Hello friends welcome back to

english with kayla this english

lesson will teach you 50 very
natural and incredibly useful
english phrases and idioms my
name is kayla i'm an american
english teacher and i love teaching
you about how native english
speakers really use english phrases
words and of course idioms i
promise that all of the idioms in
today's lesson are ones that i use
myself in all sorts of conversations
and friendly conversations
professional conversations and just
my every day conversations let's
get right into today's lesson and
start with some phrases and idioms
that have to do with actions or
verbs under the radar have you
ever wanted to do something in
secret or without being noticed you
 are doing it under the radar of
course this phrase comes from
actually looking at the technology
of radar radar is used i believe in
airplanes and submarines to see
what other airplanes are in the sky
or what other ships are in the water
so if you do something without
being noticed you are doing it
under the radar one of the most
common idioms used to ask for
help is you can ask someone to
give you a hand hey could you give
me a hand with this if you ask for
someone to give you a hand you
are asking them to help you
sometimes we also say this phrase
as lend me a hand meaning can you
help me still if you were moving in
your home and you had to pick up
something very heavy you might
say hey could you lend me a hand
 this is quite heavy if you are not
sure that you can do something but
you're going to try your best you
can say i'm going to give it the old
college try this is a really
interesting english phrase and it
just means that you're going to try
your best it's a fun phrase to use
when you're just gonna give it a go
you haven't done it before and you
don't think you're gonna do a great
job you give it the old college try
i'm not very good at singing but
when i sing karaoke i give it the
old college try maybe you've sang
karaoke at a bar or restaurant
before it's quite fun but it can be
very very intimidating if you are
beginning something from the very
start you have not worked on it
before you are starting from
scratch if you had a paper due for
 homework like an essay and you
hadn't started at all you might say
to your friend i need to get going i
have to start from scratch tonight
that means you're starting from
nothing but this phrase is used very
frequently to say that you are
starting from the beginning you
can also make something from
scratch that means you have gone
out to the store and bought
individual ingredients or maybe
you have a garden that you've
grown some of the ingredients in
and you are going to home make
food that is making it from scratch
i personally love to make chocolate
chip cookies from scratch i think it
tastes so much better than just
buying cookie dough you can tell
someone to take a chill pill this
means not literally taking any sort
of medication you are telling them
to relax to calm down this phrase
can be a little bit rude if you're
using it when someone is very
angry or very worked up so be
careful with it but if you're just
telling your friend hey you need to
relax you can say could you please
take a chill pill or just take a chill
pill hopefully they can step back
and relax and take a deep breath
when you tell them to take a chill
pill a similar phrase that is a little
bit difficult to explain so i'll do my
best here is when you tell someone
don't add insult to injury so this
means that you don't want the
person to say something to make
an already bad situation worse
don't add insult to injury you can
tell someone don't add insult to
injury or you can say that
 something has just added insult to
injury if you're having a really bad
day at work maybe you were late
into the office and you got locked
out of your computer you forgot
your password and then it's
lunchtime and you forgot your
lunch you could say this day is so
bad and forgetting my lunch just
added insult to injury so this phrase
just means it made a bad situation
worse i caught you red-handed this
phrase means that you have caught
someone in the act of doing
something bad it is as if they had
red paint on their hands and made
hand prints all over leading you to
knowing that they committed the
crime or they committed a wrong
doing a really common thing for
kids to do is to climb up and reach
into the cookie jar even when their
 parents have said hey no more
sweets no more cookies for today
maybe if you went into your
kitchen and you saw your son or
your daughter taking a cookie out
of the cookie jar you could say i
have caught you red-handed i saw
you do it hold your horses now this
is another action that you can tell
someone to do this means to wait
to relax stop being so eager if you
haven't noticed in american english
especially we have a ton of idioms
and phrases that somehow relate to
horses i don't know why so maybe
if your friend was waiting to use a
book that you're reading and you
are still trying to finish that book
and they say hey can i borrow that
book you need to say hold your
horses i'm not done with this book
yet this just means be patient wait a
little bit longer have you ever been
in the situation where you are
meeting new people for the first
time and maybe you have a new
class or a new workplace and you
have to have those initial or first
conversations to break the ice this
phrase break the ice just means that
you need to become comfortable
and start to get to know people
oftentimes when we ask people
questions that are meant to get to
know one another we call those
icebreakers it can be so awkward
to break the ice when you are
meeting new people especially if
you are introverted when i need to
go to sleep i often say hey i'm
gonna hit the hay i'll see you in the
morning i've gotta go hit the hay
this just means that you're going to
bed it's a common phrase that we
 use in the united states to say i'm
going to go to bed i'm going to hit
the hay and i assume this comes
from the idea that mattresses could
potentially be made out of hay
especially many many years ago
when you don't know the answer to
a question and just nothing comes
into your brain you can say i am
completely drawing a blank it's a
very polite and very common way
to just say i have no idea nothing
comes into my brain when you ask
me that question or if you're in a
conversation and you want to say i
spoke with a girl but i'm drawing a
blank on her name this means that
you can't remember her name but
you can remember the full
conversation with her you're just
drawing a blank on a specific piece
of information when you go fishing
 you put of course bait on the hook
to try to catch a fish well this idiom
to take the bait means that you are
trying to get a person to say
something or to give you
information by kind of asking a
question or just saying something
that might make them reveal to you
what you want to know so maybe
you are trying to figure out some
gossip from a friend you are saying
so how's your relationship with jeff
going and they just say it's fine you
say they did not take the bait on
that one i was trying to find out
about their argument or their fight
that's just one example of taking
the bait another example of this
phrase taking the bait is when you
say something to purposely make
someone angry or kind of start
talking a lot about a certain topic
when i teach you an english phrase
i want you to know all of the
different meanings of it and all of
the different ways it's used i want
to cover the bases this baseball
idiom to cover the bases means
that you want to you want to make
sure that you haven't forgotten to
do anything that will make
whatever it is you're doing
successful so in this example i
want to make sure that you know
all the ways that this can be used
this phrase i'm trying to cover my
bases as a baseball team will have
people playing all the positions on
the bases a phrase that's very
similar to covering your bases is to
stay on top of something
oftentimes at work we get lots of
emails we get lots of phone calls
and sometimes we can forget
 things or we can miss
appointments if you keep a very
good calendar you can stay on top
of things you can make sure that
you won't forget anything so if you
want to make sure that you won't
forget things or you just want to
make sure that you're doing a very
good job you can say i'm trying to
stay on top of things a compliment
that you could give someone to say
that they did an excellent job is you
can say you nailed it so hopefully
on this english lesson i nailed it i
did a really good job it's similar to
the phrase saying you hit the nail
on the head that means you did a
really good job or you answered
the question precisely you got the
exact correct answer so you can
say you nailed it or you hit the nail
on the head so now we'll move on
 to some idioms and phrases that
will help you describe things and
that are very useful for all types of
situations of describing things if
you describe something as an old
wives tale you are saying that it's
probably not true it's probably not
backed up by scientific research it's
just something that people have
been saying for many many
generations there are tons of old
wives tales that will tell you
whether your baby is a boy or a
girl but at the end of the day you
really just need to get an
ultrasound or a picture of the baby
inside of your stomach to know if
it's a boy or a girl an example of an
old wives tale would be that baby
girls steal their mom's beauty so
during pregnancy if you feel ugly
you could say that you're having a
 girl she's stealing your beauty of
course that is not true it's just an
old wives tale if you want to
describe something as being easy
and not challenging at all you can
say well it's not rocket science this
means that it doesn't take a very
advanced skill set or you don't
have to have a ton of knowledge to
do it like designing a rocket would
take a lot of knowledge this is not
rocket science this is used to say
it's actually quite easy so when you
buy furniture from a store and you
have to put it together usually you
get directions it's not rocket
science to put it together but it just
takes a little bit of time if you
describe somebody as having a
heart of gold it means they are very
compassionate and they are very
loving and very kind so you can
 say they have a total heart of gold
they just adopted a boy into their
family this just means they are
very compassionate and it's like
their heart is made of gold you
might hear an english speaker
describe something as selling like
hotcakes hotcakes are another
word for pancakes which are
delicious of course so if you say
that something is selling like
hotcakes it means that people are
buying it really fast and buying a
lot of it if you say something is a
far cry from something else it
means that the two things are not
closely related or they don't look
alike or they don't sound alike so
my singing is a far cry from adele
it's not good at all you could also
say he's a far cry from a model he's
not very good looking these are
 unkind examples but you get the
point if you want to describe
someone as not being trustworthy
or not someone that you can trust
you can say i do not trust them as
far as i can throw them and most of
the time you can't actually throw a
person because they're so heavy
meaning you don't trust that person
very much because you couldn't
throw them very far i personally do
not trust cats as far as i could throw
them i think they're a very sneaky
animal so if you want to tell
someone that you can't trust them
you can say i don't trust you as far
as i can throw you it's an idiom
meaning you don't trust them when
you learn a piece of information
that just doesn't sound very good to
you it just it's kind of alarming to
you it doesn't sound like it was the
 right thing to do you can say it
doesn't sit well with me also you
can describe food as it doesn't sit
well with you meaning it upsets
your stomach if you do something
infrequently like less than once a
month or less than every about
three months you can say i only do
it once in a blue moon this is just
an idiom to describe something
that you don't do frequently or
often if you don't drink often you
could say i only have a glass of
wine once in a blue moon a way to
describe the feeling of having to go
to work on monday after a fun
weekend that you really enjoyed
and you're not looking forward to
work or you're at work and you're
not enjoying it you can say i have
the mondays or i have a case of the
mondays that means you have a
 case of feeling like you don't want
to be at work right now after such a
relaxing weekend it was really hard
to go to the office because i had a
case of the mondays another really
good phrase to describe a feeling
like the mondays that isn't as
common but i really like this
phrase is the sunday scaries if you
dread going to work or going to
school or doing whatever you have
to do on monday you can say i
have the sunday scaries that's just
that feeling of dread on a sunday
night i hope that you do not have
the sunday scaries when you are
feeling like you have been
victorious you feel so happy things
are going really well for you you
can say i feel like i am on top of
the world that just means you feel
very superior and very lucky at the
 moment i personally really like to
exercise and after running it puts
me in a really good mood and i feel
on top of the world if you are
angry about something and you're
just totally done with the situation
you don't want to deal with it
anymore because it angers you so
much you can say i am at my wit's
end this just means that you will
not deal with the situation anymore
because it makes you angry i am at
my wit's end with my neighbors
they are so loud i can't even sleep
at night we talked about feeling
like you're on top of the world the
opposite of this feeling would be i
just can't win i can't win the phrase
i can't win is used when you are
feeling like you are just getting the
worst outcome out of every
situation this morning all my
 clothes were dirty i got caught in
traffic it rained on me when i was
walking into work i just can't win
if you want to ask someone why
they look so sad you can say why
the long face a long face would
describe someone who's sad i'm
not really sure exactly why we say
long face maybe because your face
looks long when you frown but if
you want to ask someone why they
look sad you can ask them why the
long face if someone leaves you in
a bad situation with no good
resources you can say they left me
high and dry so maybe if you were
going to a friend's house and they
told you that they would feed you
lunch but they actually didn't have
any food you can say wow you
really left me high and dry i'm very
hungry this phrase is just used
 whenever someone leaves you
without something that was
promised or something that was
expected if you are extremely
hungry a really common phrase to
use is that you are so hungry that
you could eat a horse of course you
could not literally eat a full horse
horses weigh hundreds of pounds
but american english speakers are
always using horse related idioms
to describe things so if you're
extremely hungry you can just say
i'm so hungry i could eat a horse
similar to saying you're at your
wit's end you can also say this is
the last straw or you can also say
this is the straw that broke the
camel's back this means this is the
last thing or situation that i'm going
to deal with i'm really angry at this
point and i won't deal with it
 anymore so sometimes when
people break up in relationships
they say something like this was
the last straw the last straw or the
straw that broke the camel's back
was when the other person cheated
on me what a terrible example but
you guys get the picture the last
straw or the straw that broke the
camel's back is the situation that
made you quit or give up so these
next phrases are used to describe
things that teach you a lesson in
life usually a positive lesson a
really common phrase in america is
to say it builds character if
something bad has happened to
someone or they have to deal with
just a lot of hardship you can say it
builds character personally when i
had my first job and customers
were very rude to me i worked at a
restaurant and the customers would
be rude to me sometimes my mom
would say it builds character it's
good to have a job like this which i
totally agree with her it does build
character it just means that it
makes you a stronger person and it
gives you more respect for things if
it builds character another phrase
that describes a lesson that you
have to learn is you can't make an
omelet without breaking eggs this
phrase means that it's impossible to
achieve something important
without making mistakes or having
some bad things happen a situation
i think of is when businesses are
trying to become more eco-friendly
so maybe they aren't using as much
plastic or packaging and people say
oh my product broke because it
wasn't shipped with as much
 packaging well you can't make an
omelette without breaking some
eggs some people are not going to
like the change that you're making
but there are going to be some
negative things that happen and of
course omelette is an egg dish that
usually has vegetables or meats in
it for breakfast so the idioms just
saying that you can't make
something good without a few bad
things happening when you want to
tell someone that they shouldn't
make a big deal out of something
that isn't actually harmful or isn't
actually a problem it's very minor
you can say don't make mountains
out of molehills mole hills would
be very small things that moles like
the animals live in and obviously a
mountain is quite large so you
shouldn't make a small problem
into something big by making a big
deal or worrying a lot about it a
very common phrase that we tell
one another in america is to keep
your chin up maybe you have a
phrase like this in your language as
well but it just means to remain
positive in a negative situation let's
move on to some sayings now that
we use so much in english that i
want you to know about so i'm
going to include them in this video
as well these are phrases that will
be super useful in conversations if
you want to tell someone that you
didn't understand what they said or
you didn't hear what they said you
can say i didn't catch that i didn't
catch that means i didn't
understand it i have two phrases
that both mean that you should try
to achieve something really good
 even if it involves a little risk you
can say go big or go home or you
can say my favorite phrase you've
gotta risk it to get the biscuit and
the second phrase here is not
common at all but i do say it
because i think it's kind of a funny
phrase you've got to risk it to get
the biscuit so maybe if you're
gambling and you want to bet a lot
of money on something you can
say well you've got to go big or go
home this just means you've got to
try to win a lot or just don't try at
all or if you're me you'll say you've
got to risk it to get the biscuit this
just means you should risk a lot for
a big reward and of course this is
not always true so don't always
take this advice if something is
getting very close for instance
again if it's a sporting game and
 maybe there's only a few minutes
left you can say it's really down to
the wire that means there's just a
small amount of time left a wire is
very thin so you're describing time
as wire in this situation there's not
a lot of it it's getting down to the
wire that means there's not a lot of
time left in a game or if you have a
project or assignment for work due
soon you can say it's really getting
down to the wire i have to finish
soon another good phrase to use if
you don't know the answer while
you're speaking but you could go
look it up is you can say i don't
know it off the top of my head this
means i don't know it in my
memory but i can go look at the
information i know where to find it
i don't know every state capital off
the top of my head but i can just
 look it up a really good english
saying is to say that you see the
light if you see the light of the
situation it means you understand
the truth or the true meaning of the
situation for instance if you get to
know a person and then you find
out that they're actually not a very
good person you can say i really
see the light she is a liar and not
very kind you can also use this
phrase in a very positive way too
you could say something like i
really see the light now i
understand why it's so important to
eat healthy or some other sort of
positive truth or positive message a
really interesting popular english
saying is to say that you're missing
the forest for the trees this means
that you are not looking at the
entire situation or the entire
 problem while you're trying to
solve it because you're looking at
small parts of it so a forest is made
up of a lot of trees so if you say i
can't see the forest because there's
a tree in the way you are looking at
the forest but you're concentrating
too hard on the tree here is a really
kind of gross english saying it's
don't spit in the wind or don't spit
into the wind these mean the same
thing now if you spit literally into
the wind it would blow back into
your face so that's just really gross
if you do something with little
chance of succeeding or really no
point to doing it it's like spinning
in the wind it just comes back to
you there's no point to doing it a
phrase that i say all of the time is
it's easier said than done if
someone gives you advice and it
feels like they think it's going to be
easy you can say it's easier said
than done for instance if you have
a baby like myself and someone
says oh just go rock the baby to
sleep and put them down and then
you can sleep at night i can say that
is easier said than done my baby
will wake up and i won't sleep all
night that's just a personal example
of something that's easier said than
done i'm sure there's tons of
examples for this one as well so i
think that doing things to positively
affect the environment like
recycling or wasting less is really
good if someone told me that you
should recycle it's really good for
the earth i would say you are
preaching to the choir this just
means you're telling someone
something that they also believe
 that they strongly believe it's like
you are preaching a religion to
someone who already believes in
that religion preaching to the choir
if you want to say that something is
very easy you can say it's like fish
in a barrel or like shooting fish in a
barrel it's so easy it's like shooting
fish in a barrel obviously a barrel is
a small container so if you were
trying to shoot the fish in there it'd
be quite easy if you want to
describe two things that go
together really nicely or that make
a good pair you can say they go
hand in hand one might say that
americans and rock and roll go
hand in hand meaning a lot of
american people enjoy rock and
roll music finally when it's time to
do something that you just have
been putting off dreading not
wanting to do you can say it's time
to bite the bullet it's time to do
something painful but it has to be
done so in the united states in april
we have to pay our taxes you can
say i really just have to bite the
bullet and pay my taxes you guys
we made it through 50 idioms
through 50 great phrases that i
hope that you can add to your
english vocabulary.

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