Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Idioms 217. The idiom today is to lick someone's
boots. Okay. Let's take a look at the note here. The idiom is used in a disapproving
way. So we're not usually complimenting someone. We're usually criticizing them a
little bit when we say that if somebody is licking someone's boots. So let's
continue here. If a person licks another person's boots. He or she treats someone
powerful or in authority with too much respect or humbles himself too much. Okay.
So let's look at number one. If you want to get on the good side of the boss you may
have to lick his boots. Yeah or again we might use it in the disapproving way.
Like somebody may say well I'm not going to lick his boots just to get that
promotion. You know, somebody might say something like that way. And let's look at
the second example here. There is no need to lick his boots, he is just an
assistant to the supervisor without any real power.
So maybe somebody's telling somebody else you know, you don't have to. It's a
little bit like kiss up to someone. It's a little bit like brown-nose. It's a little
similar to that idea. When you lick somebody's boots. So at the same time we
do have another word where it probably came from . Like a bootlicker. Yeah. You
could kind of understand how this came about. I mean hopefully you would really
not get down and actually lick someone's boots that would be very dirty.
You know, if somebody made you do that. Like my boots. Kind of like you know,
you'd almost do anything to try to please them. So yeah we do say a boot-
licker. A bootlicker is someone who humbles himself. So the same thing here,
or behaves in a way as someone who has no self-respect. So that's what we might
say. John is such a bootlicker. Doesn't he have any self-respect. Yes. Okay. Anyway,
I hope you got it . I hope it's clear. Thank you for your time. Bye-bye.