BOX SET: English vocabulary mega-class! Learn 10 English 'food and drink' expressions in 25 minutes!

Hello, and welcome to The English We Speak.

With me Feifei.

And don't you know who I am?!

I am Rob.

Yes, we all know that, Rob.

But I am THE Rob, Rob of

The English We Speak.

There is nobody else like me.

Yeah, yeah, yeah - don't milk it!

Eh? Come on, show me

some respect. Ouch, I seem to have

pulled a muscle. Oooh, that hurts.

Come on, Rob. You hardly moved.

Ouch, it's in my lower back. It's so

painful, I don't know if I can carry on.

You are milking it again!

Feifei, what am I 'milking' exactly?

Everything! 'To milk it' means to

take full advantage of a situation usually

to gain sympathy, respect or kindness.

Sometimes, like Rob, you fake something

to get attention.

That's when we say 'You're milking it'.

Are you talking about me?

Of course I am, Rob.

Let's hear some examples of

other people 'milking it'.

OK, don't milk it, Sam! You've told me

a hundred times you've got tickets

for the World Cup final.

Tom's had a week off work with a cold.

I think he's milking it now.

Since her promotion, Freya keeps

bossing us around and telling us

to call her 'Miss Brown'.

She's really milking it!

You're listening to The English

We Speak from BBC Learning English,

and we're talking about the phrase

'to milk it'. This means to take

full advantage of a situation

usually to gain sympathy, respect

or kindness. So Rob, have you got

what 'milking it' means?

I do, and I seemed to have recovered

from pulled muscle but I've become so...

thirsty, I was wondering...

...if I could get you a drink of milk?

No, Feifei. I was thinking of

a cup of coffee. You are so very kind

and generous.

You are milking it again, Rob.

Actually, I've got just the thing for you.

Hold on...

Meet Daisy!

Moo. Moo.

A cow!! How do I milk that?

I'd start down there somewhere.

Good luck.

Bye.

Moo. moo.

Hello, this is The English

We Speak. I'm Feifei.

And hello, I'm Rob.

Why have you brought a bowl of

fruit into the studio?

I'm not feeling great and

you know fruit is packed with

vitamin C, so I thought eating

some would do me good.

Hmm, I see. Well, I'm sorry

you're not feeling great, but we have got

a programme to do and

an English phrase to teach.

If you don't mind, I might just read

a few lines from the script today to save

my voice. Perhaps I could just

read the funny lines?

No Rob! You can't just

cherry-pick what you want to say.

Cherry-pick? No Feifei, there aren't

any cherries in my fruit bowl so

I won't be picking any.

I wasn't referring to your fruit.

When you cherry-pick something,

it means you choose only what's best or

most desirable out of a group of

things or a group of people.

But Rob, you're not going to do that, are you?

Errr... shall we hear some examples

of other cherry pickers?

Josh says he cherry-picked the players for

his football team based on

their skills but

I know it's because they were his friends!

We need to cherry-pick the best food

for our new restaurant. We really

want to impress our customers.

It seems unfair that our school

has cherry-picked the best students

to attend the conference.

We should all have a chance to go.

You're listening to The English

We Speak from BBC Learning English

and we're talking about the phrase 'to

cherry-pick', which means to choose

the best or most desirable things from

a group. And Rob wants to cherry-pick

only the best lines to read from

this script. It's a bit unfair, Rob...

I was just trying to save

my voice but I will do my best.

Would you like a piece of fruit

from the bowl, Feifei?

Oh, OK then. Err, that banana

is a bit mouldy.

That orange is a bit yellow.

I'll have this apple please.

Hmm, looks like you're cherry-picking the

best piece of fruit. Right, well,

now that you've got my delicious apple,

do you mind

if I go now, I'm really not feeling great.

Oh go on, Rob. But next time

I'm going to cherry-pick who I present

with - someone who wants a bite of the

cherry to work with me.

'A bite of the cherry' means a chance

or opportunity. I need someone

with a bit more... stamina.

See ya.

Bye.

Hello and welcome to The English

We Speak. I'm Feifei.

And I'm Rob. Feifei, feeling hungry?

Rob, they smell amazing!

Almost there. We're having a special

treat today... waffles!

Rob is making waffles: those lovely,

crispy little cakes with raised squares on

the surface.

Absolutely! My favourite. But what

are we going to put on them?

Oh that's simple: strawberries and

syrup. What about you?

OK, I'm not so sure. I mean, I used to

always love them with honey

and bananas. But they do taste

amazing with melted chocolate. Or with

cream. You know, I recently tried one with

peanut butter - not a good experience.

I guess strawberries would be

worth trying. Or mango.

But only if the mangoes are fresh.

Rob?

Yes?

Can you stop waffling on?

Ah, very clever. Perfect time to use

that phrase! I do need to stop waffling on,

don't I?

Yes, please. To 'waffle on' means

to talk and talk without saying anything

very useful or interesting.

I am sometimes guilty of that.

Let's hear a few more examples.

I think I did really badly in the interview.

I wasn't sure how to answer the

questions, so I just waffled on.

Meetings with Frank are frustrating.

He always waffles on about unimportant

things. Someone needs to have

a word with him.

I used to find her blog really interesting

and inspiring but these days

she just waffles on about her pet tortoise.

There we are. To waffle on.

At least we don't waffle on in this programme,

do we Rob?

Well, I must admit that sometimes

people have said I do talk rather a lot,

especially when it's about travel or

languages... which reminds me I really

should book my next holiday...

I've been considering Croatia, though I...

Rob?

Ah. Am I waffling on?

I'm afraid so.

Ooh, it's waffle time!

Great. Hopefully these tasty

waffles will keep you quiet for a while.

Are you saying the waffles will

stop me waffling on?

Yup! Now, enough talk.

Oh, these waffles are delicious.

Not bad, eh?!

Bye.

Bye.

Hello and welcome to The English We Speak.

I'm Feifei.

And I’m Neil.

Errr, Neil why are you still here?

I thought you were driving to Manchester.

and Rob was going to present the programme.

Feifei, have you looked

outside the window?

Errr, no. Should I?

It's a pea-souper out there!

You want me to look out of the window

at PEA SOUP?

Is there a big bowl of it or something?

No, there's no soup, it's an informal

way of describing thick fog.

It's so thick you can hardly see through it.

And that's why I can't drive to Manchester.

That is a shame.

But why a pea-souper?

I guess because, like pea soup, it's

thick and a dark cloudy colour.

Hmm, well I'd rather eat pea soup

than be in it! I think we had better hear

some examples of this strange phrase.

It looks like our flight is

delayed until this pea-souper clears.

It's a real pea-souper today. When I was

driving here I couldn't even see the car

in front of me.

There's no way I'm cycling in this pea-souper.

It's far too dangerous.

This is The English We Speak from

BBC Learning English. And I'm with Neil, who

can't travel because of a pea-souper – that's

a very thick fog, that's hard to see through.

Sometimes you can refer to it as 'smog',

if it's fog mixed with air pollution.

Yes, that's horrible stuff to be in.

Well Neil, if you can't go to Manchester,

what are we going to do?

Well, let's have lunch together.

Yes, but what are we going to eat?

Pea soup of course!

It's that kind of day.

Oh look, the fog is clearing.

Maybe you can drive after all!

Hmm, I'll get my coat. Bye.

See ya.

Hello and welcome to

The English We Speak with me, Feifei.

Hehe, oh, and me, Rob.

Rob, could we have

your attention please?

Sorry, I'm just snacking.

You know you can't

eat in the studio.

I'm not eating anything - I'm

snacking on some funny cat videos.

Sorry, they're really short.

I won't be long.

What, Feifei? Why the angry face?

Because we are here to talk

about an authentic English phrase.

OK, OK, well here is one

for you: snackable.

It describes short online articles, videos

and other content that are quick

and easy to read or watch.

Just like these cat videos.

And you are demonstrating it very

well, Rob! I guess it's like eating a snack

- quick and easy?

Yes, very snackable.

Just like these examples.

Because my free time is short, it's good to

find some snackable videos

I can watch on

my smartphone while I wait for the bus.

The short city guides I found on the

internet are very snackable and

great for planning

my trip around Africa.

These days videos are often less than

a minute long so that they're

snackable and appeal

to a younger audience.

You're listening to The English

We Speak from BBC Learning English,

and we're talking about

the word 'snackable', which is a term

used to describe short online content

that is easy and quick to watch or read.

And the great thing about

snackable content, Feifei, is

you can do it whilst doing

other things, like presenting

this programme.

You mean you can multitask.

That means do more than

one thing at a time. Well I can do that too!

Now where's my smartphone?

Err, Feifei, what are you doing?

Reading a short but interesting

article about working

with annoying presenters.

You're not snacking on that, you're

feasting on it! Now come on

and help me finish the programme.

OK. Thanks for joining us, and we hope

you found this programme snackable.

Bye. Now do you want to see these

kittens doing really funny tricks?

Hello and welcome to The English We Speak.

I'm Feifei.

And hello, I'm Rob.

(Sniff sniff) Rob, what's the smell?

Are you cooking something?

Yes. It's my favourite - roast beef. Yummy!

Roast beef?! This isn't really

the time to be cooking.

Well, you said let's do 'roast' today so

I thought I'd make a start.

Just got to do the roast potatoes now.

Rob, stop! I meant let's do the word 'roast'.

Oh right. Well, this is a good

example of roasting.

No, Rob. It's not the meaning I had in mind.

'Roasting' is not just about

cooking food in an oven.

We can 'roast' people by

criticising them harshly.

So, Rob, you were very foolish

to start cooking something while

we're presenting a programme!

Oh, am I being 'roasted' now?

You sure are, but you're not alone.

Here are some examples...

We had to roast the teacher

after she was seen shopping

when she was supposed to

be off work with flu!

After my PowerPoint presentation froze

during an important meeting,

my boss gave me a roasting.

She was roasted by her friends after

she posted pictures of herself

on social media showing

off her 'amazing' suntan.

This is The English We Speak from

BBC Learning English and we're

talking about the word 'roast',

which means 'to criticise severely'.

I'm sure you're used to

being roasted, Rob?

Well, if you mean I am hot and smell

delicious, then I am very roasted!

Excuse me?

Feifei, another meaning of 'roast' is to

tease someone in a light-hearted

way or give a funny

comeback when someone

tries to humiliate you.

Oh, ha ha! But hold on, Rob,

I can smell something else...

Oh no, I left the oven on and now

the food is burning. Help!

Rob, you are really stupid

and you can't cook either.

That's me roasted! Bye.

Bye.

Hello and welcome to The English We Speak.

I'm Feifei.

And I’m hungry. I mean Neil.

Feifei, why did you book this studio

recording session at midday?

I'm starving!

Do you fancy going for lunch?

I've heard that new chicken restaurant

just down the road is excellent!

Not sure about that.

Oh, have you been there before?

Yes, and it left a bad taste in my mouth.

Oh really? So the food's bad? Everyone says it's great!

Well, the food was great...

Eh? The food was great but it left a

bad taste in your mouth?

I don't understand!

Let me explain.

If something leaves a bad taste in your mouth,

it means you've had a bad experience

and the memory is unpleasant.

Oh I see. So, what went wrong?

The bill was twice as much as it should have been!

Ah, I get it now!

We use the expression ‘it leaves a bad

taste in your mouth’ when we have a

negative experience and feel bad or

angry about it afterwards.

Like being ripped off in a restaurant!

Come on, Neil. Let's hear some examples.

Then we can go for lunch somewhere

that doesn't rip me off!

I refuse to go back to that hotel. They were so rude!

It left a bad taste in my mouth.

When my boss sent me that angry

email last thing on Friday,

it left a bad taste in my mouth.

It left a bad taste in my mouth when

I got fined for going just one

mile an hour over the speed limit!

This is The English We Speak

from BBC Learning English.

And I'm with Neil, who was wondering why

I've got a bad taste in my mouth

when it's got nothing to do with food.

We use the expression ‘it leaves a bad

taste in your mouth' when we have a negative

experience and feel bad or angry

about it afterwards.

So, is it time for lunch?

Yes, Neil! I really want you to come

and try that new tofu place.

The food is just delicious and the service is excellent!

So, will it leave a good taste in my mouth?

It sure will! Bye.

Bye.

Hello and welcome to The English We Speak

with me, Feifei.

And me, Roy.

We may sound a little different.

That's because we are not able to record in

our normal studios during the coronavirus outbreak.

In this programme, we have a word

that is used to say when someone

is upset over something minor or trivial.

Speaking of which, you got

really upset when

the vending machine didn't have any of

those sweets you like this morning!

I really like 'unicorn truffles'.

You have no idea how good they are.

It ruined my day!

Everyone likes 'unicorn truffles' but

there's no need to get overly upset about it

They're just sweets!

You were so salty this morning!

What do you mean salty? You mean I was

sweaty? I sweat when I get stressed.

No, Roy. 'Salty' means you got upset over nothing.

They're just sweets. If you're that

desperate for them, you should go to the

supermarket before work like I did.

Wait, you've got some 'unicorn truffles'!?

Can I have one, please?

You can have one, and only one.

Anyway, let's listen to these examples.

She was so salty when she lost the board game.

It's really not that important.

He was so salty yesterday when nobody

wanted to go to lunch with him.

I'm sorry, it was a bad joke but there's

no need to get salty about it!

This is The English We Speak from

BBC Learning English and we're

talking about the word 'salty'.

And now Roy, you're salty because

I won't give you more sweets!

Feifei, you have a bag full of 'unicorn

truffles'! You could open

a sweet shop you have that many.

So, I'm not being salty.

I don't think it's unreasonable

to be upset that you won't

give me one more sweet!

Fine, but only because I'm a nice person!

Talking about being salty,

did you see Rob this morning?

Yes! Why was he so angry?!

I saw him hitting the keyboard!

He was so angry with you, Feifei.

Haha that's because I unplugged

his computer! He couldn't turn it on!

So, when I told him

that I'd done it as a joke,

he got really salty.

Haha, you're the best, Feifei!

You love playing practical jokes on people.

Well, I need to get back to my desk.

Wait?! I can't move!

I'm stuck to the chair!

Yes! I know. I put lots of superglue on

your chair before you sat down!

Don't get salty about it!

Here have a couple of 'unicorn

truffles' to cheer you up!

Thanks Feifei, but I really need to go back to work.

Can you get me off this chair, please?

Bye, Roy.

Bye.

Hello and welcome to The English We Speak.

I'm Feifei.

And I'm Neil.

Hey Neil, would you like to try

one of my homemade cookies?

Well, we shouldn't really eat while

we're presenting but... go on then.

I made them last night and I

thought I'd try them out on you!

You've got a sweet tooth so

I know you can't resist!

OK then. Mmmm.

Well, what do you think?

Well, they're... OK. Perhaps not the

best I've ever had.

Oh, so you think my cooking isn't great?

Let's say it's something to chew on.

Right! So you're saying my

homemade cookies are chewy?

No, I'm not. In fact they're... crunchy.

But when someone says they need to

chew on something, it's an informal way

to say they need to think about it

before making a decision.

Well, Neil, I will chew on response

to your insult about my cooking while we

hear some examples.

Our extension plans are great but we

need to chew on it before we give them

the go-ahead.

Hmm, it's very expensive to fly to

Australia for a holiday.

Let's chew on it shall we?

My boyfriend asked me to marry him and

I said I'd chew on it.

He didn't seem that pleased!

This is The English We Speak and

Neil has been using the expression

'to chew on something' or

'something to chew on' which

means to think about something before

making a decision. And Neil, I've made

a decision about what to say to you!

Oh yes?

If you don't like my cooking,

I will not be inviting you to

my dinner party tonight.

Oh Feifei! Ah well, at least

I'll avoid your cooking.

I'm not cooking. We're getting

a takeaway curry and lots of wine.

I suppose you could

come... if you pay for the take away?

Hmm, that is something I don't need

to chew on. The answer's 'no'.

I'll stay at home and bake my own cookies!

See ya.

Bye.

Hello and welcome to The English We Speak.

I'm Feifei.

And I'm Rob.

Hey Rob, thanks for this ice cream.

I love ice cream but why are

we eating it now?

As a treat, Feifei! This is my homemade ice cream.

Yum. It tastes good.

Tastes good, you say? Just good?

Well, it's not bad.

Not bad?! Honestly Feifei, there is no pleasing

you sometimes. Is there something missing?

Rob, it's awesomesauce!

You want sauce on it?

Why didn't you say?

What do you want? Strawberry?

Chocolate? Caramel?

No, I was actually being nice.

Awesomesauce is an informal way

to describe something that is

extremely good or amazing.

It was a compliment, Rob!

Listen to these other examples

of 'awesomesauce'.

My wife is awesomesauce.

She's just served me breakfast

in bed as it's my birthday!

This peanut butter and banana

milkshake is awesomesauce.

Can I have some more, please?

Hey! I got top grades in all my exams.

Awesomesauce!

You're listening to The English We Speak

from BBC Learning English

and we're looking at the word

awesomesauce, which is an informal

way of describing that something is

extremely good, amazing or incredible.

And your homemade ice cream

is amazing, Rob!

Oh, thanks very much.

I don't know what to say.

You can also say 'awesomesauce'.

The word can also be used to say

you're very very pleased with something.

OK then. Awesomesauce! If it's that

good, I must try some too with

strawberry sauce on.

You must, Rob, it tastes great!

Oh no, not awesomesauce.

What's wrong?

I didn't put it back in the freezer.

It's melted!

You had better go and make

some more. Bye.

Bye bye!

Hello and welcome to The English We Speak.

I'm Feifei.

And hello, I'm Rob. Erm, Feifei, why

were you in the cafe with the boss earlier?

Was I?

Come on. I saw you having lunch

with the boss. Nobody ever

has lunch with him.

OK, I admit it. I was having lunch

with the boss. What's wrong with that?

Well, we all know there is

a promotion in the department on offer

and you are obviously trying

to curry favour with the boss so that

you get the job. Honestly!

Hold on. I can assure you I was

NOT having curry with the boss.

It was just a sandwich.

Feifei, if you 'curry favour with

someone' you are not eating curry.

It means you are 'trying to get someone -

the boss - to like you or even give you

something'.

Something like a promotion.

I was not! But I like the expression.

OK. Well, let's hear some examples

of people currying favour with someone else.

I know what you're up to! You're trying to

curry favour with the manager by telling

her what a great job she's doing!

The company tried to curry favour with its

employees by giving them all a pay rise.

He's trying to get free tickets to the gig

by currying favour with the tour manager.

It won't work!

This is The English We Speak from

BBC Learning English and we're talking

about the phrase 'to curry favour (with

someone)' which means to try and get

someone to like

you or give you something.

Another way of saying it is you are

'trying to keep in with' someone.

It's all a bit false, Rob, trying

to make someone like you which is why I

was NOT trying to curry favour

with the boss.

You won't get the promotion anyway.

We were actually talking about you!

Oh yes?

He wanted my advice on whether

he should give the promotion to you.

To me! Well, come on then,

what did he say?

You'll need to curry favour with me,

if you want to know that!

How about dinner? I know a nice

little curry house just around the corner.

Bye.

Bye bye.

Hi everyone, we hope you enjoyed that video.

And thank you very much for watching.

We have so many more just like it so

if you don't want to miss a single one

make sure to subscribe and

we will see you regularly.

Hope to see you soon. Bye guys!