Welcome back to the Learn English podcast, the podcast teaching English so you can learn naturally.
On today's episode, we are going to try to build that English vocabulary and sound like a native speaker by talking about some idioms.
Specifically, we are going to talk about some idioms with the word nerve in it.
Oh, the nerve of it all.
Do you know these idioms?
do you understand what they mean when someone is saying that you are working their nerves, or that you hit a nerve, or that you need to keep your nerve?
All of those mean extremely different things, even though they might sound kind of similar.
If you want to learn more about these idioms and build your English vocabulary, then follow along because we're about to begin.
before we start a reminder to look in the description of this podcast episode that way you can find the list of words and phrases and specifically these idioms that i talk about in this episode that way you can take them and start studying them to build your english vocabulary Let's talk about these
idioms. All of these idioms are going to have the word nerve in them, even though they are going to mean very different things.
Just to start off, we're going to talk about what nerves are.
Nerves are things that are in your body.
They connect your brain and your spinal cord to different parts of your body, and they send messages to and from your brain.
Now, these are important, but they don't necessarily have to do with the meaning of these idioms.
Just keep that general idea of what a nerve is and see if you can understand why we use the word nerve in these sayings.
I'm going to try to organize them to make the most sense as possible, but like I said, these mean all very different things and the idiom might slightly change depending on what country you are in and the particular type of English you are around.
I'm going to try to cover that as well so that way you can know what someone means when they use these idioms.
Let's start with the first one.
The first one is to get on someone's nerves.
To get on someone's nerves means to be very annoying or to irritate them.
For example, I live in a particular neighborhood where the houses are very close together.
And there are some dogs in my neighborhood who love to bark.
They bark late at night.
They bark early in the morning.
And a lot of times, their barking gets on my nerves.
that means that their barking irritates me because I'm trying to sleep.
I'm trying to get a good night's sleep and I am constantly woken up by these dogs barking.
Another way to say this is that someone is working your nerves.
Getting on someone's nerves and working someone's nerves means about the same thing.
Working someone's nerves means that something is being irritating or annoying.
I can say that those dogs barking are getting on my nerves.
I can also say that the dog's barking is working my nerves.
Both of those mean the same things and you will hear people use both of those particular versions of this idiom.
Now to make this idiom a little bit stronger and a little bit more powerful we can add the word last.
So we have the saying getting on someone's nerves, but we can say getting on someone's last nerve.
That particular version of this saying is more forceful and it implies that someone is about to do something.
If I say that the dog's barking is getting on my nerves, that means that I'm irritated and that I don't like it.
But if I say that dog's barking is getting on my last nerve, that implies that I'm about to take some action to get that barking to stop.
Maybe I'm going to go talk to my neighbor.
Maybe I'm going to call some city official and complain.
Maybe I'm going to call the homeowners association that makes the rules for the neighborhood and maybe I'll call them and complain.
but I'm going to do something because it is to the point where I need to act to make this thing stop.
If you find something irritating, very irritating to the point where you want it to stop and you're going to do something to make it stop, use that word last in this idiom.
Say that something is getting on your last nerve because that really implies that you're about to take some type of action.
Our next set of idioms are pretty interchangeable, and you will hear different versions of this idiom depending on what country you are in.
I am talking about to touch a nerve, to strike a nerve, or to hit a nerve.
All of them mean the same thing, and what this idiom means is that someone says or does something that creates a very strong reaction in someone else.
This doesn't necessarily have to be annoyance or irritation like to work someone's nerve or to get on someone's nerve.
When you say someone hit a nerve or struck a nerve or touched a nerve, that means that they caused someone else to have a very strong emotional reaction.
It could be anger. It could be sadness.
It could be annoyance, but it's a very strong reaction.
Let's do an example here.
Let's say that you have a friend who just had a divorce.
Their partner that they were married to left them.
Aspects of travel. Accommodation is often the biggest expense while travelling.
Budget travellers usually stay in hostels, guest houses or budget hotels.
While these options are not as luxurious as five -star resorts, they can still be as clean as higher -end accommodations.
For example, in Japan, I have stayed in some very, very clean and nice capsule hotels.
Capsule hotel rooms are as small as a box, but they are clean and cheap.
Some budget hostels are designed to be as stylish as any high -end hotel, but at a fraction of the cost.
When my wife and I travel, we often choose a Japanese hotel chain that has hot springs and free ramen noodles as part of the deal.
The rooms are not as big as an expensive hotel, but the hotel facilities are often as good as those expensive hotel facilities.
Our next idiom is to have the nerve to do something.
This is when someone is particularly bold, but usually disrespectful and a little bit ridiculous in what they're doing.
This usually applies when someone says or does something, usually when they're criticizing another person, but they do the same thing or even worse.
For example, let's say that you have a co -worker who is late to work every single day.
They have never been on time ever.
And then one time you come to work late by one minute and they get mad at you and they criticize you.
You can say, I cannot believe they had the nerve to tell me that.
That means that you can't believe they were so bold.
You can't believe they said something that was disrespectful, but also a little bit ridiculous, considering that they do the same thing and even worse.
Now, sometimes you will hear this idiom get shortened, and sometimes people will just say the nerve.
They might cut out that front part of the saying.
So for example, if your co -worker criticized you for being one minute late to work, you might just say the nerve, or you might say the nerve of them.
In that case, it means the same thing.
You are being a little bit shocked by what they said and thinking it's a little bit ridiculous that they are criticizing someone when they do something that's a lot worse and that ties into our next set of idioms so when someone has the nerve to do something it means that they're very bold but usually
disrespectful our next set of idioms has to do with someone being bold and brave but not necessarily disrespectful this type of idiom really has to do with someone finding the courage to do something and the saying is to find your nerve or to gather your nerve.
That means that someone is trying to find or gather their courage, their bravery, to stop being scared so they can do something.
Maybe there's someone that you want to ask out on a date, someone that you kind of like, but you're a little bit nervous.
Maybe they'll say yes, or maybe they'll say no.
If you're scared, you have to find your nerve or gather your nerve so that way you can go and ask them out on a date.
You need to find that inner courage so that you can ask them out.
You can also hear the saying keep your nerve, which is when you found your nerve, but you need to keep it.
So maybe you found your nerve, you gathered your nerve, and you're walking up to the person that you want to ask out on a date, but then you start getting scared again.
You want to keep your nerve.
That means stay calm, stay courageous, stay bold, and then complete that action that you need to do.
You might also hear this when something tragic happens, if there's some type of accident or some type of disaster.
If someone is in that situation and they're able to stay calm and they're able to do some heroic and courageous thing, then you can say that they kept their nerve.
That means that they kept calm, they kept cool, they didn't get nervous, they didn't get scared, and they did what they needed to do.
They did something heroic.
So, if someone is able to act courageous in that kind of scenario, you can also use that saying that they kept their nerve during the accident or during the disaster.
I hope you enjoyed this episode.
I hope you learned a little bit about these idioms and I hope you can use them in conversation and understand what a native speaker means when they say them.
These are not even all of the idioms with the word nerve in them.
We use so many idioms in English and I know it can be a little overwhelming at times.
But if you liked this episode.
If you would like more episodes like this in the future, then please leave a comment and let me know.
There are so many idioms.
We can do a lot of episodes like this, but of course, I don't know if you want that unless you tell me.
If this podcast is helping you learn English, if it is helping you with your English journey, please consider leaving us a rating on whatever app you use to listen to this podcast on.
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Until then, keep learning English.
However, this privacy might not be as culturally immersive as budget travel.
Of course, one of the biggest differences between budget and luxury travel is the cost.
Budget travel can be as affordable as you want it to be.
With careful planning, you can often stretch your money and still have an amazing experience.
You can stay in cheap hotels, do cheap activities and still have a great time.
Luxury travel, on the other hand, is rarely as cheap as budget travel.
However, for those who value comfort and convenience and exclusivity, it may be worth the expense.
After all, splurging on a luxury experience now and then can be as satisfying as sticking to a strict budget.
So here is today's final thought.
Today I've introduced you all to comparisons of equality and inequality.
We use this grammar to show the equality between two things or to show inequality between two things.
After explaining how to form and use this type of comparative grammar, be as tall as something, be as strong as something, I tried to demonstrate the grammar through a discussion of luxury and budget travel.
Now you have listened to this episode and this grammar lesson, let's practice your English.
Why not answer the following question in the comments on Spotify or on my blog or on YouTube using the grammar you have learned today.
Are online English classes as effective as in -person classes?
I'll say it one more time.
Are online English classes as effective as in -person classes?
You can leave a comment on Spotify or on YouTube or my website.
If you're a Patreon member, leave a comment on Discord or send me a message.
and yeah, practice using this grammar now.
Go and leave a comment.
Turn that passive listening into active learning.
If you really want to keep studying, I recommend two steps.
First step is to become a Patreon member.
By becoming a Patreon member, you can download the study pack for this episode for free, you can get the transcripts, you can get vocabulary lists and all of the exercises I have created in fact there's now so many grammar exercises in each study pack and an exclusive episode as well we also will be
doing a conversation club on this grammar as well probably the week after this episode is released and then a second step if you don't want to join patreon that's fine you can still buy the study pack it's available on patreon to buy one -off payment you can click the link in the description thank you
so much for listening and I hope you have a great day see you next time goodbye as a long -time foreign correspondent i've worked in lots of places but nowhere is important to the world as china i'm jane perles former beijing bureau chief for the new york times on face off the us versus china we'll explore what's critical to this important global relationship
trump and xi jinping ai tiktok and even hollywood New episodes of Face Off are available now wherever you get your podcasts.
