7 colorful English idioms

Hi. Welcome back to engVid. My name's Adam. Nice to see you again. Today's lesson is about

idioms. Everybody loves to learn new idioms because they're used every day. Sometimes

they're a little bit hard to understand. Today, we're looking at colourful idioms, idioms

that use colour in their expression. Before I begin, "colourful", you'll notice I used

"u". I'm Canadian, we use the "u" just like the British people. Americans use only the

"o", no "u". I used both just to make everybody happy. So just so you understand, it's not

a spelling mistake either way.

Let's begin. So I have a few idioms here. The thing about idioms, they never mean what

the words say; you have to actually understand what the idiom means and how to use it.

So, if someone sees the world or sees a situation "through rose-tinted glasses". "Glasses" are

glasses you wear on your head. "Rose-tinted", there's a little bit of a pink shade on the

glass. So you're seeing the world a little bit pinkish, like the colour of the rose.

That means you're very optimistic. Even in a bad situation, you're going to see everything

as good. You're seeing the world through rose-tinted glasses. Right? You work at a company and

they're about to layoff half of the staff; half of the people are going home, no more

job. And you think: "Oh, this is a great opportunity for me to find a new job and get a... advance

my career." So I am seeing the situation through rose-tinted glasses. I don't see the bad economy,

I don't see the fact that I'm 55 years old and I don't have any skills except for what

I do in my job, but I will be okay. "Rose-tinted glasses".

"Give someone the green light." You often hear this about governments giving the army

the green light to attack. "To give the green light", to give permission. Okay? Go ahead,

like a green light in traffic. You see the green light, press the gas, you go. So, for

example: The... excuse me. The board of directors gave the CEO the green light to layoff half

his staff, even the ones wearing rose-tinted glasses. Okay? So everybody's going home;

no more work.

"With flying colors", we always add this expression to the end of an event or action. So, for

example: "He passed his interview with flying colours." With flying colours means very,

very successful; he did very, very well. He went to a job interview, he passed with flying

colours. He got offered the job. Okay?

If you're "tickled pink", means you're very, very happy. Like tickled, tickle, funny - right?

You're tickled pink, you get all pink in the face, you're very happy. So, Tom's grandfather

was very... was tickled pink when he found out that Tom and his wife were pregnant. Now,

I say: "Tom and his wife were pregnant," because it's common for couples to think of themselves

as pregnant, even though it's only the woman, of course.

"Paint the town red." This is a very good expression. You're studying for your English

exams. Okay? You're very hard... studying very hard, very hard, very hard. You finish

your exams, you're free. This weekend, you're going to go paint the town red, means you're

going to go party. You're going to have a very good time, you're going to spend all

night drinking, and partying, and clubs, and dancing, and people. Have a very good time,

you're going to paint the town red; do everything.

"Blue-collared worker/white-collared worker". This might be a very common expression for

you. "Blue-collared". So, first of all, a collar, if you have a shirt with a tie let's

say or no tie. This is the collar-sorry about the tapping-you have a collar. If it's blue,

means you're working in a factory or a garage; you're a mechanic or you're working in some

skilled job. If you're a white-collared worker, if the colour of your collar is white, means

you're working in an office, you're some kind of professional. Okay?

Now, if you're the type of person who "sees things in black and white" means you're very

straightforward, very simple, very direct. Maybe a little bit lacking imagination, not

necessarily. Things are black and white; there's no grey, there's no middle ground. It's like

this or like that; no other way. Right? So you're seeing things in black and white. Everybody

has a... Somebody comes across a problem and some people see things as possibilities. The

guy with the rose-tinted glasses, he sees potential. The guy who sees things in black

and white, he thinks: "I'm out of a job, I'm in trouble." He doesn't imagine beyond that. Okay?

So these are some very useful expressions, used every day, good idioms. You can practice

using these at www.engvid.com. There's a quiz there. And, of course, ask questions. See you again.