Welcome to a new episode of English Vocabulary Booster.
My name is Lara and I'm a SALSA-certified English teacher.
Learning new vocabulary usually takes a long time, but we'll do it in a way that's easy, quick and efficient.
In every episode, we'll learn how to use five new English words or expressions, so that you too can start speaking like a native.
So let's get learning!
What's up, you guys?
How are you?
So guess what?
I already recorded this episode once, and then I realized that my headphones weren't connected to my computer.
So I have to re-record the whole thing.
Anyway, let's get to it.
Today we're going to talk about expressions that have to do with our hands.
Hi, Jimmy.
Hello, Mary.
I called your husband, but he won't pick up.
Any news on that lot?
I'm sorry, Jimmy.
We can't sell it yet.
The bank won't let us.
We wish we could help you, but our hands are tight.
Oh, no worries.
I'll find a way.
How's it going, by the way?
Oh, you know.
Good, good.
Just over here working in the field as every summer.
You keeping busy or what?
Well, you know me.
I always got my hands full.
I've got a business to run, plus we're redoing the house.
Oh, and my grandson's here for the summer.
Oh, nice.
Jack is there?
Wait, was it Jack?
It's Jacob.
Yeah, he's here, all right.
He'll be spending the summer with me.
Only, I wish he would help his grandma.
But no, he's just sitting out there in the middle of the tomato field doing heaven knows what.
He can see me working here, and yet he sits there without lifting a finger.
Oh, come on, Mary.
He's a kid.
Listen, when I was his age, I couldn't spend my summers twiddling my thumbs.
My dad would have never let me.
If I wasn't working, I had to study.
And when I was done studying, I had to help him with the farm.
I'm telling you, if I were his mother, you know, I'm just his grandma.
Unbelievable.
Kids these days.
I mean, he did help me the first few days he was here.
I guess it's done now.
Maybe he's not feeling well or something.
Well, now that you mention it, there is something strange about him today.
I can't put my finger on it, but yeah, he...
He doesn't look all right.
I mean, he hasn't moved all morning.
Maybe I should go check on him.
Hey, Grandma, I'm done with the chickens.
Do you want me to clean the barn?
Jacob, wait.
If you're here, then who's that?
Grandma, that's a scarecrow.
It's been there all summer.
Oh, Lord.
Alright, so I don't really know how believable that story was, but at least now we can learn some new expressions that have to do with our hands.
Let's begin with expression number one.
My hands are tied.
We wish we could help you but our hands are tied.
If you say that your hands are tied does that mean you want to help someone or not?
Yes, if you say that your hands are tied, that means that you do want to help someone.
And if you say that your hands are tied, can you help someone or not?
No.
Here's the thing.
When you say that your hands are tight, that means that you want to help someone.
You wish you could do something for them, but you can't.
And now why?
Why can you not help that someone?
Because you don't want to or because you can't.
When you say that your hands are tied, you are really saying that you wish you could help them, but there's something preventing you from helping them.
So it's usually like some sort of rule maybe um, some sort of law, so that says that you cannot help them.
I'm gonna give you an example.
Say that i am your teacher.
You want, you didn't do too well on your test.
You come to me and you ask me you know, is there anything that you can do?
Is there anything that you can Do to help me pass this test?
And I'm going to say.
Well you know what.
I really wish I could help you.
But my hands are tied.
Meaning I wish I could help you.
But I really can't do anything.
Because there would be consequences.
And this could be.
I don't know.
I could get fired.
We could both get in trouble.
You know these types of things.
So.
There are some rules out there.
There's something that's outside of my control that's making it impossible for me to help you.
Was there a time when you wanted to help someone but you couldn't because your hands were tied?
Um, yeah.
So well as you know, I'm an English teacher and three years ago I was teaching in a school here in Valencia and I was teaching a group of little kids.
We're talking eight, nine year olds.
And there was this one kid, Victor.
I think I've already mentioned him before.
He was just so cute.
Not at first.
At first he wasn't behaving.
But then we became friends.
So he was a lot nicer.
And he was just adorable.
And he was really smart.
But I knew that he struggled during tests.
He struggled.
I knew he got really nervous and I remember this one time he was taking a test and you know he was getting distracted and he couldn't focus on some of the questions and I felt so bad because I knew he was struggling and I wanted to help him so bad but obviously my hands were tied, I couldn't do anything to help him.
And he didn't do too bad on that test.
But he was still a little upset when he saw his grade and had to comfort him, like had to reassure him, tell him that he was really smart and that grades weren't all that important, you know.
But I really wish I could have helped him.
But obviously, like I said, my hands were tied.
It wouldn't have been fair to the other kids.
And plus, you know, there are rules here. in place for these kinds of things.
But yeah.
Expression number two, have your hands full.
I always got my hands full.
If your hands are full, are you very busy or are you bored?
If your hands are full, you are very busy.
In fact, you are so busy that you basically have no time for anything else.
Who do you think is more likely to have her hands full?
A mom of four or a teenage girl?
Well, obviously it depends.
We don't know what kind of life this teenage girl has.
But I would definitely assume that a mom of four would have her hands full.
She, you know, taking care of four kids, that can be easy.
I don't even know how people can take care of one, to be honest with you.
So a mom of four would definitely have her hands full.
Are your hands full at the moment?
Uh, yeah.
I think my hands are pretty full at the moment, actually.
I don't have any kids, so that's not why.
But, you know, I...
Really try to do the best that I can with my job to put out good content.
And I'm always coming up with new ideas, working on multiple projects at the same time.
And right now I think I'm working on maybe like three, four projects, different projects at the same time.
Plus I have my part-time job.
So yeah, I definitely got my hands full right now.
Expression number three, not lift a finger.
He sits there without lifting a finger.
If you don't lift a finger, do you help someone who needs help or not?
No, if you don't lift a finger, you are not helping someone who needs help.
So you see them, they may be, I don't know, they may be struggling with something.
They you maybe could see that they need your help, but if you don't lift a finger, you are not doing absolutely anything to help them.
And when do you often use this expression?
To thank someone or to complain about someone?
What do you think?
It's definitely to complain about someone.
You know you may be struggling with something.
You obviously you know it's obvious that you need someone's help, and yet the people that are around you are not lifting a finger.
So you could either tell them directly and be like hey, you know I needed your help and you haven't even lifted a finger, or you could complain about that type of behavior later.
Was there a time when you needed help and nobody lifted a finger?
So yeah, there was this one time when I was flying and I was traveling by myself.
And as per usual, I had...
I usually only travel with a backpack.
So I don't have to worry about checking in any luggage.
But the problem with that is that obviously I have to carry it with me onto the plane.
And then I have to put it in the overhead compartment.
And it's not that easy for me.
I am really short.
I am 5 feet.
So lifting this huge, super heavy thing and just lifting it just even above my head is a challenge.
And this one time, oh and, by the way, i just get really stressed out because then, you know, it's really easy for a line to form and i don't want to be keeping anybody waiting.
So i hate that part.
Um, so i'm always hoping there's somebody tall enough around me that i, you know, can can ask for help, But this one time I was struggling.
I was trying to put this thing away.
And there was a flight attendant right next to me.
And he did not lift a finger.
You know?
And I was just like, you know, isn't this kind of like part of your job?
I don't know.
Maybe he was distracted.
I don't know.
But in the end, I ended up asking him, like being...
You know, like, could you give me a little help here?
And so he did.
But at first he didn't lift a finger.
Expression number four, twiddle your thumbs.
I couldn't spend my summers twiddling my thumbs.
Literally speaking, if you are twiddling your thumbs, what are you doing with them?
Shaking them or rotating them around each other.
If you are twiddling your thumbs, literally speaking, you are rotating them around each other.
So the rest of your fingers would be crossed, and then your thumbs would be rotating around each other.
And when you see that someone is twiddling their thumbs, what is that person actually doing?
Are they very busy or not?
Mm-mm.
Nope.
When you see that someone is twiddling their thumbs, that means that they are not busy at all.
They are doing nothing.
They're probably super bored and they got nothing better to do.
So they just start twiddling their thumbs.
Do you ever twiddle your thumbs while waiting?
Um no, I don't know.
I don't know if just it's something that I don't do, but I personally don't know anybody that twiddles their thumbs while waiting.
Um, and I don't know if it's something that people used to do in the past and now.
I think now nobody gets bored, or I shouldn't say like we do get bored, but it's just like we have so many distractions that it's almost impossible to have Nothing to do, to the point where the most entertaining thing that we could do is twiddling our thumbs.
Plus we always have our phones in our hands.
So you know we wouldn't even have two thumbs that we could twiddle.
We can have one, but you can't do much with one.
So no, definitely I don't twiddle my thumbs.
Actually, now that I think of it, I think the modern version twiddling our thumbs is probably watching TikToks.
Expression number five, can't put my finger on it.
I can't put my finger on it, but yeah, he doesn't look all right.
When is the expression I can't put my finger on it used?
When you are certain about something or not.
You use the expression, I can't put my finger on it when you are not certain about something.
So you kind of have a feeling, you kind of know that there's something different or that there's something strange about something, but you cannot understand exactly what it is.
And that's when you would say, I can't put my finger on it.
I can't understand exactly.
Choose a situation in which you could use this expression.
Situation one, someone has dyed their hair and you've realized it right away.
Or situation two someone has dyed their hair.
You've realized there's something different about them, but you don't know what it is.
It's definitely situation number two.
So you see someone, they've dye their hair.
You don't know this.
You kind of look at them and think hmm there's something different about you.
I can't put my finger on it, but I can see that there's something that's unusual about you and you can't quite tell.
So in that case yes you would say I can't put my finger on it.
Did something ever happen to you that made you say I can't put my finger on it?
I think That at least I think this quite often.
Because especially when I design a post.
Or when I design a new like webpage or something.
A lot of times I think I look at what I'm designing.
And think hmm I don't like this.
But I don't know why.
So yeah I can't put my finger on it.
But there's just something that I don't like about. this page or this post.
So yeah, it happens to me quite often.
Sometimes I figure out what it is and some other times I don't.
And that is it for today.
And remember, if you want to access the transcript, as well as lots of other resources, visit enboocom.
That is E-N-B-O-O-O dot com.
Have a great day.
