today I am going to teach you some very
American expressions that's coming up
[Music]
what's up everyone welcome to
interactive English which is the place
you want to be to practice and improve
your English skills and the way we're
going to do that today is I am going to
teach you some expressions that are very
common in the US and these expressions
may be used in other english-speaking
countries as well but some of them are
very specific to the US and as we go
through them I will let you know which
ones those are so let's begin with our
first expression and that is it's it's
one of my favorite expressions it's very
easy it's just one word and that is
whatever now as a pronoun we can use
this word to mean well a a lack of
restriction or or limitations and people
might say something like well you can do
whatever you want you can say whatever
you want in those comments down below
you can write whatever you want no I
mean you're in good shape and you can
eat whatever you want take whatever you
want but we can also use this word as an
informal exclamation to show a
reluctance to continue talking or to
continue having a discussion and it kind
of just shows a bit of indifference like
you know I don't care it doesn't matter
to me
so when I think about the word being
used like this I think about people
having an emotional conversation maybe
even an argument and one person just
doesn't want to talk about it anymore
they may just say you know whatever I'm
done talking whatever what you want to
believe I don't even care whatever well
they're not if you want to mount it on
the left to the right and the next
expression is one that I use a lot I'd
like using this expression and it is
informal and it's just my bad and when
somebody says my bad they are
acknowledging that they made a mistake
they did something wrong and it's not
really a really really horrible mistake
because then I think you want to be a
little more apologetic but if it's just
something small and you know
okay I did something wrong my bad often
I think it's used quite frequently in
sports when you're having a competition
and you play on a team and somebody
makes a mistake and they'll just say
okay my bad you will see this in
basketball soccer football and any team
sport somebody makes a mistake they may
they may point to themselves and say you
know oh yeah my bad my bad my mom you
left us without saying goodbye oh my bad
get your point there Bob let him play
Bob oh sorry my bad then we have an
expression which which is more of an
idiom and that is to lose touch with
someone and when you lose touch with
somebody it means that you just you stop
communicating with them and I think it's
common it happens especially over a long
period of time that we we have friends
but then we lose touch as the years go
on and on and on and you just you're
just not communicating with people I
hope that we never lose touch and that
you are constantly writing to me and
communicating with me and and we always
stay in touch which would be the
opposite that means you keep
communicating there there's an extra one
there for you but if you don't want to
stay in touch with me whatever I'm just
kidding my bad
I I really I don't want to lose touch
with all of you you know I've tried
school you just kind of lose touch
graduate I guess he's going away on this
surfing trip and I just don't Elise not
sure do I know about losing touch help
we don't lose touch no we'll hang out
then we have an expression which is is
definitely very American it's part of
the United States and that is to plead
the fifth now when somebody says you
know I plead the fifth
they may say it informally and you might
hear this on TV and movies but what it
really means is that it's talking about
the fifth amendment and in the US
Constitution the fifth amendment means
that you you don't have to talk about
something because you don't want to
incriminate yourself let me explain that
in case it doesn't make sense that say
that you are witness to something wrong
but you yourself also did something a
bit wrong and they call you to testify
against this other person they say okay
I want you to tell us what happened but
you don't want to talk about it because
you also did something a little wrong
you might say you know I plead the fifth
I don't want to talk about this
situation because basically I'm going to
be admitting to a crime as well that I
committed so I'm going to plead the
fifth that's a little civics lesson for
you but this expression it can also be
used in situations outside of that
context said even if you're talking to
your husband or wife about something and
you you don't want to be completely
honest about a situation because maybe
you did something wrong it's a-you know
I plead the fifth could I plead the
fifth the fifth is just used to protect
yourself I'm seeing the fifth please
tell me that you haven't planned
anything big tonight
well on your birthday sorry but I plead
the fifth on you then we have an
expression which is commonly confused
and that expression is I couldn't care
less so if somebody says you know I
couldn't care less
it just means that the the amount of
concern that they have about something
could not be less this is the least
thing that they could possibly be
concerned about I couldn't care less
now often I I think this is used in kind
of the heat of the moment when you're
talking about something and you just
want to tell this person look I I don't
care I couldn't care less but people
will confuse it and they say well I
could care less
and that means kind of you know the
opposite that you're there are many
other things that you could care less
about and that's not what you want to
say so keep that in mind don't confuse
it with I could care less I couldn't
care less that's the one you want stick
with that and you just want more money
for yourself don't you couldn't care
less I couldn't care less about the
commendation
anyway Amy thank you for sticking up for
me oh I honestly couldn't care less then
we have another I I guess it's just one
word and that is like now I want to I'm
putting this in there just for your
comprehension not for you to go out and
use it this is something that you might
hear young teenagers use and they use it
as a meaningless interjection when
they're having a conversation just
during their their informal speech it
just may be riddled with like like like
like like like and people get into these
bad habits and it just takes time to
grow out of them right now yeah it's
like the best meals ever yeah wait so if
you're watching a TV show or movie that
is about high school then you might hear
it a bit more so it's more for your
comprehension not for you to try and
just go out and use and start using this
it's just for you to be aware of it so
let me try to give you an example so I
like wanted to go to the movies this
weekend with my friend but she was like
I can't because I have to do my homework
and we couldn't like hang out that night
which meant I didn't do anything which
was like totally boring okay all right
that that sounded ridiculous especially
hearing me say that but I'm gonna say it
again and now I'm just going to take out
all of those likes and and you tell me
if you think it makes more sense so I
wanted to go to the movies this weekend
with my friend but she said she can't
because she had to do homework and we
couldn't hang out that night which meant
that I didn't do anything which was very
boring so as you can see I think it's
much easier to understand when we when
we take those likes out but again if you
are listening to a teenager talk in the
United States especially I think if
you're in places like California then
you may hear this word used quite often
when Ross is in China on this dig
Chandler let it slip that Ross was in
love with
she was like oh my god I mean we like I
have like I was you know the next
expression is to give someone props and
this is actually a bit of slang it may
be more regional and it depends on your
age that you might say this or maybe you
might hear this expression but to give
someone props means that you are
recognizing them you are acknowledging
them for for some reason something that
they did again it's very informal so I
think of it maybe in the just to give
you an example at work you're like yeah
my boss really gave me props for all the
hard work I did I want to give all of
you guys props for watching our video
lessons you guys are like the best it's
just it just sounds awkward and
unnatural when I say like like like like
like like some people give you props for
challenging the goalies to a race and
beating them I had to pop a cop cut he
wasn't giving my props in Oaktown you
and your friends have accomplished the
impossible for that I give you mad props
then we have John Hancock this is
another one it's very American it's
really just used in the United States
and you would talk about it in the
context of well I need to get your John
Hancock or I need you to give me your
John Hancock and when they're talking
about your John Hancock they're talking
about your signature so if somebody were
to say hey you know I just need to get
your John Hancock right here they're
telling you well you need to sign right
there so where does this come from
well John Hancock supposedly was the
first person to sign the Declaration of
Independence and when he signed his name
he signed it abnormally large it's the
largest signature on the Declaration of
Independence and people say that the
reason that he did this is because the
King didn't have very good eyesight and
he wanted to make sure that he could see
John Hancock's signature so now that
name has now become a reference to
somebody's signature I need to get your
John Hancock mr. Callahan I need your
John Hancock
reports if I could just get your John
Hancock Oh sergeant so we'll just need
your John Hancock right here an alley
old John Hancock the next expression is
it's also an idiom and that is to get
ahead of oneself and this just means
that you are planning prematurely or
maybe you're being a bit overconfident
so for example if you are going to take
a trip but that trip is a long ways off
you don't really need to start planning
now but if you do plan now somebody
might say look okay wait you're getting
ahead of yourself we don't need to start
planning for this now or as far as
overconfidence goes perhaps you have an
idea and you start thinking of this idea
and all of the amazing things that can
come out of it I'm gonna do this and
then we can do this and you start
thinking about it and they're like maybe
I'm starting to get ahead of myself
and I just need to take it one step at a
time so if you're planning prematurely
if you're a bit overconfident then you
might be getting ahead of yourself well
I told you I would learn better if I had
a study buddy don't get ahead of
yourself too much maybe I'll call him
Pappy look at me I'm get ahead of myself
might be a cause for celebration
Wow it's not gonna head of ourselves the
next expression is another one of my
favorites it's very short very simple
three words it's all good and if
somebody says it's all good it just
means that everything is fine often I
think people might say it kind of in the
context of telling somebody else to
relax all right don't worry about this
relax it's all good perhaps somebody's
trying to plan prematurely and they're
really getting ahead of themselves and
they're like oh well you need to do this
you need to do that and you would just
tell hey it's all good don't worry about
it I got it taken care of it's all good
and with the wood and it's all good oh
good what's going down brother
baby good I did and I am so so sorry so
what I want you to do now because I
don't want to lose touch is I want you
to join our community and subscribe to
our email list because we will send you
some useful and free resources we will
give you access to the secret fluency
lesson all you got to do is write your
email and give us your John Hancock so
check out the link in the description if
you don't want to it's all good don't
worry about it
you can just write to me in the comments
we can communicate there and I will give
you some props I will recognize you I
will acknowledge you and I will just
keep using as many of these expressions
as I can so this so that you have a
better understanding of them and that
you are more likely to remember thank
you guys so much for watching I hope you
enjoyed this lesson if you did hit that
like button like like really hit it hit
it like hit it really hard
alright and okay enough of that I I will
see you next time so I like one so I
like wanted to go to the front so I like
wanted to go to the movies with my
friend and he was like well I have to do
my homework so I had to like stay home
and it was like so boring and I can't
even I can't even get through this