This is an All Ears English bonus episode.
Dodge a bullet in Jessica's awesome news.
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Today on this bonus episode, learn about the phrase dodge a bullet.
Plus, find out what Jessica is working on and how to learn more.
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Hey, Jessica, how's it going today?
Oh my gosh, fantastic.
So great.
I went on a long run this morning and I'm feeling just so great about the world.
Oh, that's so good.
That is so good.
So Jessica, we are here today on a bonus episode to share some stuff that you've been working on on your own here for our listeners.
And you're going to teach us today about a specific phrase.
Is that right?
We're going to go into a military phrase.
Yeah.
Okay.
So what are we talking about?
It sounds weird, right?
A military phrase.
But guys, I mean, this is where idioms and slang come from is our history, right?
Like the world wars and all of these things that have happened in the world and culture.
So yeah, so this phrase, dodge the bullet.
Do you use this, Lindsay?
Well, I use the phrase dodge a bullet a lot.
Like you dodged a bullet there, right?
Oh, you got out of that situation.
You avoided a disaster.
You dodged a bullet.
Exactly.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I totally still use this.
And I thought it came from like cowboy days.
Yeah.
Yeah, right, right.
Because that's what you think of, like cowboys with the guns and shooting, blah, blah, blah.
Right.
But no, it came from World War I, actually.
Okay.
And then after that, it developed into an Idiom that we still say today.
And guys, you'll definitely hear this in TV shows and movies and just when native speakers talk to each other.
So yeah, totally.
If I say I dodged a bullet, it's like I escaped a disaster.
I avoided, I managed to not fall into a disaster of some sort.
Okay.
Awesome.
In World War I, the soldiers would say this to each other because they were describing like artillery or like some sort of little bombs that would be thrown at them and they could see it in the air like grenades and stuff right.
Okay.
They could see it coming and they had time to actually get out of the way.
So it was like literally dodging these explosions.
Oh, interesting.
Interesting.
Interesting.
So I want to let our listeners know.
So it sounds like Jessica, you are working on your own channel that you're getting started with, where you are diving deeper into the historical context of some phrases.
Is that right?
Is that what you're working on?
Yes, it's so super fun, you guys.
I'm having so much fun researching this vocab and making these lessons for you guys.
So, I started my own YouTube channel called Honestly English.
And every lesson is – it's exactly this.
You get current slang and idioms that natives really use with each other, and I tell you where they came from.
Because in all my years of teaching –
This is how we learn vocab.
You need context.
So I'm taking this idea of context like just two steps further and giving you the historical context, where it came from, and then also the modern context, like how other native speakers and me, how we use it today.
And then at the end of the video it's super fun I give you guys pop culture recommendations with like movies and TV shows and comic books that relate to that day's vocabulary.
Ooh.
This is the motto of my channel is that you get to learn what natives say and get what natives are talking about, because we reference pop culture all the time.
Yeah.
Yeah, so cool.
So I like it how we're getting a 360 perspective here.
We're getting the history, then we're getting the current use and then we're getting also extensions like pop culture suggestions.
Jessica, you're very good at coming up with pop culture ideas, right?
Because you're the pop culture queen.
You know the TV shows, the books everything, everything that is going on right now that we can access, so we can extend our understanding of these phrases.
I love that.
So cool.
Totally.
I mean this is taking two of my biggest passions in life words and And now I get to use these with, like my years and years and years of consuming books and TV shows and movies.
I'm such like a movie dork.
I could take like... one movie and I traced the director and connected to something else.
And it's just, it's so fun, you guys.
And that's, that's what I want these lessons to be.
I mean, obviously you will learn amazing vocabulary that you definitely hear natives say, but I want it to be fun, because English should be fun.
Cool.
I love it.
I love it.
So let's go back to this phrase.
And now that we have an idea of what you're working on on the side over there, let's go back to this phrase.
I mean, what can our listeners know about how to use this phrase?
And what else do we need to know about it?
I think, guys, you could use this whenever you're just talking about your day even.
If something happened at work and you were afraid that it would go wrong, but it didn't or at school maybe you didn't study for a test, but it ended up not happening that day.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
That's a good one.
So you're like, Oh man, I totally forgot there was a quiz today.
And then I was so nervous before class.
And then the teacher ended up being sick and not coming.
So we didn't have the test.
I totally dodged a bullet on that one.
And I like connecting it with that extra phrase on that one.
Because that's so native.
Like I totally dodged a bullet on that one.
Right, right.
This phrase comes to mind when I think about my dating life in the past, when maybe I had been on a few dates with someone and it didn't work out.
And then maybe I met someone that knew that person and they would tell me oh, you dodged a bullet, because that person you don't want to date that person.
That's really what comes to mind when I think of that one.
That's great.
Oh my God, that's hilarious.
That is so true.
Or like in today's like age of Facebook, right?
Like yeah, you were, you went on a date or you were thinking about maybe you might go on a date with somebody and it didn't happen.
And then you see on Facebook like some stupid post they did or you're just like oh my God, that person's ridiculous.
I really dodged a bullet.
Yeah.
I love that.
So useful.
And again, this is something our listeners wouldn't find in ordinary textbooks.
And so Jessica, on your channel, if you were teaching this phrase now, where could our, or even today, here on this bonus episode, where could our listeners go to, to what would be your pop culture recommendations for this phrase?
If we wanted to extend, what would we recommend out in the world of pop culture then?
Yes.
So two movies immediately come to mind.
Because again, like I'm associating this still in my mind with Cowboys, even though I know it comes from World War, I now
So two of like the best Westerns, right?
Quote unquote, like modern Westerns.
One is No Country for Old Men.
And the other is There Will Be Blood.
Now, these two movies came out around the same time a few years ago, like Oscar nominated.
They won awards.
They're both amazing.
And one of them is from my favorite directing team, the Coen Brothers, which I'm sure will come up on my channel again because I love them.
So, yeah.
Did you see those?
I love those movies.
Well, yeah.
To be honest, I started No Country for Old Men and it was –
Honestly, it was so violent.
If I'm thinking of the same movie, the beginning was super, super violent.
I was like, I can't keep going with this movie.
I just like, I couldn't handle it.
It was too much for me.
Oh, gosh.
No, I can understand that.
These are not for the faint-hearted, these movies.
I think there will be blood, even though it sounds more violent.
It's actually less violent.
There will be blood.
It's so good.
Okay.
Yeah.
No, but these are good movies.
Yeah.
I know that No Country for Old Men is a really well done movie for sure.
And I think it got high ratings.
I just couldn't handle it at that, you know, in that moment, that day, that was tough.
You know what?
That is fine.
There's another one that is actually a little bit older.
I think it's about 10 years old called 310 to Yuma and this and this is the kind of recommendation I really like, because this is something you guys probably didn't hear of the first two movies, you know, like international success.
You guys have probably heard of them, but 310 to Yuma
Oh, my gosh.
This movie is incredible.
The performances are amazing.
And it's really just this modern take on an old Western relationship.
Right.
And it's all like in the deserts of Arizona and California.
And yeah, the performances are incredible.
It's more on the indie side of things.
So it's again, like it's under the radar.
But guys, native speakers who love movies, they will know about this and they would love to talk to you about it.
Awesome.
I love it.
Okay.
So Jessica, where can our listeners go then if they want to check out what you're working on on the side?
Of course guys, Jessica will continue to be here on All Ears English with us making appearances on the show and IELTS Energy and all this good stuff.
But on the side, you're working on something cool.
So where can our listeners go if they want to check out what you're doing?
Yeah, awesome.
So, find Honestly English on YouTube.
I have a new lesson every Thursday.
And then my website honestlyenglishcom.
It has even more lessons and more ways that you could learn English.
And there are actually memberships that you could get that, where you get audio MP3s and transcripts.
There's so many ways to keep learning about vocab and pop culture in a very positive, energetic way.
All right.
Awesome.
We're excited to see what you do over there, Jessica.
Good luck to you.
And thanks for hanging out today and teaching us about this phrase dodge a bullet, because I think it's a really good one.
It's a really relevant one.
So fun.
So much fun.
Yeah, I'm so excited.
Yeah.
Well, thanks, Lindsay.
This has been great.
I hope we really dodged a bullet on this one and it's going to be a huge success.
Okay.
Sounds good.
I'll talk to you soon.
Take care.
All right.
Bye.
Bye.
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