hey there i'm emma from um english i've
got a fun lesson for you today
30 beautifully descriptive idioms that
we use to refer to people these idioms
act as nouns in english sentences and
they are brilliant
entertaining ways to refer to people
when you speak or when you write there
are 30 english idioms in this lesson so
what i recommend is
not to try and learn all of them at once
but as you're watching
take note of some of the ones that you
can use to describe people or to refer
to people in your life like friends
family members neighbors
colleagues when i'm talking and i'm
introducing each idiom
if someone pops into your head and you
think ah
that's
so and so
this is a really good idiom for you to
learn because you can start associating
the idiom and the meaning
with
someone who's present in your life and
that makes it easy to remember i've got
some homework for you too when you
finish watching this lesson
write a short paragraph about these
people in your life add it down into the
comments below so that i can
read about all of these characters but
also share a little bit of feedback or
maybe make some corrections if you need
it
[Music]
do you know what my favorite thing about
teaching you english idioms is
i always get to learn so many
interesting idioms from you down in the
comments idioms from your own native
language idioms that express similar
ideas to the ones that i'm sharing but
maybe they're slightly different and i
love that about idioms so don't hold
back if you have one that you want to
share write it down in the comments
below share it in your native language
plus the translation so that we can all
learn something new
the first one is a lone wolf
a lone wolf
and this is a person who likes working
or likes doing things without other
people so they're quite independent and
they're quite happy to be on their own
in fact a lone wolf probably prefers to
be on their own as i mentioned in the
introduction all of these idioms are
nouns so in a sentence they would
replace a word like woman or guy
or person
he or she is a
lone wolf
hmm
john's a bit of a lone wolf actually he
prefers to spend his holidays up in the
mountains hiking alone
next up
we have party animals
a party animal
someone who enjoys parties and they go
to as many as they can they're always
out and about they love staying up late
dancing and having a good time there are
party animals they can't stop
do you know any party animals
a dark horse
i really love this idiom because these
people
they always surprise you but in a really
positive way
a dark horse is a person who keeps their
ability their skill or their
achievements
a secret
so when you do finally discover it
it surprises you you're like
wow i had no idea
like one of my students
really shy
hardly ever spoke for a long time but
then one day i found out she can speak
10 languages
i had no idea she'd never mentioned it
before
a team player
a team player is someone who works
really well with other people
as part of a group
it's a pretty common idiom you might
have heard it before and it often comes
up in professional context like
at an interview when you might get asked
if you're a team player
if they ask this the right answer is yes
i'm a team player
a culture vulture
say that with me
culture vulture
this idiom is a little outdated but
still it appears really frequently in
media and literature so it's definitely
one to be aware of what's a culture
vulture
it's someone who really loves
culture in all forms they can't get
enough
of art and theater and literature and
music
all of those things
an early bird i think this is probably
one of the very first idioms that you
ever learned right
an early bird is someone who is early
usually someone who gets up early in the
morning they're awake as the sun comes
up
but it can also be used to
refer to people who are first to do
something you know it doesn't have to be
that they wake up early though it's
often the case being an early bird is
definitely a good thing
and the idiom is inspired by an old
english proverb that says the early bird
gets the worm those who are first get
the reward right
so now
do you know the opposite of an early
bird
well
it's a night owl of course and night
owls are people who feel
like they function better during the
night they prefer to be awake at night
not in the morning so what about you
are you a night owl
or an early bird
a go-getter
say it with me
a go-getter
a go-getter is someone who is ambitious
they pursue their goals they know what
they want and they go after it they're a
go-getter so it's a really positive
idiom
do you think of yourself as a bit of a
go-getter
or
if not maybe you can think of someone
else in your life who is a go-getter
someone who
knows exactly what they want they go
after it
a good egg
a good egg is just a good person
you didn't need to spend your weekend
helping me to move into my new house
you're a good egg
but equally
someone can be a bad egg
a bad egg
and that's a bad person don't be a bad
egg
ooh
a jack of all trades
there's some really great linking there
for you to practice
jack of all
a jack of all trades is someone who is
really good at doing
several different jobs instead of only
being specialized in one thing from
designing through to construction frank
can do it all he's a jack of all trades
when used in this context it's a
positive thing
frank can help you with anything
he can do it all but be careful here
because this expression is not always
positive
usually
a jack of all trades is a good thing
but
they are not excellent
at any one of them so another common
expression that we use is jack of all
trades
master of none
this person can do lots of things
but they can't do them all
well
they're not an expert they're not a
specialist the easiest way to think
about this is
someone who comes to your house to fix
something if you have a problem with the
tiles in your bathroom there is the type
of person who can come and fix that and
do a perfect job of it because they are
trained only in that
and then there's the guy who does doors
and roofs and
builds houses and fixes things and puts
hooks on the wall he does everything
he's never going to do a job as good as
the expert
this is a lovely one
a man of his word or a woman of her word
this is a reliable
trustworthy person someone
who always does whatever it is they
promise that they will do they stay true
to the words that they say
a mover and shaker
so this is an influential person someone
who makes things happen
often politicians and leaders might be
a mover and shaker
i only know my grandma in her retirement
but apparently she was a real mover and
shaker back in the day
she fought to introduce new regulations
that ensured all children had access to
free education
a smart cookie a smart cookie refers to
someone who is really clever they're
good at dealing with difficult
situations or solving problems what's
that
you already know all of these idioms
well
aren't you a smart cookie then
if you're a smart cookie then you might
be
the teacher's pet
the teacher's pet i'm sure that you can
think of if you think back to your
classes at school your teacher's
favorite student in the class
this is the teacher's pet usually
they're the best or they're the most
helpful student in the class the best
the most helpful
this idiom is always used with the
definite article the the teacher doesn't
have multiple pets
they only have one favorite you can only
have one favorite
it's not fair
the teacher's never angry with jim when
he forgets to do his homework
he's the teacher's pet
a creature of habit
you can use this idiom to talk about
yourself or other people
especially if
your routine is always the same and you
really like it that way then you're a
creature of habit you always choose the
same thing on the menu every time you go
to the restaurant
or you always go to the same fish and
chip shop down the road even though
everyone says the new one is better you
still just keep going to that one
because it's what you know and you like
it a smooth talker
a smooth talker
this person is really good at persuading
other people to do what they want
or to get themselves out of trouble they
can even convince people of things that
are not true or convince you to do
something that you never intended to do
the salesman was a real smooth talker
a busy body
busy body
oh i'm sure you know someone who's a
busybody someone who is overly
interested in the lives of other people
or what what are they doing what's
happening there
laura is always peering out her window
to see what her neighbors are up to
she's such a busy body
a cheapskate
or a tight ass if someone is
stingy with their money or maybe they're
quite obsessive about avoiding to spend
money
then you could call them a cheapskate
or a tight ass but don't say it to their
face
this is not a compliment you don't want
anyone to hear you talking about them in
that way
george is such a tight ass
he never offers to pay but he's happy
for me to pay the bill
a fuddy duddy
try it say it with me
fuddy duddy
a fuddy daddy
this is someone who is quite
old-fashioned in their ways or maybe in
the way that they think their ideas are
a bit old-fashioned
they're quite conservative and
a little boring
so again this is definitely not a
compliment you don't want to say
you're a fuddy duddy
mr smith he's such an old fuddy duddy i
can't stand any of his history classes
a goody goody
a goody goodie
this is someone who always appears to be
perfect doing the right thing
they try very hard to please people in
authority so especially people like
teachers or parents or any superior
so it's quite similar to the teacher's
pet but it's a bit more general a goody
goody is not usually liked by everyone
else because they're always sucking up
to the teacher their parents you know
doing the right thing when the rest of
us are doing the wrong thing like jeremy
he's always handing in his homework
early
he's such a goody-goody and know it all
say it with me
and know it all
this idiom is exactly as it sounds
someone who knows everything
or more accurately someone who thinks
they know everything
and they go around
making sure that everyone knows that
they're intelligent and they have all
the answers
so it's usually used
spitefully it's not a compliment
rob is constantly correcting his boss
and his brother and his parents
he's such a know-it-all
a gold digger this is also not a
compliment it's quite a nasty thing to
say about someone actually it's someone
who is in a relationship with someone
else only because they're rich
so usually you're making an assumption
about someone else's relationship when
you use this idiom
it implies that they're not there for
love or for anything meaningful they're
there for the other person's money if
you did come into a bit of money then
i'd say
you're a lucky duck
do you know anyone who's
won a big prize or had something great
happened to them
you can always say
you're a lucky duck
party purpose
i use this idiom all the time myself
don't be a party pooper a party pooper
is someone who ruins all of the fun
now it could be
at a party
but it could also be someone who doesn't
want to participate in an activity that
everyone else is doing
well they're just being really negative
and they're saying no to everything
party poopers say
no
i don't want to do it i don't want to go
there i'm going home they're party
poopers they ruin all the fun
can you think of the time or someone
that you know who's a party pooper
a penny pincher
now this is not quite as negative as
cheapskate and tight ass they're the
ones that i mentioned earlier and
they're quite an insult
a penny pincher refers to someone who is
very careful about the money that they
spend
they're quite thrifty
cautious with their money martha never
spends any more than she actually needs
to she's extremely careful with her
money so we can say
she's a penny pincher a backseat driver
okay this is another one i use all the
time imagine that you're driving a car
and someone is sitting in the back seat
behind you telling you how to drive
overtake that car
don't go so fast
this isn't the best route going on the
ring road would have been way quicker
that person sitting back there
they're a backseat driver
telling you what to do
even though you're perfectly capable of
doing it yourself
and it can be used in the context of
driving in the car don't be a backseat
driver but it can be used in other
contexts too when someone is
watching over your shoulder or telling
you how to do something that you already
know how to do
all right backseat driver
i've got this
oh
a worry wart worry warts are people who
worry too much they worry about
unimportant things things that don't
really matter
so people who are anxious nervous
uncertain people they tend to be worry
warts
they worry about
all the things that could go wrong
when they don't need to
stop being such a worrywart we'll be
fine
a smart aleck
or a smart ass
so a smart aleck is someone who thinks
they are highly intelligent and they try
to demonstrate this to others all of the
time a smartass is more common here in
australia and i think that smart alec is
more common in the uk
correct me if i'm wrong let me know in
the comments but we use smart ass more
commonly here in australia and
smartasses
often like to contradict or correct
others
so they're not usually liked or it's
sort of a little bit annoying to have a
smartass around after my presentation
steve publicly questioned the accuracy
of my research
that smartass was just trying to look
good in front of the boss
a straight shooter
or a straight talker
that's someone who speaks the truth even
if it hurts a little
brad is a really straight talker he's
not going to sugarcoat his feedback
he'll make sure that you know what
worked well and what you need to improve
we did it
30 beautifully descriptive idioms that
you can use to talk about the people in
your life if you're ready for some
pronunciation practice that's where
we're headed next come join me right
here