Some words look familiar to you,
but do you really know what they mean when you put them together?
Today we will talk about English that you know but don’t understand.
English that I know but don’t understand comes from Kaiyan English OpenLanguage
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16:50
01.
Lazy Susan
Lazy Susan is very common in China, guess what it means?
If you think it describes lazy people, you are wrong! It means "spinning plate".
What does this have to do with lazy? When a large table of people is eating together, you may be too lazy to stand up to pick up the dishes. With a rotating dinner plate, you can sit down and taste all the delicious food on the table.
In addition to Susan, there is also a common name - John.
The John means "toilet; toilet".
- Dad is in the John. Dad is in the bathroom.
- He was on the John. He was on the toilet.
02.
A pretty penny
We know that a penny is one cent, and a pretty penny becomes a lot of money:
- That must have cost a pretty penny. That must be very expensive.
03.
Green thumb
Not long ago, March 17th was St. Patrick's Day, a holiday in Ireland. On this day, Irish people will wear green clothes and decorate their rooms with green. The following phrase is related to green:
- Green thumb: gardening skills; expert in flower planting
- Thumb: thumb
To praise a person for being good at growing plants, you can say that he has/is a green thumb.
04.
Ballpark
Baseball plays an important role in the lives of many Americans, so many American idioms are related to baseball. The original meaning of
Ballpark is baseball stadium . It can also represent an approximate estimated number, usually related to money.
- Could you give me a ballpark figure? Can you give me an approximate figure?
05.
Tough cookie
Tough means strong; hard. Tough cookie is not a hard cookie, it refers to a strong and strict person. A bit similar to go-getter (a capable person, a determined person).
- My grandmother is a tough cookie. My grandmother is a very tough person.
There is also a phrase related to tough:
- Tough luck: unlucky
06.
Cold shoulder
Shoulder is the shoulder, giving someone a cold shoulder means to ignore someone.
- Cold shoulder: cold shoulder; closed door
- If you invite her to a party, you'll just get the cold shoulder. If you invite her to a party, you'll just get yourself into trouble.
- She was cold-shouldered. She was cold-shouldered.
In addition to shoulder, feet can also be matched with cold:
- Getting cold feet: very nervous
The shoulders and feet mentioned above are body parts, and the next one is related to hair:
- Split hairs: worrying about trivial things
- Don't waste time splitting hairs. Don't waste time arguing about trivial matters.
07.
Kick the bucket
The two phrases to be discussed below are both related to buckets.
Bucket is a "bucket", does kicking the bucket mean kicking the bucket? wrong.
- Kick the bucket: die
This is an informal way of saying it.
- Before I kick the bucket, there're certain things I would like to do. Before I die, I want to do some things.
Another phrase is derived from this:
- Bucket list: Last wish, life list
- Sky-diving is the number-one thing on my bucket list. Skydiving is the number one thing on my bucket list.
08.
Dog days
The last set of words to be introduced today are all related to dogs.
- Dog days: The hottest time of the year, the dog days.
- Dog-ear: The dog-eared corner of a book page
When we read a book, we will fold the page into a triangle to mark it. This dog-eared corner looks like a dog’s ear. Isn’t it very vivid? ?
If you read a book too much, it will gradually become dog-eared. We can call such an old book a dog-eared copy.
- Doggy bag: take-out bag
After eating in a restaurant, many people will pack up the leftover food and take it home to feed their dogs, so the take-out bag is called a doggy bag.
