Hello everybody, my name is Coach Shane and welcome to Easy English Expressions.
Come on, let's master English.
Hello everybody, welcome back to David Easy English Expression the Podcast.
This is Coach Shane. How are you doing today?
I hope you're doing great.
Today's podcast is number 1113 and the expression we have is fantastic.
Dip your toes in the water.
Yeah, you need to dip your toes in the water.
This is an excellent idiom and right now it's summertime.
So for me right now it's August.
Yeah. And in the United States August, it's pretty hot.
So if you like swimming, going to the swimming pool or the lake or even the ocean, the river, it's a really good time to go swimming.
But you know, sometimes when you, like earlier, especially in June or maybe even parts of July, you want to like go swimming, but you're worried that the water is too cold.
You don't want to go into the cold water.
You want nice and warm water, right?
So how do you test the temperature of the water before you jump in the swimming pool?
Well you dip your toe into the water or you could dip your toes in the water.
Dip VIP. Now, the idea of dip, imagine this, imagine you have a French fry, one French fry and you like to eat ketchup with your French fry.
So on the plate, there is some ketchup and you are holding the French fry and you want just a little bit of ketchup.
So you take the French fry and you into the ketchup, out and then you eat it.
You have dipped your French fry into the ketchup.
So that's the idea of dip VIP to put something into something else for a second, just for a little bit.
So the phrase I just told you, dip your toe, T-O-E.
Now toe, actually if we say singular toe, it usually means our big toe.
So on our hand, we have five fingers, actually four fingers and one thumb.
And on our foot, we have five toes.
We have the big toe and the second toe and the third toe, the fourth toe and the little toe.
So dip your toe, would refer to your big toe.
Dip your toes, would refer to all of your little toes, in the water or into the water.
Dip your toes into the water.
If you dip your toes into the water, you can get a feeling for how cold or how warm the water is.
So when you dip your toes into the water and it feels nice and warm, you can go swimming no problem.
But if you dip your toes into the water and it's ice cold, maybe you won't go swimming.
But in daily English, how do we use this expression idiomatically?
I'll tell you in this conversation and explain it right after.
Check it out. You are taking a job at a farm.
Yeah, it's close to me. The pay is good.
But you're not a farmer, true.
But I'm dipping my toes into it in the future.
Who knows? Ah boy. Yeah, this actually happened to me a couple years ago.
There was a farm nearby that had job openings.
And they were asking people, hey, if you want a job, come work on our farm.
And I didn't need a job. But the idea of owning a farm and raising crops and raising animals, that idea sounded really good to me.
And I thought to myself, wow, they're going to pay me to work at this farm.
So I could be earning some money.
And at the same time, learning about farming.
And if I like it, maybe I could start my own farm.
I thought it was a really good idea.
This was a way for me to basically be a farmer, but not have to own a farm.
I don't actually have to really do anything.
I can work as much as I want.
I could actually become a farmer slowly and get used to the job to see if I like it.
Just like when you dip your toes into the water, you can get a slow feeling for how the water is.
And if you like the water, you can jump in.
Me, I was going to work at this farm just a little bit and see if I liked the work.
And if I liked the work, I could work a little bit more.
And then if I really liked it, I could start my own farm.
That's the idea of the conversation.
Listen, you are taking a job at a farm.
Oh my God, Coach Shane, you're going to work at a farm, F-A-R-M.
And I said, yeah, it's close to me.
It's nearby. The pay is good.
The hourly pay. At that time, I think they were paying $15 an hour.
That's not bad. It's not good, but it's not bad.
But then the other guy says, but you're not a farmer, Coach Shane.
You're an English teacher.
You're not a farmer. And I said, true.
That's right. I'm an English teacher, not a farmer.
But I'm dipping my toes into it.
I'm testing the water. I'm going to do this farming job to see just a little bit to see if I like it.
And if I like it in the future, who knows?
Maybe I'll start my own farm.
That's the idea. Dip your toes in the water.
Dip your toes into it. It's a really excellent expression.
And it's really good, especially if you're younger.
And for example, you're choosing a major at the university.
And you say, oh, I want to be a computer programmer.
Well, before you decide on becoming a computer programmer, maybe you should try computer programming a little bit and see if you like it.
Let's say you have a girlfriend or a boyfriend and you're thinking about getting married.
Well, maybe you should kind of pretend that you are married and you know, see how things go before you actually get married.
This would be also dipping your toes into it.
This is a very useful expression.
I hope you can give me an example because I would love to hear it.
If you're listening on Spotify, I see all the messages and I love them.
I think in the next e-cubed podcast, I will introduce the latest group of people who have left a message.
I really appreciate that.
You can leave a message on iTunes too.
And of course, my email address, contact at let'smasterenglish.com.
Go to let'smasterenglish.com.
Get my newsletter and you can even try some of my lessons for free.
It is like really cool and I encourage you to do it.
You are able to before, you know, my VIP classes, they can be a little bit expensive.
They're actually excellent in value, but you can try them for free.
You can dip your toes in the water to see if you like it.
Then you can invest in your English education.
Check out the dialogue two more times.
And together, let's master English.
You are taking a job at a farm?
Yeah, it's close to me. The pay is good.
But you're not a farmer, true.
But I'm dipping my toes into it.
In the future, who knows?
You are taking a job at a farm?
Yeah. It's close to me. The pay is good.
But you're not a farmer, true.
But I'm dipping my toes into it.
