Welcome to a new episode of English Vocabulary Booster.
My name is Lara and I'm a SALSA-certified English teacher.
Learning new vocabulary usually takes a long time, but we'll do it in a way that's easy, quick and efficient.
In every episode, we'll learn how to use five new English words or expressions, so that you too can start speaking like a native.
So let's get learning!
Thank you for joining us again.
I say us, but it's only me.
As usual, right here in bed.
It's a different bed because we've changed apartments, but still the same thing.
All right.
This week's topic is animals.
Let's hear today's story.
I went to visit my sister last week.
We hadn't seen each other in a while, maybe six months.
When I told my parents I was going to visit her, they told me to be prepared because she looked very different.
When I got to her house and saw her, I immediately understood what they were talking about.
Her face looked completely different.
Her lips were probably three times bigger than they used to be.
We sat in the living room and started talking, but she didn't say anything about her changes.
At one point I decided it was time to address the elephant in the room and I simply said So um, a little bird told me you've done something to your face.
She wasn't surprised I knew.
Quite the opposite.
And she got really excited and told me she was getting another operation.
I immediately went, hold your horses.
What do you mean another operation?
Yep.
She said she was going to be the guinea pig for this new type of operation to make your eyes look bigger.
I tried to convince her not to do it, but it was like beating a dead horse.
Look, this is what she looks like now.
She posted this on Instagram.
Ooh, oh my God.
Time to learn a few more expressions.
The first one is the elephant in the room.
It was time to address the elephant in the room.
Does the expression the elephant in the room refer to a problem or a big, annoying object right in the middle of a room?
Ha, I bet you got tricked, right?
We're not talking about a physical object.
The elephant in the room, it's a metaphor for a problem.
And now, the people in the room are aware of that problem?
Yes, everybody's aware that there's a big problem.
But do they talk about it?
They don't wanna talk about it.
Why?
Why do they not wanna talk about it?
If it's such a big problem, why do they not wanna talk about it?
Because it's a little embarrassing.
Because maybe it's a little awkward.
Just like in the story.
This girl had gotten a lot of surgery procedures done.
And, you know, it's not something that many people want to discuss.
But it's something very visible.
It's a big visible problem or issue that you want to talk about.
But at the same time, you feel like you can't.
Because it wouldn't be...
Okay, it would be awkward.
It would be embarrassing.
Have you ever been in a situation where there was an elephant in the room?
Well, my family is Sicilian, so there's a lot of elephants in a lot of rooms.
No, but what I'm trying to say is that a lot of times there are problems.
Maybe we get into fights and we don't want to talk about it.
And then when we meet...
We kind of have this big problem that nobody talks about and we feel like yes, there is an elephant in the room.
Expression number two, a little bird told me.
A little bird told me you've done something to your face.
If you use the expression a little bird told me.
Do you want to reveal who gave you that information?
No, for some reason or another, we don't know why, we don't wanna tell who told you.
Now, careful though, because this expression is used less and less.
So it's something funny that maybe you could say to a child.
Imagine you see your friend's child and you tell them oh, a little bird told me it's your birthday today.
It's like this cute thing that you could say.
Obviously that doesn't mean that a pigeon came up to you and was like hey, you know it's Sarah's birthday today.
But you get the point.
Expression number three, hold your horses.
Hold your horses.
What do you mean another operation?
Is the expression hold your horses a synonym for wait or go ahead, continue?
If I say, hold your horses, I'm telling you, wait.
But so what is the difference between telling someone to wait and telling someone to hold their horses?
Well, there's a big difference.
The two are not interchangeable.
Wait, I think we're all familiar with that word, okay?
But, If you say, hold your horses, that means that that person is going too fast.
Usually, it's making a decision that they're not ready to make.
I'll give you an example.
Imagine I see a friend and she tells me I met this great guy yesterday and we're getting married next week.
I could go, hold your horses.
What are you talking about?
Meaning, don't go this fast.
You haven't thought about this enough.
Can you think of some situations where you would need to tell someone, hold your horses?
I wouldn't say that to someone, or I haven't been in that position many times in my life, but people have to tell me constantly.
I have lots of like crazy ideas and lots of projects that I want to work on.
And sometimes it's too much.
And a lot of times I go up to my friends and family and be like, oh my gosh, I've had this great idea.
I'm going to start, for example, this new YouTube series, or I'm going to start a podcast, like in this case.
And people have to tell me.
Lara, hold your horses.
Are you sure you can handle it?
Have you thought about this enough?
And then a lot of times I haven't, so.
Expression number four, guinea pig.
She was going to be the guinea pig for this new type of operation.
If you are a guinea pig, are you testing something on someone?
Or is something being tested on you?
I don't know if you're familiar with what a guinea pig is.
It's this cute little furry rodent that scientists and stuff test drugs on.
So if you are the guinea pig, something is being tested on you.
What is that something?
What things can be tested on you if you're the guinea pig?
Well, anything really.
We're talking mostly drugs and procedures.
Have you ever been or would you ever be a guinea pig for something?
I don't think I'd ever want to be the guinea pig for like a new drug.
Other people can do that.
I don't care how much they pay me.
Unless I was about to die and that was my only option, I would not want to be a guinea pig.
But I was the guinea pig for this new method to teach...
Latin as school.
That's right.
I was in my first year of high school and we had to study Latin.
But they tried this new approach where you would learn Latin just like you would another language.
So you would actually learn how to speak it.
And let me just tell you, that went terribly and nobody in my class actually learned Latin.
Expression number five, it was like beating a dead horse.
I tried to convince her not to do it, but it was like beating a dead horse.
Now, if you're trying to accomplish something but you feel like it's like beating a dead horse, what a terrible expression will you succeed?
Imagine you're trying to pass a super difficult English exam and you study, and you study, and you watch tons and tons of hours of videos every day and you always fail.
Well, you could say it's like beating a dead horse.
It means you think you're not going to succeed.
So let's take a look at the origin of this awful expression.
Imagine so this comes from horse races when obviously, if you wanted to win, you had to beat the horse.
You had to flog the horse to make it go faster and to win.
Well, imagine your horse is dead.
It doesn't matter how much you flog it or you beat it.
It's not going to go any faster.
You're not going to win.
So that's why you say it's like beating a dead horse.
You put a lot of effort into it, but it gives you no results.
Have you ever been in a situation that felt like beating a dead horse?
And what did you do?
I think it was probably when I was in a relationship with someone that I was very much in love with, but we try to make it work.
And for some reason, we're not compatible.
And we tried and we tried and we tried.
And then at the end it felt like it was like beating a dead horse, meaning we put a lot of effort into our relationship but still we didn't make it.
And that is it for today.
And remember, if you want to access the transcript, as well as lots of other resources, visit enboocom.
That is E-N-B-O-O-O dot com.
Have a great day.
