Do you know these English idioms?

0:00 In this lesson, you'll learn seven very

0:02 common idioms that you might hear anywhere.

0:05 You could hear them when you're out with your friends,

0:07 you could hear them at school, you could hear them at work, okay?

0:11 So, let's learn what they are so that when people use them,

0:14 you'll understand what they're saying,

0:16 and perhaps after that, you'll go to the next step

0:19 and you'll also start to use some of them yourself.

0:22 They're not very hard, okay?

0:24 So, let's see what they are.

0:26 So, first of all, there are about seven of them on the board,

0:30 and they can be used in this way.

0:33 So, before any of them, okay,

0:35 you need to put the name of a person or you need to use a pronoun,

0:40 because they all start with kind of a verb.

0:43 So, we need to say, for example,

0:45 "I'm sitting on the fence", "He's sitting on the fence",

0:48 "She's sitting on the fence", "We're sitting on the fence",

0:51 "They're sitting on the fence", "Are you sitting on the fence?" Okay?

0:55 Like that.

0:55 So, you need to put a subject here before that, okay?

1:00 So, let's get started with the first one, alright?

1:03 I just put these at the top so that we can use them in our examples.

1:07 So, the first one is "He's sitting on the fence".

1:11 So, what does that mean?

1:13 And first of all, what's a fence anyway?

1:16 Well, first of all, if they're idioms,

1:18 you don't have to know the exact meaning of each word,

1:21 you have to know the overall meaning, but just for you to understand.

1:25 So, let's suppose you have two houses and they're divided by something,

1:29 by some sort of a structure.

1:31 That structure is usually a fence,

1:33 it might be made of wood or metal or something else, right?

1:37 That's a fence.

1:38 So, if somebody's sitting on the fence,

1:42 it means that he is undecided, he's not sure which way to go.

1:47 This way?

1:48 That way?

1:49 He can't decide, okay?

1:51 So, somebody is sitting on the fence when they are undecided.

1:56 For example, let's say somebody is sitting on the fence

2:00 about who they're going to vote for, okay?

2:03 In an election.

2:04 Or they're sitting on the fence about which university to join,

2:08 or which boy or girl to go out with, okay?

2:12 They're sitting on the fence, they're unsure,

2:14 they're thinking still, they're not sure.

2:17 Sitting on the fence means being undecided, okay.

2:21 The next one, she's having a whale of a time, okay?

2:26 She's having a whale of a time means having a wonderful time,

2:30 an exceptional time, a great time, a really fun, marvelous, superb time, okay?

2:37 So, if you say I'm having a whale of a time, I'm having a beautiful time.

2:40 So, let's say when you go on holiday,

2:42 if somebody's on their honeymoon or something like

2:45 that, they're having a whale of a time, they're having a wonderful time, okay?

2:49 Alright, the next one.

2:52 If we say, oh, he's pulling your leg, okay,

2:56 this doesn't actually mean that somebody's pulling your leg.

3:01 It's an idiom, which means that somebody's kidding you,

3:04 somebody's joking with you, okay?

3:06 They're not- don't take them seriously.

3:09 So, brothers and sisters, you know, do this a lot to each other.

3:13 Let's say the brother says to the little sister,

3:16 oh, there's a spider in your bed, or there's a mouse in your closet,

3:19 and the sister goes, oh my gosh, okay, whatever.

3:22 Or the other way around, okay?

3:24 So, they're not being serious, they're telling a lie, but not in a serious way,

3:30 it's just to joke with somebody or to kid someone.

3:34 So, when that happens,

3:35 we say that she's pulling your leg or he's pulling your leg, okay?

3:40 Not serious.

3:42 Alright.

3:42 The next one.

3:44 If we say, he's calling the shots.

3:47 He's calling the shots.

3:49 That means that he is in charge, he's in control,

3:53 he's the one who's making the important decisions, okay?

3:59 So, we could say the manager's calling the shots,

4:01 the general manager's calling the shots, the director's calling the shots, okay?

4:06 So, usually, it's talking about somebody who

4:08 is in charge and making the important decisions.

4:12 So, that's the meaning of calling the shots.

4:15 Let's go back over the other ones for a minute.

4:18 Sitting on the fence, it means what?

4:20 You're undecided.

4:23 Having a whale of a time, having a wonderful time.

4:27 Pulling your leg, teasing you, joking with you, okay?

4:32 And calling the shots, being in control, making the important decisions.

4:37 Alright.

4:38 Let's go on.

4:40 Let's use the example of "he" here because I've used this word here.

4:44 He's keeping his head above water, okay?

4:48 So, let's suppose this is the water.

4:49 If you're keeping your head above water, that's good, that's safe.

4:54 But if you go under the water, it's not so safe.

4:57 So, this expression kind of means that somebody's in an okay situation,

5:04 but just managing, okay?

5:07 They're not in a great position.

5:09 So, for example, if we ask somebody,

5:11 let's say he opened a new restaurant, it's not doing so well.

5:15 He's a little bit concerned about the restaurant,

5:18 but he's- so, when you ask him, "How's business?" he says, "It's okay,

5:22 I'm keeping my head above water", but that's about it.

5:27 So, he's just managing, but he hasn't gone under, okay?

5:31 He's still surviving, the business is still open,

5:35 but he's just surviving, he's not thriving.

5:38 Thriving is when you're doing really, really well at something, okay?

5:42 Just keeping your head above water.

5:45 The next one, skating on thin ice.

5:48 She's skating on thin ice.

5:50 Okay, so what does it mean to skate?

5:53 Well, if you watch ice hockey, all those players wear skates, right?

5:58 They wear skates and they're skating on the ice.

6:01 So, if you're skating on thin ice, that's not a good thing.

6:05 That's dangerous, because what can happen?

6:07 You can fall inside, okay?

6:09 So, what this idiom means, when someone is skating on thin ice,

6:14 they're doing something dangerous, risky, okay?

6:18 Not a good idea.

6:20 Something dangerous.

6:21 So, or they're in a dangerous situation, and they're doing something dangerous.

6:26 For example, if somebody was cheating on an exam, okay, or lying to- in court,

6:33 or lying to the police, that would be an example of skating on thin ice.

6:38 Not recommended, dangerous, okay?

6:41 Alright.

6:42 Alright.

6:42 And the last one is called taking the plunge, alright?

6:47 If we say he's taking the plunge.

6:50 So, the plunge is like a deep dive, a deep jump or dive into the water.

6:57 So, when you take the plunge, in English,

7:00 that idiom means that after a long time of thinking it over and over,

7:06 somebody finally decided to do something, okay?

7:10 He's taking the plunge.

7:11 For example, if somebody was thinking for a long time about getting married,

7:15 and finally he decided to do it, then we say he's decided to take the plunge.

7:20 Or somebody wanted to, I don't know, apply for a very high position,

7:25 but was always nervous, and finally they did it,

7:29 then they were taking the plunge, okay?

7:31 So, it's like to take a big step after a lot of thinking, and so on, okay?

7:36 So, those are the seven idioms that we've learned today.

7:40 Again, I'll review the last few.

7:43 Keeping your head above water, just managing,

7:46 not doing very, very well, but managing.

7:50 Even if you were talking about, for example, at university,

7:53 and somebody's- the student's not doing too well, but he's alright, okay?

7:58 So, he's keeping his head above water.

8:00 Or skating on thin ice, doing something very dangerous and tricky and risky.

8:06 And taking the plunge, making a decision to do something.

8:09 Usually, this is a positive thing that the person wants to do,

8:13 but maybe is a little bit afraid of, and finally decides to do it, okay?

8:18 Now, I'm going to come back in a second to see if you were paying attention,

8:22 and whether you remember some of these words that are part of these idioms.

8:26 Okay.

8:27 So, what happened?

8:28 Well, I took away some of the words to see if you can remember them, okay?

8:32 So, let's go over them together and see if we can do that.

8:36 And this time, let's not go in order, let's mix it up a little bit.

8:39 So, what's the expression that you would use

8:41 if you want to say that somebody's in control?

8:45 If you want to say she's in control,

8:47 she's in charge, she's making the important decisions, she's doing what?

8:54 She's calling the shots, okay?

8:58 She's calling the shots.

9:00 Good.

9:01 Alright.

9:02 Suppose somebody decided to get married after thinking about it,

9:05 and thinking about it, and thinking about it, and finally has decided to do it.

9:10 What is he doing?

9:11 He's taking the plunge.

9:15 Right.

9:17 Good.

9:18 Okay?

9:18 So, we've got those.

9:20 Alright.

9:22 Someone's having a wonderful time, an amazing time.

9:26 What's that?

9:27 Having a whale of a time.

9:30 What's a whale, anyway?

9:32 A whale is like that large, very,

9:34 very large mammal or animal that's in the water, that's in the ocean, okay?

9:39 It's like the biggest mammal that there is, a whale.

9:43 Having a whale of a time.

9:45 Okay.

9:45 If somebody's teasing you, he's kidding you, not serious,

9:49 he's telling you a lie, but it's just to joke with you.

9:54 What's that person doing?

9:55 He or she is pulling your leg.

10:00 Yes.

10:01 Okay.

10:02 And if you're not sure who to vote for in the next election,

10:06 I don't know, I'm sitting on the what?

10:10 Sitting on the fence.

10:12 Good.

10:13 Okay.

10:13 Got that one.

10:15 Anything left?

10:16 Yes.

10:17 Okay.

10:18 If somebody has done something which is quite dangerous,

10:21 what is that person doing?

10:23 He or she is skating on thin ice.

10:29 Very good.

10:30 Okay?

10:30 And the last one, you're keeping your something above water.

10:36 What is it?

10:37 Your head.

10:39 Okay?

10:40 Keeping his head above water means he's surviving,

10:43 he's managing, not doing extremely well, but managing and surviving.

10:48 Okay?

10:48 So, these are seven idioms.

10:50 As I said, the more you can- the more idioms you can learn,

10:53 the more comfortable you'll feel in English, because we hear them everywhere.

10:57 They're in the movies, they're on television, okay?

11:00 They're on the street, and when we go into a store,

11:03 when we overhear a conversation in a coffee shop,

11:06 you'll hear these idioms everywhere, okay?

11:08 So, practice them, go to our website, www.EngVid.com.

11:14 There you can do a quiz on them and really learn them well,

11:17 make sure you understand the meaning,

11:19 and perhaps you can even start using them one by one, okay?

11:23 And don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube

11:26 channel for lots of other useful English lessons, okay?

11:30 So, I'll see you next time.

11:32 Bye for now.