hi guys and welcome back to love English and we're very excited because we're
together yes Sabrah's in my video what am i in your video you're in my video no it's our
video okay I dyed my hair very blonde just so you can tell the difference just
in case Sabrah Leila okay everybody welcome back we've got a
great lesson plan for you today we're looking at American idioms strange
American idioms and their British equivalent so the British versions of
them now we don't know all of these idioms so we're going to be trying to
guess them and seeing if we can think of the British version so bit of a
challenge yes and of course you guys can choose which you prefer whether you
prefer using British English or American English and make sure you do comment
below and try and use them and we'll correct your well we'll correct American
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right British versus American idioms let's test our American English right yes okay
so Leila we're going to ask each other one okay I'm going to see if we know the
meaning so Leila do you know the meaning of on the john
so this is an American idiom on the John I've got a feeling I might try shall i guess?
go on guess, is it does it mean that you're on the toilet yes it does American English this
means to be on the toilet but the British version would of course be to be
on the loo or the throne oh of course yeah we can say that- like the Queen
I don't say that very regularly though yeah so generally speaking in England we
refer to the toilet as the loo we'll often say I'm just popping to the loo
can I just I don't understand why they call it a john I don't know I've no idea
if anyone that knows anything about American English please explain comment below why
do you call it on the John yeah that's the name of a person it sounds very
insulting very bizarre right Sabrah this one is for you okay
what does it mean if you smell a rat okay well in British English to smell a
rat I think so it means like something is
suspicious something is not quite right okay so I think it means if you smell a
rat you don't trust it so for example someone tells you a story and you think
it could be a lie you smell a rat so you nearly got it nearly it's not quite right it's a little
bit more specific if you smell a rat it suggests somebody that is not
trustworthy but you think we'll actually in British English dob you in
exactly grass you up so it's somebody that would tell somebody one of your
secrets something you've done wrong and tell the police for example okay so like
a police informer someone who says the thing they are not supposed to tell
another person so doesn't keep the secret the rat ahh I see so it is still kind of like
not being trustworthy but it's more specific more specific that they don't
you can't trust them because they're gonna tell someone your secret
so we for example say in American films 'you ratted me out'
don't they yeah now it makes sense. I get it
the rat so that the snitch or the informer no yeah no you wouldn't want to
say what you're a rat I'm not a rat start will you agree there is a rat so
in british english guys we would say 'to grass someone up' and this means to tell
for example your mum and dad or tell the police or tell somebody who's in
authority like the school teacher what that person has done wrong so being a
grass is really not a good thing to be you're really unpopular of you're a
grass you're a person that said mommy blah blah did this or running to the
teacher and saying what somebody did wrong in America you'd be a rat they would be a
rat yeah so number three guys this is for
Leila this is it jumped the shark it jumped the shark
why would anything jump the shark jump a shark okay the only thing that could jump
a shark is a dolphin is it referring to a dolphin I jumped the shark
okay a shark have a guess- a shark is dangerous
so is it to avoid a dangerous situation could be
okay so to jump a shark Leila no you were't anywhere near it it's quite complicated this
one it's when a TV show or something really good so something was doing
really really well it's become rubbish so in England we would say it's got crap
now for example got crap yeah that's true we would say oh it's rubbish now yeah yeah
but it's gone downhill gone downhill yeah we would say it's gone downhill now
this is because there was a very popular American TV show called 'happy days' and
in that show of the Fonz or Fonzie he jumped over a shark in one of the
sketches and at this point everybody thought the TV show had gone too far and
had become ridiculous so this idiom actually came from a real event where he
really did jump over yeah he jumps over a caged shark
so yeah jumps it's a TV show in America or a film series something like that
suddenly becomes rubbish and ridiculous they'll say Oh it jumped the shark Wow yeah
that's really cool oh yeah I would say it's gone downhill or we could say it's
sold out possibly sold out Wow it means you're it means you do something and you
lose credibility you go too far you don't maintain your artistic integrity
integrity yes we're finishing each other's sentences now it's cute okay number four
this one sounds a little bit mysterious this one's for you okay
behind the 8-ball behind the eight ball okay well I know that in pool the eight ball
is the ball that you obviously you want to pot yeah you want to get the eight
ball into the hole and then you win it's the black ball isn't it yeah with the eight
on it yeah so I think is this like so behind the eight ball is this the final
step before achieving something great or a pressured situation? Okay that was
pretty close yeah yeah really can expect so behind the eight ball if you think
about the situation playing pool if any of you know how then when you're behind
the eight ball it's kind of a final ball that you want to put in the pocket so
you're under a lot of pressure it can be quite stressful also of course I think
it might mean that the ball behind the eight ball if you're trying to pot the
one that's behind the eight you don't want to put the one that is behind the eight because of course then then you
have messed up you've really made a mistake messed up a lot haven't you if you pot
the black we would call it 'potting the black' okay yeah so then you've really
messed up if you've done that so you don't want to pot the ball you don't to
pot the eight ball yes it's a difficult situation difficult situation where
you're under a lot of pressure yeah okay so what would we say say in a tricky
situation tricky situation under pressure
I think we would just say under pressure
or in a tricky situation yeah yeah that would be enough all right
this one I really love this one actually I do know what it means already okay so
Leila ready yeah I'm ready so what do you think an American means
when they say you've bought the farm or they've bought the farm
but Americans like to eat or he or she bought the farm
she bought the farm is it to do with buying a lot of meat to make dinner
no have another guess okay so if you buy a farm it seems like a quite a dramatic
thing to do and it would cost a lot of money so is it to spend a lot of money
that's actually a really good guess but it's so so far away from what it
actually is well I would guess something like that to buy the farm
it's an American idiom for passing away for somebody dying and the reason behind
that is during the Second World War a lot of pilots would crash into farmland
in America or other places - a lot of places it was the Second World War and they would
have to give the family the money because the farm could be ruined or a part
of the farm could be ruined so they would have to pay you've got some great
stories, the military, (I looked all this up) yep the military would have to pay the
people whose farm it was for the damages and so obviously it was like saying they
bought the farm in they've died and then passed away it sounds a lot more cheerful
than it is I mean we have an idiomatic expression. We have a couple
to kick the bucket yeah we have to kick the bucket no idea what that means but it means to die
no logic to kick the bucket yeah we also have you can say they're pushing up the
daisies they are pushing up the daisies because
you're buried under the ground yeah and pushing up the flowers yeah not very nice!
oh yeah to buy the farm I'll actually provide a link guys to the information
about all of these idioms so you can read a little bit that's a good idea
yeah I do think you've got to be careful with idiomatic expressions like this
because you wouldn't say I'm really sorry your grandmother bought the farm
no it's it's a bit insensitive yeah I like it's informal we would say pass
away yeah it's probably the gentlest way the
diplomatic polite way to say someone's died yeah if we're joking or if we're in an
informal situation and talking about somebody that's passed away if it's not
sensitive you could possibly say oh they've bought the farm they've kick
the bucket yeah so be careful and we'll leave I mean after all is your place or
it will be you know when your dad kicks the bucket right Sabrah number six is
super short okay table it table it table it table it so you're
making table a verb Wow mm-hmm detail it like our to give list it like put it
into tables list it detail it I think we need to look this up actually this
idiomatic expression is pretty simple it basically means to put something to
one side to do it later so an activity something that you're in the middle of
oh so I got it wrong a little bit automatic expression you might use to talk about
work or study or I've got this essay to do but I'll table it for now okay yeah
like our equivalent of shelve it our equivalent shelve it I'll do it later
I'll shelve it put it on the shelf for now I'll table it okay make sense
right number seven is for Miss Leila
okay so what do you think this expression means to go the whole nine
yards now I think we should just quickly explain that yards is a term of
measuring distance so a yard is probably the equivalent of... that much yes
it is about the yard yeah it's like yeah it's about a meter roughly so it's a term
of measuring distance so bear that in mind when you're guessing we don't need
use yards we still have the imperials system yeah we don't know yeah okay together a whole
nine yards is I think I actually know this because there's been some American
films I think it's to do something completely with full enthusiasm to go I
don't know like to go full hog yes well done Leila so you got
yes to go the whole hog it means to do the whole thing yeah so that's there you
go the whole nine yards you say you're doing the whole thing distance you like
the full distance yes so if you say oh now he wants to marry her they'd be like
oh wow they're going they're doing the whole nine yards like going the whole hog
and the whole hog a hog is in another way to say a pig yeah so that's to do
with eating the whole pig yeah would have been to do with so our expression is to
go the whole hog. I fancy a bacon sandwich now- stop it! So I gave the example just
before about marriage if for a while somebody wasn't committing for example
or they were it wasn't completely serious but then they do decide to get
married and they they have a big wedding you say oh now yeah already yeah you
kind of spare no expense yes spend on everything you have everything you want
to go the whole online yards or you go the whole hog you do the whole thing yeah you don't
miss anything Oh being yourself nobody move could get
you killed
the whole nine yards right final idiomatic
expression in American English is jonesing jonesing what don't jonesing
mean I think I know this because I watched a lot of American films and I think it
means craving something craving something jonesing yeah like I'm desperate for jonesing
for a drink well I'm jonesing for a cigarette yeah I'm pretty sure I'm right
you think so yeah let's check it you are spot-on
yeah so I guess it kind of means to fancy to desire something to desire like i
fancy a burger yeah jonesing for a burger I'm jonesing for a burger yeah not very
strange again if you look in the link guys you can learn a bit more about the
background of that one together now what was your favorite moment on the
show was it Nicky jonesing for a fat baby so what would we say Leila I'm
dying man see I'm dying for fancy and dying for oh or I
could murder oh that's a really good
one well done I could murder a big mack
desperate for it yeah murder a bowl of pasta so guys we're gonna do a very quick recap
of what all of those meant and a bit slow for you to make sure you do
understand okay so on the John was the first one which of course meant to be on
the toilet the British equivalent was on the loo or really informal 'throne' it's
kind of funny number two was to smell a rat which of course meant when you know
that somebody is has said information that they shouldn't
so they've they've been a 'snitch' they've told other people information they
shouldn't usually somebody in authority so the British equivalent is to grass
someone up or to dob someone in number three was it jumped the shark so
very peculiar American idiom and this means when something has got ridiculous
something has gone too far particularly a TV show or a series of books or series
of films it's got ridiculous now is it it's not
good anymore it's lost credibility yes and we would probably say to go downhill
it's gone downhill mm-hmm anything else what's the only one I said sold out so
sell out yeah number 4 was a complicated one behind
the eight-ball behind the eight-ball and that meant to be in a very pressured
situation to be in a difficult situation British equivalent we don't have an
exact equivalent we've got a lot of idioms that do talk about being under
pressure but I think to say that they're under pressure hmm
you know 'in a bind' possibly, tricky situation so number five was bought the
farm and bought the farm meant to pass away okay in British English we would
say to push up the daisies or to kick the bucket number six was table it which
meant I'll do it later I'll do that task later cause I've got other more important
things to do so I'll shelve it for now Shelve it yeah sorry doing Leila's job! All right number
seven was to go the whole nine yards which meant to do the whole thing to go
the distance in British English the whole hog to go the whole hog to spare
no expense and do everything you could also say to go 'all out' last one was jonesing
to be jonesing meaning to be desperate to be craving a particular thing usually
food or drink in British English we often say I fancy I really fancy a
burger we could also say I'd murder a burger not a bowl of pasta or an apple no
I'd murder a salad so I think those were pretty interesting idiomatic expression
yeah that's right guys so try and use one of those in a sentence and be sure
to check out the link which we've provided as well to read a little bit
more about where some of these strange American idioms and British equivalents
have come from thank you so much for watching and of course if you haven't
yet click that subscribe button there and the notifications bell and
you'll be seeing us again very soon thanks a lot guys bye
it means to susss, I can't say suspect...uhhh blooper!