Hey friends once somebody told me, when a child is born a mother is born. And that means
a woman gives birth to a child and a child gives birth to a mother. Today’s lesson
is dedicated to all the wonderful mothers out there and yes, it is because it is mother’s
day. So in today’s lesson, we are going to take a look at some idioms using the word mother in it.
So let’s start, my first one here is, At your mother’s knee. Now when
I use this idiom, I mean, you’ll learn something when you were a child. So the other day, I
went out with my friends and one of my friends sang really well. And I said, Wow! Have you
trained professionally? And she said no, I learn to sing at my mother’s knee, so when
she said that, it meant she learnt to sing, when she was young. Now imagine, why do we
use mothers knee? We use it to say, when a child is young, we generally learn our first
things, the first words from our mother, Right? She’s the first teacher in your life. So
that is how this idiom came, At your mothers knee, so well for me, I’ve learnt to speak
English at my mother’s knee. She’s the person, who taught me and made me confident
to speak English. So remember the idiom, At your mothers knee means, you learnt something,
when you were that young. So when you want to say you learnt something, when you were
really young or when you were a child, go ahead and say, I learnt it at my mother’s
knee. The next one, Experience is the mother of wisdom. Well, it’s very clear, so basically
people learn from what happens to them. So maybe you experience things and it teaches
you a lesson and of course you grow wiser by the day, so when we say experience is the
mother of wisdom. That means experience gives birth to wisdom and so we call it the mother
of wisdom. Now again, why do we use mother here? It shows that it gives birth to a new
quality called wisdom. So when I say, experience is the mother of wisdom. I mean probably I
have learnt something from what has happened to me in my life. Now sometimes we really
fight with our mothers or our parents, Right? We get angry and we really don’t understand
things from their perspective, so I can make a sentence and say, you will never understand
your parents love for you until you have your own children. So experience is the mother
of wisdom, so till you don’t experience it, you would never know and when you do the
learning begins there. Well, friends, so that is why to make this very profound or with
a deep meaning, we use the word mother and this idiom means, you learn from what happens
in your life. So your experience makes you wiser. The next one, Face that only a mother
could love. Well, honestly I think, you should not use this idiom, because it’s got a very
rude meaning and that means someone, who has a very ugly face. So the other day I overheard
a guy tell a girl, I don’t even like your friend, look at her she’s so unattractive.
She’s got a face that only a mother could love. Now this is something really rude. You
do not condemn someone’s look by saying it, because if you use this idiom, it means
that the person has an ugly face. Now again if you see, we’ve used the word mother over
here, because it is only a mother, who can love a child beyond the physicality’s or
the looks or the character, the features and the nature of that person. Because that’s
her child, she will never judge her child and that is why we use this in an idiom to
say that a person is so ugly. Nobody is going to love the person except his or her mother.
So friends remember do not use this idiom, but yes when you hear people use it, you should
know what it means. It’s very rude, it’s very mean, so please do not use it. The next
one, He that would the daughter win. Now this is a bit different, it’s a proverb, he that
would the daughter win, must with the mother first begin. Well, now this idiom is especially
for all the guys out there, who want to marry their lady love, but remember it is important
to win the heart of their mothers first. So well to get approval from the girl’s mother,
you need to be impressive, you need to get her on your side and gain the confidence that
you are, Mr Perfect for her charming daughter. So we say, he that would the daughter win,
must with the mother first begin. Now well my friend Joe, he is madly in love with his
girlfriend Maria and he intends marrying her. They’ve been dating for a while now, but
the other day I told him Joe, It’s not so easy, you need to kind of impress Marias mother
get her on your side and then well maybe things will go smoothly for you. And then I said,
he that would the daughter win, must with the mother first begin. Basically it sounds
very complicated, but the meaning is simple. You need to win over the girl’s mother first,
win over her heart, get her to like you and well then the girl automatically comes to
you, so this is what the idiom means. So all the guys out there, pull up your socks, be
impressive, go ahead and impress the girl’s mother first and everything else will come
to you easy. So all the guys out there, who are struggling with this, all the best to
you. The next one, Like mother, like daughter. Well, this is something very simple, we hear
it all the time. Now imagine if a child has some similar traits like his mother, it could
be behaviour, nature, it could be dressing style, it could be food habits. We say, Oh
like mother, like child. Sometimes we say, Like mother, like daughter, Like mother, like
son. What we mean to say is he is ditto, ditto or exactly like his or her mother. Now imagine,
Oh well, I have to tell you this , my little cousin she is very calm by nature , she is
oblivious to everything that’s happening around her and I wonder, How? She’s very
calm, she stays calm and anything happens, she just doesn’t get affected , I really
don’t know how? So whenever I see her, I realize, she’s gone on her mom, because
my aunt is identically the same or rather she is identical to her mom. So I always tell
her, Nancy you’re so calm, Like mother, like daughter. Something similar that you
have to your mother. So that is when we say, Like mother, like daughter , Like mother,
like son. The next one, Necessity is the mother of invention. Now see again we have the word
mother here. You know this idiom is very common and people say it when they want to express
that when you need to do something, you will find a way to do it. Anyhow so when you need
to do something, you will do it, so that means necessity is the mother of invention. I’m
gonna give you an example, The other day my friend was rushing out of her house and she
had to leave a post aid note on her refrigerator for her husband. And her cell phone had died
off, her battery died down and she needed to leave a message, so she took a post aid
and she started writing only to realize her pen went out of ink. So what she did was very
smart. Well, mother of invention, she removed her lipstick and just scribbled two words
and left the note on the fridge. That means she had to leave the message, she did it anyhow.
So necessity, when you need something, you will find a way to do it. And you know how
you’ll find a way? Mother of invention, that means somehow you will think and you
will invent a new idea. That’s why we use the word mother, because it’s the mother
of invention. It gives birth to a new thought, to a new invention. So this idiom means people
will do, when they need to do something, they will do it, come what may. They will find
a way, they will find a solution, they will find an alternative manner of doing it. So
remember, necessity is the mother of invention, so we do know and we can find our ways, if
we have to do something. Well, the last one, Mother of all. When I say, mother of all.
Again we have the word mother here. I mean to say the most impressive or maybe the most
important of its kind or type. Like nothing beyond this, very very important. Well, so
let me tell you one sentence with this, Failure is the mother of all success. So without failure,
you can’t succeed, because when you fail, you pick yourself up, you struggle and there
you have success your way. So that means failure is the mother of all success. It is the most
important part, when you or your most important aspect to getting success. Now supposing I
have this, I have a colleague of mine, who speaks really well at conferences and she
somehow doesn’t leave the stage without getting an applause. So whenever she comes
to our office, we are like, Wow! Here she comes, the mother of all presentator, presenters.
So what I mean to say is nobody can beat her, she’s the best and the most important of
its types. She does a great job and of course not to forget, very impressive. So that is
when you say, the mother of all. So these are a few idioms, where we use the word mother
in them to show the profoundness or the meaning of something you want to say, because all
of us know what the word mother means and how deep it is. So go ahead and use these
idioms in your daily conversation. And well to all the mothers out there, once again,
I wish you a very happy mother’s day. Thank you for being the epitome of strength and
setting examples for all the children out there and well specially to my mom. I love
you and I wish you a very happy mother’s day. I’m going to be back with a new lesson.
Till then take care and bye.