation from happening
one
two
three
four hey we have an english phrase don't
count your chickens before they hatch
but i'm just ignoring it for now because
i think if i count the number of eggs
here i'll know how many chickens hatch
in a few weeks but the phrase don't
count your chickens before they hatch
has nothing to do with eggs or chickens
when we say to someone don't count your
chickens before they hatch what we're
saying is don't think something is going
to happen until it actually happens
let's use this example let's say someone
says to you my boss is going to give me
a raise next week right now i make 17 an
hour and my boss is going to give me a
raise next week you might say to that
person hey don't count your chickens
before they hatch what you mean by that
is
don't think that that's going to happen
until your boss actually tells you next
week that you're getting a raise so
don't count your chickens before they
hatch has nothing to do with eggs it
simply means don't get too excited about
something until it actually happens so i
had a job once where one of my
co-workers was stealing money from work
and then he got caught and the boss just
gave him a slap on the wrist so a slap
on the wrist is not actually a slap on
the wrist when you do something bad and
you are disciplined or punished for it
if the punishment is very very light we
call it a slap on the wrist
in the case of my co-worker the boss
simply told him to stop stealing he
didn't lose his job uh nothing else
happened the boss just gave him a bit of
a slap on the wrist a very light
punishment he got simply a talking tube
that is definitely just a slap on the
wrist so this is kind of strange i have
butterflies in my stomach if you look
here you can see that i have butterflies
in my stomach for some reason but this
isn't what the phrase to have
butterflies in your stomach actually
means if i was to say i have butterflies
in my stomach it means that i'm nervous
about something if i knew that later
today i had to talk in front of a
thousand people i would probably say oh
i'm a bit nervous i have butterflies in
my stomach so whenever you need to do
something when you are planning to do
something that makes you nervous you
might describe it by saying i have
butterflies in my stomach
so the other day my friend said he
caught a fish that was this big but i
took what he said with a grain of salt
in english when you say that you take
something with a grain of salt there's
no actual salt involved
it simply means that you're not going to
believe it right away my friend tends to
exaggerate when he tells his fishing
stories i'm sure the fish he caught was
really only this big but he said it was
this big and so i just took it with a
grain of salt that means i'm not going
to believe what he says maybe until i
actually see the fish so i just simply
took it with a grain of salt no salt
actually involved it just means i didn't
believe him right away i stand up really
tall my head is in the clouds but if i
just stand normal my head is no longer
in the clouds the english phrase though
to have your head in the clouds means
something a little bit different we use
this to describe someone who is a little
bit absent-minded someone who is not
very practical you might use a sentence
like this i'm not sure my brother-in-law
will be successful in business because
he always has his head in the clouds
someone who has their head in their in
the clouds is often thinking about other
things they're not thinking about what
they're supposed to be doing maybe
they're daydreaming a bit or they're
just thinking about things that aren't
very practical
i usually don't have my head in the
clouds unless i go like this
sorry i'm having a little trouble
talking right now because i bit off more
than i can chew now the english phrase
to bite off more than you can chew
doesn't actually refer to eating we
don't say that when we've taken a really
big bite of something and we're having
trouble talking we use this phrase when
we've started a job or we've started a
project and it's too hard for us to do
by ourselves or it's just going to be
very difficult and take a really long
time you might say to someone i bought
an old car and i'm going to fix it up
but i think i bit off more than i can
chew when you say that basically what
you're saying is the job is too hard the
job is too difficult it's going to take
forever i definitely bid off more than i
can chew so last night one of my kids
came home really late and i was worried
sick in english when we use the phrase
to be worried sick it just means that
you are extremely worried it doesn't
necessarily mean that you were so
worried that you started to feel sick
although this is one of the phrases
where you can actually take it literally
as well so there's two ways to use this
phrase then you can say i was worried
sick meaning that you were so worried
about something that you actually had a
stomach ache or you weren't feeling well
but we also use it sometimes just to
exaggerate my kid came home really late
and i was worried sick well thank you so
much for watching this english lesson
remember i put out one or two english
lessons a week so if you click that
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english lesson
[Applause]