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Welcome to the Aid is English Podcast.
My name is Jack and I'm here with my co -host, Sochal.
And today we have another collocation episode.
And Sochal, this is where I will give you a verb and then you have to match the phrase that goes with it.
So what sounds natural.
and the first one is bite and we have uh bite the ice um bite in the towel or bite the bullet bite the bullet that's correct what does it mean to bite the bullet ah this one i know what it means but it's kind of hard to describe but it's like something's coming at you and you bite the bullet like just
imagine like the bullet is someone is shooting a bullet at you and you just take it kind of i can't explain it better than that it comes from like the civil war i believe um if i'm not mistaken is when they were would amputate uh the legs of someone this is before they had like you know anesthesia right
you weren't sleeping you were awake and they took a saw and sawed off your leg um they would put a bullet in between your teeth and say bite down on this bullet And then they would amputate, they would cut off the leg or the arm or whatever.
So to bite the bullet means to endure a difficult or painful thing.
Now, I'm going to use it like exercise as an example.
So let's say Soch and I have a challenge, a weekly challenge, and we're going to exercise this week.
And if I wait, you know, till noon, 1 o 'clock, 3 o 'clock, 5 o 'clock, now it's 9 o 'clock in the evening and I still haven't exercised, I could say all right I'm going to bite the bullet and just get on my exercise bike and do my 20 minutes of exercise like bite the bullet is just do something that you
don't want to do essentially and just get over yourself and just do it you know bite the bullet would that be a good explanation do you think is that the right context yeah I think that's a good context yeah number two is break uh break the bullet break in the towel or break the ice break the ice yes
and everybody knows what ice breakers are so what does break the ice mean break the ice means like when you meet new people it's like and let's say you it's awkward right like you guys don't know each other it might be quiet you're not really fully socializing yet because you don't know anyone you don't
feel fully comfortable so that's kind of like the ice and breaking it means you know now there's that barrier is broken between you so when you do an icebreaker the intention is to get to know people a little bit better and learn something about them maybe you have something in common with them and you
guys can all start chatting once that awkward atmosphere is broken and everyone kind of gets to know each other that's known as breaking the ice there you go excellent explanation it's like small talk basically you know you don't want to break the ice by saying like um you know uh how much money do
you make you know there's something like that you know and that's actually a cultural difference because I've heard that in some cultures like how big is your house how much money do you make blah blah like that's actually kind of a common like question but in American society no that's good you're
right I'm being asked about money yeah you never you never ask about the how the size of someone's home like you yeah it's very kind of talk about like the weather you say like you know how how are you how was how was your day you know something like that just really simple uh icebreaker style questions
so yeah and i would say icebreakers are more like you know like when you're getting to know someone in a big group and people might go around and say an interesting fact about themselves or uh your job your job oh a lot of people ask you what you do that's kind of a more subtle way in american society
to gauge someone's status i would say is people always ask like what do you do like what's your job and people kind of judge you on that but we're like more subtle i would say yeah i totally agree yeah yeah we it's it's it's all we we love to judge i mean is that maybe that's universal i don't know
yeah i think it is but like we wouldn't want to appear materialistic oh no no but we are materialistic yeah so i always answer with i'm a podcaster that's my answer so that's fun actually people are probably like people must be intrigued a bit as well but yeah yeah um all right our last one is throw so we
have throw the bullet throw in the towel or throw the ice throw in the towel yeah what does it mean to throw in the towel The etymology of throw in the towel, I believe, is from when people used to box.
Like in the boxing ring, you might throw in the white towel means you're giving up.
Right, it means your guy or gal is getting destroyed, essentially.
Yeah, to a pulp. Yeah, and so you throw in the towel means you just give up.
When someone says, hey, are you throwing in the towel on that project or whatever?
you might say, yeah, you know, I decided to throw in the towel.
It's not really working for me.
Or I decided to quit or give up or go in a new direction.
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So here's another perk.
Geico's Boat Insurance offers access to the largest towing fleet on the water.
And with specialist support from agents that are as passionate about boating as you are, there's so much value that you'll want to say, shiver me timbers and not feel weird about that either.
Get more with Geico.
But throw in the towel is, that's typically what it means.
Yeah, it almost happened to me yesterday.
I was working on a song and it just wasn't coming together.
Like I didn't like the chord progressions.
I didn't like the, sound of it and I almost threw in the towel you know just where I was like I'm gonna walk away and just forget about this but I endured and finished it but yeah I think throwing in the towel are you a person who will easily throw in the towel or are you because you strike me as someone
who doesn't like to throw in the towel like you don't like to give up yeah I would say if it's like a goal of mine or something then I'm very unlikely to throw in the towel but I would say if it's something that I feel like isn't working for me I'm quick to quit and like redirect what I'm doing you
know and I I don't know if that makes sense but it makes perfect sense because that's a smart way to do it because it's like instead of wasting another two or three hours and then circling right back to where you were you're going to take that time to kind of attack it attack the problem from a different
angle so to speak yes yeah that's true and that's also true for a job like if i start a job and i don't like it i'm quick to throw in the towel i would say but it's like it's just like you know i don't think this is right for me and i'll find something that i like to do better i think that's very like
gen z like uh attitude because i know that gen x and boomers like you guys would really stick through terrible jobs i spent the whole year at a job i that made me like i was nauseous every morning when i went to work see that's my thing like as soon as i'm nauseous i'm like i'm quitting as soon as my
hair starts falling out i'm not doing it anymore it's like it's like our parents like boomers taught us like uh like my parents are boomers and i'm a gen x it's like they taught us like if you throw in the towel you lose and we're like i i can't lose you know it's like what am i losing i'm losing by staying
in this job like it's yeah yeah it's crazy yeah my mom is gen x and my dad is a very very young boomer like he's last year to be a boomer i guess um and uh he he only says things like um you know suffering builds character you know like weird stuff like that and and i kind of i heard that but my mom
you know she's gen x and she has a totally different attitude if you don't like it quit if you don't like if you're not happy there like life is short so like find something you know and she she stuck through a lot of terrible jobs and a lot of terrible situations herself and i think she tells us like
her daughter's like don't you know do things for the sake of other people like that job will replace you right away so if you're not happy like find something else if you're not happy in a relationship like find someone else like don't ever stick through things just for appearances or just in the name
of a job title like do what makes you happy because life is really short at the end of it and i think gen x i might be wrong jack but i think you probably instilled similar ideas into your daughter is that correct oh 100 yeah i told my whatever you want to do whatever makes you happy you know we'll
we'll support you you know um so that's why i'm paying uh for private ballet school in america but that's very sweet you know i don't think every parent would do that and and that is something i have to say my grandmother even though i guess she's a boomer uh she passed away actually today a year ago
so um today's her death anniversary yeah but i remember she always said like with your children if there's something that they like that inspires them if it's if it's about learning if it's art music like always support like find a way to support them and she was very came from very humble beginnings
she worked as a servant um back in mexico you know um in the 1950s and she always always found a way to support my aunts and my mom in exploring like whatever career path made them happy and i think that really stuck with my mom and she only supports us in a similar way so yeah that's awesome and that's
the way that's the right way to do it i think um you know we don't all you don't always have the luxury of doing whatever you want all the time but you can try to get close to it you know yeah so yeah it's uh uh it's it's not bad to have a backup plan and things like that but but i do think that like
following your dreams is really important um so yeah i i good good for your mom yeah that's awesome all right listeners well um if you like that inspirational story I mixed with the Caucasians hat.
Make sure to shoot us an email.
Leave us a comment down below at a to z englishpodcast .com shoot us an email at a to z englishpodcast at gmail .com and make sure to join the WeChat group where you can talk to Jack and I directly and ask us any questions you might have whether it be about episodes new English content learning any challenges
you might have when you are learning English.
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Owning a boat comes with a number of perks, Like being able to say, ahoy, or land ho and not feel weird about it.
So here's another perk.
GEICO's boat insurance offers access to the largest towing fleet on the water.
And with specialist support from agents that are as passionate about boating as you are, there's so much value that you'll want to say, shiver me timbers and not feel weird about that either.
Get more with GEICO.
