Well, hello and welcome to this English lesson where we're going to talk about 30 different fun and quirky idioms.
If you don't know what quirky means it means unique or strange or a little bit funny.
Um these are idioms that will be familiar to you but also some of these will probably be brand new.
There's probably ten in here that you'll know. there's probably 20 that you probably don't know.
So you'll have to see, as we go through this English lesson, which ones you know and which ones you don't know.
But they should be fun.
So once again, welcome to this English lesson about fun and quirky idioms.
Apple a day keeps the doctor away.
Now I haven't actually heard anyone say this saying recently.
Um and in fact when people say it they often only say the first part.
They'll say you know an apple a day.
And basically what this means is that if you eat healthy, you'll be healthy.
Basically an idiom.
That's saying, if you decide to eat fruit, if you decide to eat vegetables, if you decide to eat things that are good for you, will be healthy and you won't need to go see the doctor.
So an apple a day keeps the doctor away.
If you eat healthy you'll be healthy.
Now this isn't 100% true.
I mean you can eat an apple a day and still get sick sometimes.
But there is a little bit of truth to this.
Um actually maybe a lot of truth to this.
If you eat well.
If you take care of yourself and probably be sick less often.
So an apple a day keeps the doctor away.
Hold your horses.
Be patient.
Wait a moment.
Uh this is one of the first phrases that an English learner asked me about more than 25 years ago.
I was tutoring someone a French speaker and they asked me what does hold your horses mean?
And I said oh it just means like slow down or stop or be patient.
And Jen says I have my boots on.
I have my coat on.
Let's go shopping now.
I might say hold your horses.
I need to finish some work.
I just need a minute to finish something before we leave.
So hold your horses basically means be patient.
Wait a moment.
Just take a take a minute.
Um I'll be with you shortly.
Hold your horses.
Be patient.
Wait a moment. spill the beans.
Means to reveal a secret.
The example I often give is if you are planning a surprise party.
If I was planning a surprise party for my mom's birthday.
And if my sister told my mom hey, we're having a party for you this week, my sister will have spilled the beans.
When you spill the beans it means you reveal something that was supposed to be a secret.
You don't want to spill the beans especially if it's about a surprise party.
A surprise party is supposed to be a surprise for the person who the party is for.
Um so you don't want to spill the beans uh before the event happens.
To spill the beans to reveal a secret. hit the nail on the head to say the right answer.
If I asked you right now what does a green check mark mean?
And if someone said oh, that means you got the answer right, I would say you hit the nail on the head.
That's exactly the right answer.
Or let's say, at work, your boss says there's a problem we need to fix, but we're not sure what the problem is.
You could say I think the problem is Jim.
He doesn't work hard enough.
You might then your boss might say you hit the nail on the head.
Jim.
Jim is the problem.
Poor Jim.
I often in my examples use the name Jim.
I should probably pick another name at some point.
But to hit the nail on the head is to say the right answer, to say the right thing at the right time.
Bark up the wrong tree, accusing or looking in the wrong place.
So when you are barking up the wrong tree, it might mean you are saying someone did something and they didn't do it.
Um or you are looking for something and it's the wrong place.
Let me use the police as an example.
If the police came to my house and said a snowmobile was stolen Bob and we want to investigate you.
I might say you're barking up the wrong tree.
If I went to bed last night at 930 and I slept until 630 this morning.
I did not steal any snowmobiles.
You're barking up the wrong tree.
It was probably Jim.
It's probably Jim who stole the snowmobile.
Go ask him about it.
So when you bark up the wrong tree, you might be accusing someone of doing something, or you might be just looking in the wrong place for something.
To bark up the wrong tree.
To pull someone's leg means to lie not tell the truth in a joking way.
So if I said to Jen I
Jen came home after shopping and I said, while you were gone um, your dad called and he bought us season's tickets to go see the Blue Jays.
Would be like you.
What are you serious?
And then I would say nah I'm just joking.
In that situation you would say that I decided to pull Jen's leg.
I was pulling her leg.
Basically I decided to lie.
I said something that was not true.
But it was meant to be a joke or for fun.
If I said to all of you hey tomorrow I'm going to do a six hour live stream.
And then I said, no, I'm just kidding.
I'm pulling your leg.
It basically means I'm just joking.
By the way, I would love to do like a live stream marathon someday but I would need help.
I would need two people to be to because you would need to go back and forth, right?
If you did it for that long. go off the rails means to lose control or stop behaving normally.
So you can use this to talk about something at work.
You could say we're working on the new project but it started to go off the rails.
We don't have enough money.
We aren't going to be finished in time.
Things are going wrong.
We've lost control of the project. could also say your cousin Jim has started to go off the rails.
Um he just sits on his couch eating pizza and chips apparently.
Um and he doesn't go to work.
His life is starting to go off the rails.
So you can kind of see where this comes from.
Like a train is on railroad tracks.
It's on rails.
And when the train goes off the rails that's a problem.
And so we've started to use this phrase to describe things in life that are similar to go off the rails.
The project at work is starting to go off the rails.
Cousin Joe lost his job.
He just sits around at home.
His life is starting to go off the rails.
Starting to go badly.
To be on thin ice means to be close to facing consequences for bad behaviour.
If you were late for work five days in a row, you'd be on thin ice boss at some point is going to talk to you about that and you might even get fired.
Your might your boss might decide hey this is not acceptable.
We don't want you to work here anymore.
I have this picture of a student working with a teacher or maybe this might be his grandpa where they're basically saying hey, you're behaving badly.
This is your last warning.
You're on thin ice young man.
If you put that book in your head one more time.
I'm going to kick you out of the classroom.
So to be on thin ice means to be close to being in trouble.
To be close to facing consequences for bad behaviour.
To throw in the towel simply means to quit.
To give up.
Um if you are thinking about professional athlete.
After playing for seven years or 10 years they might decide to throw in the towel.
They might decide to quit doing that job.
So I think this comes from boxing.
Um, you know, if you have a towel the, I think the the boxing coach can throw the towel in the ring to say the match is over the way.
I should explain some of the literal meaning, shouldn't I?
If you're on thin ice the ice can break and you can fall in and that's where that phrase comes from.
Um to throw in the towel I think is a boxing term.
But it simply means to quit.
To miss the boat means to lose your chance.
If you there are tickets for an Ed Sheeran concert and you try to get some but they're sold out.
You have lost your chance to buy tickets.
You have missed the boat.
Often when a popular singer comes to Toronto.
I don't even try to get tickets because I know I'm just going to miss the boat anyways.
Um when the World Series was in Toronto last fall.
Um if I I tried to get tickets the one day and I missed the boat.
I didn't get them.
So it means to lose your chance.
It means to miss out on something that is happening.
Live a little.
Use to encourage someone to do something fun.
So let's say some of your friends want to go skydiving, want to go in a plane and put on parachutes and jump out of the plane and float to the ground and you say no, I don't want to do that.
They might say, come on, live a little.
It basically means relax.
Don't be so worried.
Don't be so anxious.
Live a little.
Come with us and do this fun thing.
Or if my friends said hey, we're going to see a movie Friday night, and if I said no, I have to work Friday night.
I'm really busy.
They might say Bob live a little.
Take a bit of time off work and come and see a movie with us.
So it basically means something fun.
Do something enjoyable.
Uh you will not regret it.
Live a little.
Live a little.
Take an English test.
Challenge yourself.
A piece of cake.
This one I think everyone should know.
I think this is taught as one of your very first idioms.
When you say something is a piece of cake it simply means that it's very very easy.
If you gave me this puzzle it would be a piece of cake for me.
This is a nine piece puzzle. a giraffe with a little butterfly in the corner and some flowers.
I should be able to do this puzzle in less than 10 seconds.
It should be a piece of cake for me.
It should be very very easy.
To throw someone under the bus is to lay blame on someone sometimes to save yourself.
So this is another phrase that I heard recently in the news.
They were talking about how the US government one person had decided to throw someone else under the bus.
They basically had decided to say no I'm not the bad person here.
That person is the bad person.
So it's when you lay blame on someone else.
Sometimes to make yourself look good.
Like no I didn't.
I didn't eat the cookie.
But I know who did.
It was Jim.
I'm going to throw Jim under the bus by telling you that Jim ate the cookie.
Um if you think about the phrase though it's kind of a a weird phrase.
Like you would never actually throw someone under a bus.
That's incredibly dangerous.
But we use this to describe a situation where you basically lay blame on someone else to the drawing board to start something again after failure.
Let's say you started a new business. you didn't sell anything the first day.
And you didn't sell anything the second day.
You would need to go back to the drawing board.
You would need to think about why is this not working?
Why are people not buying my things?
You need to go back.
You might have an actual drawing board like this person has post-it notes.
You might have a white board.
You might not, okay?
It might just be you sitting in a chair under a tree thinking how to fix your business, but when you say it's time to go back to the drawing board, it usually means to start something again, and it has failed.
Let's say, I teach a lesson today and the students don't listen and they don't enjoy it and they don't learn anything.
I would need to go back to the drawing board to make the lesson better. of the blue.
When things happen out of the blue they happen unexpectedly.
Okay?
So you could say Ed Sheeran released a new album out of the blue.
No one knew it was coming.
And then out of the blue he announced a new album.
I don't think he did though.
But I think Harry Styles announced a new album.
And Noah Khan did.
I'm not sure if it was out of the blue.
But uh, I reason I put this picture here is because in Ontario Canada, sometimes a deer will run across the road out of the blue.
You're just driving along listening to music and it's usually at night and suddenly a deer will run across or two or three out of the blue unexpectedly.
They will suddenly cross the road.
It's very, very dangerous.
You need to always be the lookout.
There's another phrase for you.
For deer when you drive in my part of the world.
To jump the gun.
Now this I think is probably from racing when they had a starter pistol.
It's to start or act too early.
You see, here Robin is starting to sing we wish you a Merry Christmas.
And then Batman is like basically saying stop it.
It's November.
You you're jumping the gun.
It's too early to sing a Christmas song.
So when you jump the gun you start too early.
Sometimes in class I start teaching and then the bell goes two minutes later and in that situation I, for some reason, I jumped the gun.
I started before I was supposed to start.
So to jump the gun to start or act too early and I think it's from like a false start in a race.
So when someone starts running before the starter pistol goes off.
To jump the gun to start or act too early. kick the bucket.
I taught this in a lesson earlier.
Um I think about half a year ago on phrases with the word kick.
And this is simply a very informal way to say someone or to say an animal for instance has died.
You know my horse is going to kick the bucket.
So maybe your horse is really really old.
Your horse is not very very healthy.
But horse has not been eating an apple a day.
Sorry I shouldn't joke around.
And you think you say to your friend you know what I think my horse is going to kick the bucket.
Uh and you can use this to informally talk about people as well.
The polite way to speak about death is to say he passed away or he died.
Um and the informal kind not nice way would be to say he kicked the bucket.
Um, we don't often use that to talk about people, but some people will, in a very rude way might do that because humans sometimes aren't very sensitive.
So the ball is in your court means it's your turn to decide or act.
Let's say you watch an English lesson from me.
Now the ball is in your court.
I you going to write down the vocabulary words?
Are you going to watch it a second time to help remember things?
Are you going to use the words that you learned in your next English conversation?
The ball is in your court.
Sorry I I made it a little contraction there.
The ball is in your court.
It's your turn to decide or act.
I've done what I need to do.
Now you need to do something.
The ball is in your court. cost an arm and a leg.
I hope Gucci isn't annoyed that I used one of their products for this photo.
But when something costs an arm and a leg it's very very expensive.
Um so it simply means that it's more money than you thought it was going to be.
And it was more expensive than you would normally expect it to be.
The other day I went to buy milk and it cost an arm a leg.
And milk has gotten a little bit expensive here in Ontario Canada.
So to cost an arm and a leg to be very very expensive.
And I should go back here.
Um the ball is in your court.
It must be from like like a game of tennis.
Once I hit the ball over the net.
The ball's now on your side of the court.
So we've taken this phrase to mean that it's your turn to do something, then.
To cost an arm and a leg simply means in a very gruesome way.
I'm not sure if you know the word gruesome but it means like like violent or not very nice.
Like apparently you had to give your arm and your leg in order to buy something.
It was so expensive.
It seemed that way. be under the weather to feel a little bit sick.
I actually heard someone in my family say this today that they were feeling under the weather.
Um it doesn't mean you're totally sick.
I usually use this phrase when I think I'm getting sick.
The most common way for me to use it is to say I'm feeling a little bit under the weather.
Might also say I'm not feeling 100.
I don't feel great today.
I feel like I'm getting sick.
I am a little bit under the weather.
So if a friend called and said do you want to go to a movie tonight?
I might say you know what?
I'm feeling a bit under the weather.
I might just stay home instead. break the ice.
To make people feel more comfortable.
If you go to a work event or if you go to a party where you don't know people.
They might try to do some ice breaker games in order to break the ice.
So this is what you do to make people feel more comfortable.
You may have played this game before, where you have a word on your forehead and you don't know what the word is.
Other people you can ask questions like am I famous?
Um am I a man or a woman?
And then you're trying to guess the name that's on your forehead.
It's called an icebreaker game.
You play it to break the ice.
To make people laugh and do something fun and enjoyable.
Um so that they I think just become a little more relaxed at the event.
This is pretty common the first couple days of school.
We're always trying to break the ice.
To get students to enjoy their classes and to enjoy talking to each other.
To cut corners.
So this is to do something the cheap or lazy way.
So if you see here, this is pollution and this shouldn't be going straight into the river.
But this is company has decided to cut corners.
Instead of paying to process their waste, their pollution, they're just putting it in the river.
They've decided to do something the cheap or lazy way or even illegal way.
Sometimes it's illegal to cut corners as well.
But yes, when you cut corners, you do something the cheap or lazy way.
Not the right way, not the proper way.
To bite off more than you can chew. to try to do too much.
I sometimes do this.
Some of you are aware that I do this.
It usually happens in the summer.
I get very excited to do lots of new things.
And then when the school year starts I'm too busy to keep doing some of it.
So sometimes I bite off more than I can chew.
So you can see what this means.
If you're eating something and you take a really big bite, it might be too much food to be able to chew, and the real meaning of the phrase is to try and do too much.
You know my boss is always biting off more than he can chew.
Um it's not very enjoyable working there because of that.
To sweep it under the rug to hide a problem.
I could only find a literal picture of someone sweeping stuff under the rug.
But you can use this in any situation where you want to hide a problem.
For instance, I was a politician and I had done bad things.
I might try to sweep those things under the rug so no one knows about them.
I'm trying to hide things.
Um let's say I spent all the money.
I'm the mayor of a town and I spent all the money on a big party.
I might try to sweep that under the rug.
I might try to hide it from other people so they don't know that I wasted the money.
Once in a blue moon means very rarely.
So, if you are familiar with how the calendar works, February 29 only comes along once in a blue moon.
Um so we have a leap year every four years.
The Olympics happen once in a blue moon but they're actually happening starting today.
I probably should have done a lesson on the Winter Olympics, but I'm planning to do that next week Friday maybe.
I have done a lesson on that in the past but once in a blue moon simply means very rarely.
To walk on eggshells this is a common phrase.
To be very careful not to upset someone. you have a relative.
Let's imagine you're you have a relative who gets angry very easily.
And when you go to their house you walk on eggshells.
You try to be very careful about what you say and what you do and how much noise you make, because you don't want them to get angry.
Are some people in the world who get angry very easily and when you're around them, it's probably a good idea to walk on eggshells.
To be very careful not to upset someone.
I feel like in this picture the boss is getting annoyed and the workers are all trying to be helpful and kind.
They're probably walking on eggshells.
Um, they're being very careful because they don't want to upset the boss further.
Have your hands full.
Hey this is the same person.
Yes.
Oh here she has bit off more than she can chew.
Here she has her hands full.
To be very busy.
Jen and I have five children.
When we were younger we had one child and then we had two children.
When we had our third child, we had our hands full.
We had our fourth child, we really had our hands full.
And when we had five, we certainly had our hands full.
It simply means that we were very very busy as parents.
At work.
If your boss keeps giving you jobs to do, you might eventually say look, I have my hands full boss.
I can't do anymore.
I need to finish these twelve things before I can do something new.
So to have your hands full to be very very busy.
To be in hot water means to be in trouble.
Let's say Jim, this is Jim right here.
Jim has come to work late every day of the week for two weeks straight.
He is in hot water.
He is in trouble.
The boss is not happy.
If you at work keep breaking things.
You're going to be in hot water.
You're going to be in trouble.
Your boss is eventually going to say stop breaking things.
That's not good or stop coming in late for work.
Sometimes this happens with students.
Um, they come to class late for two or three days in a row and then they're in hot water because they have to go talk to the principal or and they need to explain why that is happening.
To play it by ear to do something without a plan.
I couldn't find a great picture for this.
So I found a picture of someone throwing darts at a map.
Um when you play it by ear it simply means that you are going to figure it out as it happens.
Sometimes the first day of school have a plan, but I also need to be ready to play it by ear, because things might change.
Um the first day is somewhat chaotic.
The first day of school, students sometimes join my class but also leave my class because they've chosen a different class.
So sometimes I have a plan but sometimes I just need to play it by ear.
I need to figure things out in the moment as they're happening.
Um so that things go smoothly. keep your fingers crossed.
This is actually the only one that's literal.
You most people actually cross their fingers and it's to hope for something to go well.
If you were opening a brand new store tomorrow.
You are going to sell things in your store.
You can say to someone I hope of customers come tomorrow.
So I'm going to keep my fingers crossed.
Or keep your fingers crossed that lots of people do show up.
And people will often do that.
They'll cross their fingers as they are trying to bring good luck or good fortune to whatever it is they're trying to do.
Get the ball rolling is to get something started.
So a good example of this would be.
This morning I said to Jen oh, it's 825, I better get the ball rolling.
So I better get started on my live stream.
Um, sometimes when you go to a meeting um, people are talking and And the person running the meeting might say okay, let's get the ball rolling.
Let's start talking about item number one on the agenda.
So to get the ball rolling, to get something started.
