Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Idioms 274. Tthe idiom today is the writing on
the wall. Okay. Let's take a look at the note here. This idiom could also be
rephrased as the handwriting on the wall or the writing is on the wall. So there are
actually three ways you could say it . You can say the writing on the wall. The
handwriting is on the wall or just the writing is on the wall. So you might hear
it all three ways. Okay. Let's continue The idiom means that there are some very
clear signs that something bad is likely to happen in the near future. Okay. The
origin of this phrase comes directly from the Bible. So it's a Bible story.
According to the story, a great feast was being held for King Belshazzar. Okay. The
king had often sinned and he was taking part in drunk revelry. You know, partying
and disrespecting the sacred... sacred meaning like holy wine goblets. Like, like
these cups I guess they were supposedly , maybe they should have been used
for religious purposes. But you know, he was just drinking and getting drunk from
them so the goblets in a ... in a profane way. So in a very disrespectful way. Even
though, I'm sure there's a lot more than than this. Suddenly a mysterious
disembodied hand appeared. So a hand by itself no body. Disembodied means not
having a body. You know, it reminds you of .. you a little bit about you know the old TV
show "The Addams Family. " Remember there used to be a hand that ran around on its
own. Well that's, that's what this is a disembodied hand just appeared and
started writing on the wall. Yeah. That's enough to really scare you or kind of
freaked somebody out today. If you just seen a hand by itself writing on the
wall. But anyway, a mysterious disembodied hand appeared and wrote some
words on the wall. Okay. And they, they couldn't really make sense of it so the
king called for Daniel you know this is Daniel from the
Book of Daniel in the Bible. So remember he was able to interpret dreams and
stuff. So he was also able to interpret this for the king. Okay. He was asked to
interpret the words. And he told the king it was a sign of his coming downfall. So
that you know, his end was coming soon. Later that same night, the king was
killed and Darius of Persia took control of his kingdom. So this is the idea where
the writing is on the wall. So it's already there. It's already set. You know,
nothing you could do about it. That's it. That's your fate. That's your destiny.
Whatever oh really in this case it really should be your fate. That's what's
coming. So it's probably too late to reverse it. Okay. Good. So let's look at
how we might use it. We have a couple of examples here how we use this phrase
today. Bob could see the writing on the wall. There were too many signs his
present company was going bankrupt or at least they may go bankrupt. So he decided
to look for another job before he went down with the ship. So if he waited too
late he'd probably lose his job right away. And he wouldn't you know, probably
take him a long time to find another job so he started looking now he didn't want
to go down with the ship. So he could see the writing on the wall. He said then I
got to prepare before time. This , this company's not going to be around that
much longer. Okay. Number two here. We could say we've kind of used this
example for other phrases too. Albert Einstein could see the writing on the
wall, but it's actually perfect here. After Hitler took power and he decided
to leave Germany before the Nazis gained too much power and it would be too late
for him. So yeah he could see the writing on the wall. He could see, if I stay here,
forget it. You know, they're probably going to come after me. Because of course we
all know Albert Einstein was a German Jew. So they would have went ... probably
would have eventually went after him . I don't think they would have made an
exception for him. He could see the writing on the wall. So he got out before
it was too late. Anyway,, I hope you got it. I hope it's clear. Thank you for your
time. Bye-bye.