In this spoken English lesson, you will learn how to use the idiom ‘Double Whammy’. There are times you feel your luck is really good as things are going great for you. But there are days you feel that your luck is not on your side as things are not going good for you. You feel it’s a bad phase because you are dealing with negative instances one after the other.
The idiom ‘double whammy’ basically means a situation in which two unpleasant things happen at almost the same time or one negative event is followed by another one.
When you are faced with two hardships, two challenges , two negatives in a situation, it means you are hit with a double whammy. You are actually dealing with two setbacks or problems when there is a double whammy.
A double whammy is either a setback that is horrible in two separate ways, or it can mean two setbacks that happen consecutively.
It can be used in the case of a person or group of people having two problems to solve at the same time. In this idiom, ‘double’ means two and ‘whammy’ is an informal word that means a curse or an unlucky influence. For example, in the economy, if the rate of inflation is rampant and the tax rates increases simultaneously, then there is a double whammy. This is because there are two negative things happening at the same time that would worsen the economy.
Practice Sentences for English speaking:
Example 01: The high cost of treatment and lack of medical insurance was a double whammy for Michelle.
Example 02: Boss fired me from the job and I lost my wallet too, what a double whammy?
Example 03: It was a double whammy for the soccer team as the best player was injured when their score was still zero.
Example 04: Amy is hit with a double whammy as she deals with her husband’s habit of smoking and drinking.
Example 05: Deforestation has created a double whammy of environmental pollution and global warming.
Example 06 : With the heat-wave and the electricity breakdown problems, citizens were hit with a double whammy this summer.
Example 07 : The public have faced the double whammy of rising taxes and falling incomes.
Example 08 : Michelle went to take the driving test, and not only didn’t pass, but got a flat tire on the way back..
Have you ever been hit by a double whammy? What were the two negative aspects that you dealt with?
