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!
Welcome on this Friday for this episode on animals.
Well, not animals, but idioms connected to animals.
I'm sure you've understood that by now.
Okay, let's listen to the story.
It's very hard for me to meet men or people in general.
The opposite of my sister.
She's a social butterfly.
While I'm very shy and I prefer to spend time by myself.
Anyway, my sister insisted I go on a date with a friend of hers from college and I don't know why I accepted.
This afternoon, I started getting ready.
I was so nervous.
I had butterflies in my stomach.
I got to the cafe and almost chickened out.
I was about to leave but then I thought it'd be really rude, so I walked in.
Everything seemed fine at first.
He was already there, sitting at a table waiting for me.
We sat and started talking.
He seemed great until they brought the food.
He kept talking, only this time with food in his mouth, which is one of my biggest pet peeves.
I sheepishly suggested maybe he could finish eating and then we'd talk.
But he kept chewing with his mouth open.
I was trying not to say anything.
I tried to think about something else until I suddenly went, Chewing like that, it's disgusting!
We never went on a second date.
But hey, at least I didn't have to watch his burger being chewed for the rest of the date.
What a terrible date experience.
Expression number one, social butterfly.
She's a social butterfly.
If you are a social butterfly, do you like spending time with people?
Yes, you love spending time with people if you're a social butterfly.
And do you have a lot of friends?
Yes.
Not only do you like spending time with people, but you have lots and lots of friends.
That's why you kind of look like a butterfly, because you spend time with one person and then you sort of fly and flip to another person.
So it's kind of like a butterfly that moves from flower to flower.
Are you a social butterfly?
I am quite the opposite of a social butterfly.
I'm pretty introvert.
And I am very uncomfortable when I have to meet new people.
I know I don't sound like it, but if you meet me in person, I'm very shy.
Expression number two, have butterflies in your stomach.
I had butterflies in my stomach.
If you have butterflies in your stomach, are you nervous or excited?
I would say a little bit of both.
Usually, when you have butterflies in your stomach or when you get butterflies in your stomach, it's because you're nervous.
But sometimes, imagine before a date, you could also be excited and still nervous.
Sometimes excitement means also being nervous.
And so you would still get butterflies in your stomach.
When was the last time you got butterflies in your stomach?
I think right before my first online lesson because I had never done that.
Obviously, I never taught online and I was really scared.
I was really nervous.
I wanted to make a good impression.
So right before the lesson I felt, you know, this tingling sensation, like you have butterflies in your stomach.
Expression number three, chicken out.
I almost chickened out.
If you want to do something and then you chicken out, do you do that something or not?
If you chicken out, that means you don't do what you were supposed to do or what you wanted to do.
And why?
What feeling causes you to chicken out?
Well, it's fear.
You want to do something and then you chicken out.
You know that in English language, the chicken, is that a good chicken?
It's associated with being a coward, not being brave.
So if you want to do something, for example, ask a girl out or...
I don't know, do something adventurous.
And then you chicken out.
That means you're too scared to do it.
And so you don't do it.
When was the last time you chickened out?
The last time I chickened out was a few days ago.
I went to this mall and there was a sports center, you know, with all these trampolines and stuff.
And there were three slides and there were Really steep slides, okay?
It was not for children.
And I don't know if you know, but I have a lot of fears.
And in the end, I did not slide down.
I was too scared and I chickened out.
Expression number four, pet peeve.
Which is one of my biggest pet peeves?
Is a pet peeve something you find particularly pleasant? or particularly annoying.
A pet peeve, it's something that you find particularly annoying.
And is a pet peeve usually generic or very specific?
Usually it's very specific.
We're talking, so you cannot say, oh, my biggest pet peeve is war.
No, it needs to be something specific, just like in the story.
For example, people chewing food with their mouth open.
And do you have any pet peeves?
I have a ton of pet peeves.
But I'm just going to tell you the two biggest ones that I have.
Number one is people drinking straight from my water bottle.
I don't know why.
I think it's disgusting.
I don't care how much I like you.
Please don't drink out of my water bottle, because otherwise then I'm not going to be able to drink out of it.
And my second pet peeve is people stealing my food.
And that's – I got into a couple of fights with my boyfriend, because sometimes I make myself like a bowl of cereal or something and he would come and ask me for some or he would take some.
And I'm like, why?
Like that is exactly the quantity that I wanted.
And now if I give you some, I'm going to have to make myself more.
Yeah.
But what's funny is that I do steal food from other people.
So a little unfair.
Expression number five, sheepishly.
I sheepishly suggested he could finish eating.
If you say or do something sheepishly, do you show confidence or lack of confidence?
Well, sheepishly obviously comes from the word cheap.
So it shows lack of confidence.
You are shy.
You want to say it, but you kind of say it in a way that shows that you don't have a lot of confidence.
And is there someone you act sheepishly around?
There aren't many people that I act sheepishly around except for...
My boyfriend's family, because I don't know if it's because we don't speak the same language, because they're Spanish, or maybe just because I want to make a good impression, because it's my boyfriend's family and I care about what they think of me.
So yeah, I act very, very sheepishly around them.
And that is it for today.
And remember, if you want to access the transcript, as well as lots of other resources, visit enboocom.
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Have a great day.
