Easy English expression.
Rehashed. Hello, everybody.
My name is Coach Shane and welcome to Easy English Expressions.
Come on, let's master English.
Coach Shane here. How are you doing?
It's a Wednesday. If you're listening to this live, I hope you're doing great.
Oh, we've got such a great expression today.
It can be confusing for somebody, for some people.
But I think if you listen to this podcast, you'll completely understand.
I hope so. Let's go back in time.
Today's expression is.
I couldn't help it.
I couldn't help it.
I couldn't help it.
I couldn't help it.
I couldn't help it.
What does this expression mean?
If you say you couldn't help it, that means you were not able to stop something from happening.
You were not able to prevent something or you could not control yourself.
You could not control the words you said, the action you did, something like that.
So a really good example is me and chocolate.
Now, many of you know I do love chocolate, especially milk chocolate, especially with almonds or macadamia nuts.
What a great combination.
And if I see some chocolate in front of me, I can't help it.
I eat it. It's out of my control.
If there is chocolate in front of me, I will eat it.
And believe it or not, even though I look very skinny, I could probably eat all of it.
One pound. What's that like?
That one pound is what?
Half a kilogram. I could eat many kilograms.
What is one pound? Is one pound 2 .2 kilograms?
Yeah, I could eat five kilograms of chocolate.
Really, I can in a year.
Yeah, I think that's five kilograms is maybe too much, but that's the idea.
I can't help it. Another idea.
What if you are walking in a restaurant, you walk into a restaurant and you sit at the table and then suddenly the table next to you starts singing?
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday to you.
Now, what about you?
Do you sing or in your head, do you sing the song?
Probably you do because you can't help it.
It just happens naturally.
You're unable to stop.
You're unable to control yourself.
That song just comes into your head naturally and you start singing.
Do you understand? It's a great expression.
Let's check out a dialogue.
Why did you laugh in class?
I couldn't help it.
What was so funny? The way he said Uranus.
OK, sometimes in class or at church or someplace where you should be quiet, sometimes we just start laughing.
We can't help it. It comes out naturally.
We cannot stop it. What was the situation here?
The two boys were in a class and one boy started laughing.
Why did he laugh? Because the way the teachers said Uranus.
OK, there is a planet in our solar system.
Do you know the planets?
We have the sun and then we have Mercury and then Venus, Earth, Mars.
After Mars we have Saturn, right?
Or is it Jupiter? Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.
I think that's right.
Is that the right order?
I hope so. And I know some people say Pluto is not a planet, but I'm from the old school.
But what was that planet?
Jupiter, Saturn. What was the next one?
Is it Uranus or Uranus?
Well, there is a debate.
Many people do say Uranus and Uranus actually sounds kind of funny.
It sounds like your Y -O -U -R, anus, A -N -U -S, or your butt, basically is what it means.
So when people hear Uranus, many people start laughing.
They can't help it.
It sounds so funny.
So lots of teachers especially, they try not to say Uranus.
Instead they say Uranus.
Uranus. And Uranus sounds safe.
So anyway, yes, I know this is childish humor, but even I and I'm an old guy when somebody says the spaceship went past Uranus.
What? I didn't see any spaceship.
I hope you're laughing.
All right. Let's check out the dialogue.
Two more times. Why did you laugh in class?
I couldn't help it.
What was so funny? The way he said Uranus.
Why did you laugh in class?
I couldn't help it.
What was so funny? The way he said Uranus.
Thanks so much for listening.
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I'm coach Shane and together, let's master English.
