Learn 15 Common WALK Expressions in English

Hi. I just walked on. Today we are looking at idioms to do with walking. Now, walking

has always been a strong part of our history, our way of life. Every day, everyone pretty

much walks somewhere. Okay? That's a generalization, but on the whole, we're on our two feet and

we have to walk from here to there, so it's only natural that walking should be incorporated

into our language and we express ourselves sometimes by comparing it to some form of

walking. So, as I said, this is a lesson about walking idioms. It could be a useful lesson

to you if you're looking to expand your vocabulary, improve your understanding when you're listening

to native English speakers, or if you're just - to develop your richness in your English

language. Okay? Let's get cracking.

The first one is "Don't try to run before you can walk", which sounds like common sense

advice. Yeah? Don't try to run. So, don't try to do anything overly complicated until

you've got the basics down pat, until you can do A, don't try and do B. So, we might

say that if someone is coming up with some ridiculous idea and they haven't really thought

it through, yeah, don't try to run before you can walk.

"Walk the line". This was made famous by one of my favourite singer-songwriters, Johnny

Cash, by "Walk the Line". There's a fantastic film that's been made about him, a biopic,

her and June Carter. I actually sang a Johnny Cash song at my wedding, a duet with my wife

- it wasn't "Walk the Line". So, "walk the line", what this means is doing what is expected.

If you walk the line, it's a thin line, yeah? Walking on the line. You've got to - you've

got to keep your - you've got to stay on the straight and narrow, we might say. So, what

is the straight and narrow? Well, it's not sort of falling down into bouts of depression

or alcoholism, it's, you know, paying the bills, it's doing the things that you need

to do to get by.

"A walk in the park". Sounds rather relaxing. A nice, gentle walk around the town gardens.

I wonder if you're going to see the bandstand. I live in a town in the southwest of the UK

and it has a very pretty town park with a bandstand. And in one corner, there are some

budgerigars in a cage that children enjoy looking at. So, a walk in the park is leisurely,

yeah? It's a relaxing activity. So, "A walk in the park" is something easy. We could talk

about it in reference to sports. So, Chelsea destroyed Arsenal. It was a walk in the park,

yeah? They didn't even need to break into a sweat. I have made a football video in case

you are interested in English football.

To "walk out on". Perhaps you're an Arsenal fan and you didn't like what I just said.

Maybe you're going to walk out on me, which means that in a burst of anger, you just get

up and disappear. "Walk out on", yeah? That's what that means.

To give someone their walking papers or their marching orders. Now, I probably hear this

variation of the phrase more often. To give someone their marching orders means to dismiss

them, to sack them. Orders, commands, instructions. If you have given instructions to march like

a soldier, then you have to leave and go somewhere else. Okay? One's marching orders, not something

you want to receive.

There is some popular advice, or actually old advice, that it's best not to judge someone

until you have walked a mile in their shoes. To walk a mile in their shoes. Putting their

shoes on walking. Ah, it's about sort of understanding what life is like for them. So, not judging

someone until you really... Well, not judging people at all, but trying to understand where

people, you know, what their stresses and concerns are, and maybe why things are as

they are. To walk a mile in their shoes.

To walk away with. Walk away with. So, you've got something. Maybe it's you've gained something.

At the end of a situation, an event, if you walk away with 500 pounds, 1,000 euros, then

you've got that money from the event, and now you're going off to something else. To

walk away with means to depart with something you have acquired from that event.

To walk up to. I saw a celebrity in the town square, so I walked up to them and asked them

to sign an autograph. To walk up to means to approach. To walk on eggshells. Surely

they're going to break. So, if you're standing on eggshells and you don't want them to break,

then you have to be very, very careful and look where you're going. So, the idea is that

you're being very, very sort of tentative.

Now, applied to a conversation, if you are walking on eggshells, then imagine that the

eggshells are topics, things that you could discuss. You're not quite sure if you can

talk about that. You're not quite sure if you can talk about that. So, to walk on eggshells

means to be very mindful and cautious in a conversation with someone else.

You're walking on thin ice. Whoa, sounds dangerous. What happens if the ice breaks? This phrase

means that you are in trouble. You're on thin ice. It means if you do anything wrong, you're

going to be in a lot of trouble. So, this is because you have done something a bit bad.

Yeah? It's like you've been given a yellow card in a football or rugby match. Yep. So,

you're on a warning. You're on thin ice. I've got my eyes on you.

To walk a tightrope. So, we've got a piece of rope stretching out, and the Grand Canyon

is way beneath us, and you are walking across this rope. So, you're balancing from one side

to the next so that you don't fall off. So, to walk a tightrope means that you have to

- again, you have to be very, very careful, but you're kind of torn between two opposing

forces. Okay? To be really, really careful that you don't upset one or the other.

To walk all over someone. If you walk all over them, then you are dominating them. Yeah?

Think about what it looks like to walk over someone. Yeah? They're on the floor, and you're

all kind of just - you don't care about them. Yeah? You are just dominating the situation

entirely. So, you could say - again, related to sport - "Exeter Chiefs walked all over

Leicester, their opposition." So, that's my rugby team, Exeter Chiefs. They walked all

over them. They destroyed them.

To walk the talk. So, this is about doing what you say you're going to do. So, not just

saying, "Hey, everybody, we should all be nice to the environment." Yeah? Well, how

are you going to walk the talk? How often are you going to travel in aeroplanes? How

often are you going to buy water bottles? I'm guilty of both recently. "To walk the

talk" means to put into action what you're telling other people to do.

Take a long walk off a short plank. It's quite an amusing insult, this, from the time of

pirates. Yeah? So, we've got a ship. A plank is like a piece of wood. We've got a short

plank, and you're telling the person to go for a long walk. So, you're telling them to

fall into the sea. They're not going to be able to get back onto the boat. There may

be sharks down there. Do you care? No. But it's kind of said in jest, this. It's said

as a kind of a joke, like you wouldn't say it to someone you're having a really serious

argument with. It's kind of an offhand remark. "Take a long walk off a short plank." It's,

you know, it's just an amusing insult, really.

In contrast, we have this "to walk down the aisle" together. So, the aisle is in a church.

It's the sort of corridor down the middle, and if you walk down the aisle, then you are

going to get married. Okay, so, which one means to go and do something nice and easy?

Walk in the park. Which one is advice to try and do the basics before trying to do something

difficult? It's this one, here. Don't try to run before you can walk. And let's choose

one more. Which one means to totally dominate or destroy an opposition or other person?

This one. Okay. So, we've got 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15. Ten

of those are going to be tested in the quiz right now. The five that aren't, I suggest

that you go back and make sure that you have understood them. Really good idea to have,

like, a little notepad where you're writing down new aspects of your English that you

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