hi welcome to England I'm Adam in
today's video I'm gonna give you a few
idioms from the health and medicine
world now of course you know idioms are
collection of words that may or may not
mean exactly what the words suggest so
these idioms can be literal means
meaning they mean what they say or they
can mean something completely different
so let's look at a few of these to give
someone or to give something a black eye
now if you punch somebody right in the
face right in the eye
it will get all black and maybe close a
little bit this we call this a black eye
it's like a big ruse this is a good word
to know a ruse is like when something
goes black or if you go hit here and it
gets all blue and black that's a bruise
so that's a black eye but to give
someone a black eye can also mean to
hurt someone's reputation okay or a
thing like a company or a network so for
example a reporter misrepresented a
certain story and it turned out that
this story was false and so he this
reporter gave the network or gave the
news channel a black eye which means
that the reputation is a little bit
questionable now people maybe don't
trust this news network anymore
it could happen with a company a
government office anything if you do it
to a person you give someone a black eye
means you hurt his or her reputation
good a bitter pill to swallow so a pill
is like a little thing when you're sick
you take a pill you swallow it and it
usually doesn't taste good if you don't
take it with water and drink it quickly
it's very bitter but we also use this
idiom to mean that something is very
difficult to accept okay so let's say I
run a big company and I have to
it's a family company and I have a lot
of staff and I like all my my staff and
they like me but the company is not
doing very well financially so I have to
lay off I have to fire a bunch of people
and that is a very bitter pill to
swallow I don't want to do it but I have
to and they don't want to have to go but
they have to you right so it's a bitter
pill to swallow a more common example
let me give you another one I work as an
editor and sometimes people bring me
their writing and some people are just
not very good writers and so I have to
tell them they're not very good writers
and that's a very bitter pill for them
to swallow they have a very difficult
time accepting it okay that's a one
example break out in a cold sweat so
when you have a fever when your
temperature is too high inside you're
sweating means water is coming out of
you but you're cold at the same time so
that's a cold sweat but we also use this
idiom when we're afraid of something or
we're very nervous about something so I
was walking with my girlfriend down the
street and then I saw my other
girlfriend coming the other direction
and suddenly I broke out in a cold sweat
and my girlfriend said what's wrong and
I said nothing but she could see that
it's a cold sweat means I'm afraid of
something and then she figured out what
happened and I got into trouble just
example okay a taste or a dose of one's
own medicine so so the more common one
is taste but it's sometimes you'll hear
dose a dose is basically a portion but
we use it for a sickness so a taste of
one who owns medicine when you take
medicine you take a dosage this is the
other way you might see it the amount
that you have to take of the medicine
but as an idiom what we talk about is
when you do something and it's usually
something negative to to somebody or to
other people and then suddenly that same
thing is done to you then that means
you're getting a taste of your own
medicine so if I say some bad things
about this person and I spread it around
and I tell everybody oh yeah this person
did this or that and everybody thinks
okay whatever and then somebody says it
about me everybody understands that I
got a dose of my own medicine I
shouldn't be talking about other people
because I don't like it when it happens
to me when somebody says something about
me if you do something bad to other
people keep in mind it may happen to you
and you'll have a taste of your own
medicine and it doesn't taste good Oh
to rub salt in someone's wound so first
of all a wound what is it wound
if you cut yourself and your skin opens
and you're bleeding that is a wound now
if you take salt and you put salt and
rub it in that wound it's very very
painful okay
to rub salt in someone's wound means to
if somebody's in a bad situation if
somebody's hurt somehow and you make it
worse so for example my friend bill just
got fired from his job so he's really
depressed and he's really upset about it
and then his wife came to him and said
she's cheating on him with somebody and
she wants a divorce so she already knows
he's in a bad situation if she comes and
rub salt on it she makes it even worse
and tells him he's worthless and that's
why she's leaving him because he can't
keep his job
okay she's making it worse she's rubbing
salt in his wound okay not very nice but
it does happen we're gonna look at a few
more okay we have a few more to go
through and again they're all from
health so I'll go through each one just
what the doctor ordered so when
something good arrives we say it's just
what the doctor ordered it's just what
is needed at this particular time now in
the hospital if you have someone in the
hospital and you go to them and you say
oh here's your medicine and the person
says what's this oh what the doctor
ordered this is what the doctor wants
you to have but in everyday life outside
if something good comes just when you
need it you say oh just what the doctor
ordered
so for example I'm at work and I'm
working hard and I haven't had time to
go for lunch and my coworker brings me a
sandwich and I'll thank you this is just
what the doctor ordered just what I
needed right now okay or anything that's
good that comes at the right time we say
this expression now these two I put
together they kind of go together you
can use them interchangeably to get
something out of your system or to
scratch an itch now to get something out
of your system when you're sick you have
a virus or something going on maybe you
drink a lot of water and you hope to
flush whatever the problem is outside of
your system outside of your body okay to
get something out of your system can
also mean to get it out of your head you
have an urge or you have a desire
you really want to do something and
you're always thinking about it thinking
about it thinking about it so finally
the only way to get it out of your
system to get it out of your head is to
do it or to figure out a way to not
think about it anymore
it's very similar to scratch an itch so
first of all if you think about an itch
this is a feeling you have on your body
summer on your skin it's really annoying
and the only way to get rid of it is to
scratch so the action scratch the itch
is the feeling my arm itches means it
has that feeling and I will scratch that
feeling same idea as before you really
really want to do something you just
can't get it out of your head and the
only way to get it out is to just
scratch that itch that edge is that
particular thing that is basically it's
itching your brain and you can't scratch
your brain so you have to do the thing
to get it out of your system so I'll
give you an example let's say you're on
a diet and you're not supposed to have
any sugar then you're walking along and
you pass by a bakery and you see a
beautiful doughnut in the window
it's chocolate with a little bit sugar
and maybe stuffed inside with some
custard cream and you said you know I I
can't I can't so you walk away but then
the rest of the day doughnut doughnut
doughnut doughnut that's all you're
thinking about is that doughnut and
you're it's starting to make you a
little bit crazy and all your friends
all you talk to them about is doughnuts
doughnuts doughnuts
so finally your fence says you know what
just scratch that itch eat that doughnut
to get it out of your system and then go
on with your diet have a cheat day okay
so scratch the ditch eat the doughnut
get out of your system stop thinking
about it and I put these two together as
well to black out means to lose
consciousness now you could faint and
black out that way or for some reason
like maybe you're in a very scary
situation or you're very stressful
situation and you black out means inside
your head it's all black you don't
remember anything you don't think
anything you nothing happens out cold
is a very physical situation where
you're unconscious so if a brick you're
walking by a construction site and a
brick from the building falls on your
head
and you're on the ground out cold not
conscious not aware of anything so
technically they're more or less the
same except to blackout you don't
necessarily need to pass out you can
just blackout and still be sitting or
standing and not know what's going on
okay
very common situation unfortunately so I
hope you understood all these I hope
they were pretty clear if you go to Inc
vidcom and there's a quiz there you can
practice these idioms to make sure you
understand how to use them you can also
ask any questions you may have in the
forum there don't forget to subscribe to
my channel and coming back come back
soon and we'll have some more great
videos for you bye bye