Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Idioms 270. The idiom today is on one's toes. Okay.
Let's take a look at the note here. If someone is on his or her toes, he or she
is alert, attentive, or busy. Okay. The expression is believed to come from
the idea that one may have to lift one's heels and change the pressure of your
weight on the balls of one's feet in order to jump into action. So you kind of
lean up like that. You know, on the balls of your feet.
All right. Here we say the balls of one's foot is the slightly round part that
sticks out. The part that's just below the toes. That's the balls of your feet.
So if you're kind of in action you're kind of up on them ready, ready, ready to
go. So that's where the idea if we say somebody needs to be on their toes
that's where it comes from. All right. And let's look at ... we have three
examples here. Today example number one. Security guards are supposed to keep on
their toes and watch out for any danger. They are not supposed to keep their eyes
glued to their iPhones. You know, looking at something on the Internet or
something like that. They're supposed to be watching. Okay.
All right. Number two here. If you play dodge ball, like in high school. They have
that big ball they sometimes throw at people. If you play dodge ball you had
better keep on your toes or you may end up being hit in the head with a ball. So
you got to keep on your toes. You had better watch out. Be careful don't turn your
head or you might really get hit. All right and the third one here. Tightrope walkers
literally need to keep on their toes. Any slight distraction could cause one
to fall. Okay. Anyway, I hope you got it.I hope it was clear. Thank you for your time.
Bye-bye.