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Hello and welcome to 6 Minute Vocabulary with me, Neil...
...and me, Finn. In this programme, we're talking about phrases from Shakespeare.
They are phrases that were either invented by Shakespeare...
...or used by him in his plays and that we still use a lot today.
We'll give you plenty of examples of these and we'll teach you what they mean.
We'll have a quiz and we'll also bring you a top tip for learning vocabulary.
Let's start with Danny.
He's talking about cooking and entertaining friends.
Mmm and while you listen, think about this question.
Does Danny think it's easy to find special ingredients for recipes?
For some people, food is the be all and end all...
...and I have friends who, whenever I visit, produce a dish fit for the gods.
But in my opinion, cooking is not for the faint -hearted.
I really hate spending forever and a day in the kitchen.
Dinner parties usually mean trying to track down some special ingredient...
...which ends up being a wild goose chase.
It's pretty much a foregone conclusion that my chosen recipe won't work out as I hope.
So I just throw a party once a year to repay all my friends in one fell swoop.
Fortunately, every one of them has a heart of gold.
So they understand.
That was Danny. And we asked you, does Danny think it's easy to find special ingredients for recipes?
And the answer is no, because usually it's a wild goose chase.
Mmm, now, a wild goose chase is used in Romeo and Juliet.
This means a situation where you waste time chasing after something that you can't get.
Mmm, so Danny clearly has had bad experiences of trying to find ingredients and not succeeding.
Exactly. Well, there are four more Shakespearean phrases in our first clip.
Listen out for them.
For some people, food is the be -all and end -all.
And I have friends who, whenever I visit, produce a dish fit for the gods.
But in my opinion, cooking is not for the faint -hearted.
I really hate spending forever and a day in the kitchen.
So food is the be -all and end -all.
That's the beginning and ending of everything, which means it's the most important thing.
And that's why they always produce a dish fit for the gods.
Clearly, if something is suitable for the gods, it is the best possible.
Mmm, but cooking is not for the faint -hearted, Danny says.
The faint -hearted are people who lack courage or determination and he thinks people like that shouldn't cook.
This phrase shows how difficult Danny finds cooking.
And he hates spending a long time in the kitchen.
He does. Forever and a day is a very long time.
Right, there are three more phrases coming up in our next clip.
It's pretty much a foregone conclusion that my chosen recipe won't work out as I hope.
So I just throw a party once a year to repay all my friends in one fell swoop.
Fortunately, every one of them has a heart of gold, so they understand.
Now, if something is a foregone conclusion, it's a result that is certain to happen.
He thinks it's certain that his recipe won't work out.
And that's why he entertains his friends in one fell swoop.
Now, if you deal with things in one fell swoop, that means you deal with them altogether and suddenly, like a bird sweeping down through the air to attack something.
Yes, he doesn't want to cook for people more often than necessary.
But fortunately, his friends understand how he feels, don't they?
They do. They each have a heart of gold.
Now, that means they're very kind and caring.
On BBC Learning English.
And it's quiz time.
Today, you have to change the last three or four words of each sentence to use a phrase from Shakespeare from the programme.
So number one, some successful people don't go to university.
It's really not the most important thing.
Which phrase from Shakespeare can replace the most important thing?
It's really not the be all and end all.
Right, number two. We got stuck in bad traffic, so the journey took a very long time.
So what can replace a very long time?
The journey took forever and a day.
Correct. And number three.
Everyone thinks Claire is the nicest person.
She's always been very kind.
What can replace very kind?
She's always had a heart of gold.
Oh, she has. That's excellent and that is the end of our quiz.
Well done if you got them all right.
But before we go, here's today's top tip.
English is very rich in phrases and idioms like the ones in this programme.
Using them makes your English sound much more like that of a native speaker.
Use an idioms dictionary and try burning five idioms a day.
Then try working them into your conversations too.
There's more about this at bbclearningenglish .com.
Join us again for more six minute vocabulary.
Bye bye. Goodbye.
