American English and British English is the widely spoken English accent world wide, however the English language evolves as it travels regionally. In this English lesson with Meera learn 10 American Idioms which are very commonly used in daily English conversations. These idiomatic expressions in English are fun to use and add more style and class to your spoken English communication making you sound fluent and confident in English. Although Idioms are a part of English Grammar, but this is a English practice lesson to learn new vocabulary and learn smart English phrases that could be used in everyday spoken English. You are watching this lesson on Let’s Talk English Institute – Our English courses cover topics such as Grammar Usage, Building advanced Vocabulary, Accent Training, American Accent, British accent, Job interviews skills and many more topics to speak English fluently and confidently in the real world.
Complete Video Transcript :-
Hey guys, welcome back to Let’s Talk this is me, Meera. Today we’re going to learn certain American English idioms, right? These would really help you sophisticate your English, improvise your English and make it sound really smart, plus it gives, it gives you a great advantage because you don’t have to speak long sentences anymore, you can just use these idioms and convey your feelings, convey your expressions and convey your message by using simple idioms, right? So this is a great strategy to speak in a smart way and to shorten your sentences, all right?
Let’s start with the first one this is certainly something that most of you must have heard before, so ‘ataboy’ is something, something that’s sort of a, it gives us an image that an elderly person or a father is patting the daughter’s or the son’s shoulder saying, “Hey, good job.” It actually means that, it means a great job or it means appreciation so, so if you at all want to say congratulations or well done or good job or a great job you can always pat someone’s back and say, “Ataboy!” Maybe someone’s won a competition or someone has actually done a great trek or ran in athletics and performed well or simple things and winning things and you know you want to encourage them, so these are, this is nothing but of an idiom to encourage someone or someone’s good work. ‘Ataboy!’ is a great way to start, of course with an exclamation mark.
All right guys let’s move on to the next one ‘bite the bullet’. It really means doing something unpleasant, you know or doing something, you know what I will just rewrite this properly I want you to be able to see it unpleasant or doing something that you have been wanting to do. For example I will use this sentence and I would say, “After three months of yes-no, yes-no I’m going to bite the bullet and go to gym today.” Did you get what I’m trying to say? Doing something I have been wanting to do or doing something unpleasant for example, after… this could be unpleasant as well going to the gym for some people but there’s another example, “After fighting with my mother, I bit the bullet and I went to apologize to her.” Or, “You know what I’m thinking, I’m just going to bite the bullet and go to school tomorrow.” Again doing something you have been wanting to do. Did you get it? Fantastic.
Let’s move on to the next one ‘bite the dust’. It actually means to fall in the ground really hard or suffer defeat you know so fall or defeat. You know what they say, right? They say that whenever someone gets married, people say, another one bites the dust. Which means look at that person or look at those two people they got married they are now going to suffer defeat all their life so you can always say that you know what don’t bother he’s just someone who has recently bit the dust which means he’s recently been married. Oh! You can actually put it when someone’s exercising or playing a certain game and you know he’s been so tired or she’s so that he or she falls on the ground really hard so you know what, “He tried to perform well but he finally bit the dust when his legs gave up or when her legs gave up.” Yes very practical and something that re- keeps reoccurring in your life, okay?
Now the next one is ‘put your money where your mouth is’. I know it sounds a little aggressive and it sounds a little harsh but you know that there are certain moments in your life where certain people don’t follow what they say and certain people do things that you know they have said before and they don’t do it anymore or they just talk so here’s something that you can always say to those people ‘put your money where your mouth is…’ which means do as you say, okay? Do as you say, okay? So imagine my friend promised me that she’s going to come down to my city and spend some time with me so I can very casually say I know that she will not mind it she will not take it offensively I can say, “Hey you promised me you will come and visit me so put your mouth where your money is and come here.” Put your money where your mouth to see what happens to people when they twist and turn it really doesn’t matter so much but ‘put your money where your mouth is’ I will tell her do what you, do what you said, you said you’re going to come or for example you’re shouting at your sibling your younger sibling and you know that that person has been promising to clean up the Wardrobe and clean up the cupboard but he or she hasn’t so you can say, “You know what, put your money where your mouth is, and clean up that cupboard, you promised me.” Did you get what is what this idiom means? Great let’s move ahead.
Okay, next is ‘getting in someone’s hair’. Do you know what that means? That actually means to irritate someone or annoy someone, okay? Okay so I can always say that, “Do you know what, I’m now going to accompany you today for lunch because she gets in my hair.” That means she annoys me. It’s literally not getting in someone’s hair but someone, when someone annoys you or, “This loud music is getting in my hair.” Because it is so loud it’s irritating you and it’s annoying you. Did you get it? Yes, so you can always use this and you can say something is getting in your hair that means something is bothering you, so I’m gonna say that as… I’m gonna write that as well, full stop.
Okay move on, ‘hit the ceiling’. Hit the ceiling means getting really angry, okay? Getting angry, like really, really angry you know? “Shut the damn music, it’s getting in my hair.” “If you don’t shut it, I’m going to hit the ceiling very soon.” Uh-huh, nice one right? I actually could combine both of them in one sentence, I’m so happy. Alright, hit the ceiling which means getting really angry. So anything, whatever gets you angry maybe someone’s behavior, someone’s talk or when someone does not put their money where their mouth is, that is the time you can hit this feeling. That means when someone doesn’t do what they promised you get angry, right? So you can actually mix and match all these things, you should.
Next up is ‘face the music’. Which actually means facing the consequences. I know it sounds really nice but it means to face consequences of your actions. So there are things in life that we end up doing and we are not ready for the consequences, we don’t know what’s going to happen but we should be prepared for the battle, we should be prepared for our actions and we should be able to face the consequences. For example, I am studying I’m studying my graduation and I sort of you know I stopped, I stopped, discontinue my education and get into maybe acting or something that is not relevant to my degree then I must be ready to face the music, I must be ready to face the consequences that hey things might work out things might not work out so whenever you’re advising people or suggesting people something and the you know they decided to do something that will have consequences, eventually you can always say don’t worry but be prepared to face the music, right? Face the consequences of your actions.
Okay guys moving on, we have ‘out of the woods’. Usually the doctors say this whenever they check a patient and they have to convey to the family or the patient himself or herself that nothing, you don’t have to worry about anything, you’re out of the woods, that means out of danger. Out of danger, right? So maybe you’re hiding from your parents, right and then your parents just come home to get their keys and probably you were watching TV or you’re watching laptop during your study hours then your friend you’re from your parents leave then you can say, “Oh! Thank God, I’m out of the woods now.” That means, out of danger. They won’t yell at you, they won’t scream at you.
Okay moving on this is this is something that, this is the one that I really like, okay, ‘feel like a million dollars’. Which actually means that you probably dress up so well you’re feeling so good your mood is great you have done a great job at work or in college or you in, generally you’re feeling amazing that day, right? And that is the time you can actually say hashtag, which literally is over here, hashtag feel like a million dollars. I am feeling like a million dollars today or maybe you know what when someone actually praises me someone says that, “Hey, today you are looking fantastic.” I actually feel like a million dollars and I thank that person saying, Thank you so much, you made me feel like a million dollars.” See how I used the phrase to return a compliment as well. That’s right, feel like a million dollars, feeling… what should I write guys? All right, amazing, yes? Feeling amazing.
Last one ‘pull someone’s leg’. Now this one is very common yet used in different ways which probably doesn’t make sense sometimes but pulling someone’s leg means just trying to, just someone is being naughty and someone’s trying to make, not make fun of you but just, um just you know, be naughty and just go make jokes on you, you know? But they don’t mean offense or they don’t mean anything wrong. They’re just trying to be naughty, okay? So you can always say usually my brother pulls my leg so I always go like, “Hey stop it, don’t pull my leg anymore.” That means don’t trouble me don’t make jokes on me, okay? Troubling someone, right? So you can always say that don’t worry I was just joking or don’t worry I was just pulling your leg and then that person will not feel uncomfortable anymore, okay?
So guys these are the idioms for the day. Please go ahead and use them. Make your English much more interesting and fun and thrilling, okay? That’s all for the day guys. I will be back very soon with another such interesting lesson, until then, make sure that you’re smiling, you’re practicing, spread a lot of love, this is me Meera signing off. Ciao
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