As a beginner in English, you always struggle to get the right words to speak English fluently. This English lesson will help you improve your English vocabulary related to driving. Learn some common English expressions that would come handy while travelling or talking about driving in general.
Complete Lesson Transcript : –
Hello everyone, well it’s me Niharika and welcome to a new lesson. Oh! That was a wonderful Drive, I loved it. Now whether or not you drive, but learning English expressions related to Road and driving is essential. So if you are here to learn English and you would like to know which are the phrases, which are the expressions that you can use while you’re driving or while you’re not driving and you’re just in the passenger seat, then Here I am, I’m gonna help you with ten expressions and that’s gonna help you to increase your vocabulary and of course build your conversation skills with people. So guys let’s start with the first expression, now we often use this term “bumper-to-bumper”. Now you’ll use it when you got to describe heavy traffic. It means that vehicles are moving very slowly and almost touching each other. So it’s like, like this, it’s bumper-to-bumper. Now Americans can use the term bumper-to-bumper as an adjective too. Now if you are late for dinner because of traffic, you can use this phrase to tell your friends, that I’m sorry I am late but traffic was bumper-to-bumper. So which means that you were stuck in heavy traffic and they will understand what you mean, so next time you’re stuck in traffic use bumper-to-bumper. Another one is, well there’s a part of vehicle which is mainly found on small trucks and on small model of cars and that’s a “tailgate”. Now this is the gate or it’s a doorway that opens up in the back of the vehicle. Now if your car or if your truck has one then you can lower the tailgate and actually sit on it. Now this door is on the back of a larger passenger vehicle’s seat, okay? So now why am i mentioning about this part? Well the reason why I mentioned about tailgate here is because in America very famous thing called is like a “tailgate party”. Yes, a tailgate party is a thing these days. Tailgate parties usually take place in a parking area. So they park their car and where one or more of these vehicles are stopped. Now they’re tailgates are open and guess what, they’re actually munching on food, they’re having their drinks, they’re having their beer, so these are tailgate parties. Now it’s available for the drivers and their passengers too. So in United States tailgate parties are very common and in fact they’re very common at sporting event or music concerts. So once the concert is over, you will see in the parking area where people are having these tailgate parties. So that’s a pretty interesting expression that you have learned. Now tailgate parties and “tailgating” are two different expressions. The form of tailgating is fun but it is not fun when someone is tailgating your vehicle, what does that mean? Yes I am talking about a “tailgater”. A tailgater is a person who drives too close to your car, like it’s almost touching your taillights. Yes that’s really risky. You know, I mean especially when you’re driving in America, if you spot a tailgater, who is like really close to your car, that’s really rude, okay? And of course it’s dangerous too. It can actually cause road accidents. So that’s a tailgater for you. Now there are other behaviors that can also lead to traffic accidents and of course when we are talking about traffic accidents, I have another expression for you which is, “rubbernecking”. Yes, what’s rubbernecking? Now for example, rubbernecking is when drivers kind of slow down on the road of course while they’re driving, to look closely at a wreck or something else I caching. So if they’re basically driving, they’re not stopping their vehicle, they’re just going a little slow, maybe there’s a wreck on the road and they would like to take a closer look, how do they get a closer look like? They literally take their neck out of the window and they see if a serious crash is on the road, okay? That’s a wreck. Now remember, rubbernecking is also dangerous and that also causes a lot of road accidents. So guys if you do that, well you gotta be careful. Please don’t do it while you are driving. Now another rule that I totally believe while you’re driving is to stay calm because this brings me to the next expression that we use which is, “road rage”. Yes, the most dangerous kind of driving behavior is road rage. What exactly does road rage means? Well it is related to road driving of course but it is the anger, the violence towards other drivers. If you are that kind of a person who gets into road rage often, guys it’s really risky. Now if you show violence towards other drivers, then it’s a big problem. Now remember road rage is a term that you use when you get really angry, you get really violent on other drivers, okay? So do not get into road rage. Another expression that I have for you is, the “road hog”. Road hogs are not dangerous but they are a pain. Now to hog something means to take too much of something. Yes a road hog takes too much of space on the road. The road hog sometimes drives in two lanes, so for example if you have lane 1 and you have Lane 2, oh look at this road hog, he is right in the middle like he’s taking up both the lanes while driving and they may not let other motorists pass them, so that’s a road hog. The next expression that I have for you is, “hit the road”. Hit the road means to leave, like to go home. When you have to begin your journey, you use this term, hit the road. For example, you can say oh I would love to stay longer but hey it’s time for me to hit the road. Well I better hit the road there’s too much of traffic now. Okay, which means you don’t want to get stuck in the bumper-to-bumper traffic, so you’re gonna hit the road right now. Let’s look at another expression which is, “road rash”. Road rash is actually an injury which is sustained, when a cyclist or a motorcyclist falls on the road while moving and actually scrapes their skin. Yes, that’s a road rash for you. A lot of road rashes are common, you will meet your friends, especially the boys who love riding their bikes, well I’m sure they all have experienced road rash before. So road rash is someone who has experienced or has an injury from a motorbike accident. Here’s the next one, “buckle up”. Everybody buckle up please. Well this is actually a phrasal verb that you use to put on your seat belt. Yes, so you can use this expression very often when you sit in the car. You can also use the verb, “fasten”. Like fasten your seat belts. Everybody fasten your seat belts, okay? The opposite of buckling or fastening your seat belt is unbuckling the seat belt, okay, so once you’re done driving and you want to get out of the car, you unbuckle your seat belt, okay? So that’s how you use this expression in your English conversation. Now the last expression for today’s lesson is, stop being a “backseat driver”, yes I wish you stop being a backseat driver, what does that really mean? Well a backseat driver is a person in the car, who is not driving but who constantly criticizes the driver’s abilities to drive. Like for example, someone constantly suggesting you, oh hang on, hang on… oh you gotta take a left, oh my god there’s a car coming, you gotta be careful, it’s as if he’s driving or she is driving, someone who’s constantly criticizing or really annoying you while you are on the driver’s seat. Yes I hate these backseat drivers because I love driving and I love to be by myself and if I have a backseat driver along, oh the drive is super annoying. Hope these lovely expressions really help you out while you are there on the road, so start using them and now I am gonna get back to my apartment and enjoy my drive. I’ll see you guys.
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