Learn 30+ Everyday English Expressions from War

Loads of rich content in today's lesson inspired by battles and wars.

Our first phrase contains both of those words, "battle" and "war".

Which of those is longer, a battle or a war?

It's this one, "war".

You're right, of course.

Second World War, 1939 to 1945, but in that war there were lots of battles, okay?

So, we have this phrase, "to lose the battle, but win the war", yeah?

You might have something that's a short setback, but in the long run you're going to prevail,

you're going to overcome the situation, okay?

So, if you lose the battle and win the war, you have one thing that goes wrong, but in

the end you win.

Half the battle.

Half of the...

Here we mean "battle" to mean, like, "challenge".

So, I am in Canada right now, and I flew here last night, so half the battle this evening

is not falling asleep.

Of course I'm not going to fall asleep.

Half the battle is staying awake.

Next phrase, "fighting a losing battle".

So, you know when things aren't going very well.

It's like if I'm doing an explanation, I'm like, "Oh dear, they don't understand what

I'm talking about.

I'm like fighting a losing battle, and they're not going to understand, but I'm just going

to carry on talking anyway."

So, if you're fighting a losing battle, you're aware that it's not going very well.

To have a running battle.

So, "running" means ongoing, continuing battle.

I'm having a running battle with a colleague at work.

I'm having a running battle with some software on my computer, yeah?

Keeping this problem, this fight going.

To fight an uphill battle.

Uphill, yep.

It takes more work to go uphill than downhill.

So, if you're fighting an uphill battle, you're in this challenging situation, and you've

got to keep going, and you've got to keep working hard.

It's an, you know, it's hard work, an uphill battle.

Someone just wants to run down the hill.

Okay, a few phrases to do with strategy.

How things are done.

"Flash", a flash in the pan, yeah?

Pan.

Yeah, I'm cooking up, I've got some steaks, yeah?

They're in really hot oil.

They catch a fire.

A flash in the pan.

It happens very quickly.

So, a flash in the pan is a very quick action.

It's not some sort of long, thought out plan.

It's just a quick sort of idea, and maybe it works, and maybe it doesn't.

It doesn't last long.

Hang fire, yep.

I'm at the top of my castle.

I've got a burn arrow, and the arrow has maybe got some fire on it, but my commander says,

"Hang fire!"

Yep, we stop.

We don't shoot.

Hang fire means kind of, you know, put them up, stop, don't shoot.

Hang fire, stop, wait.

To catch someone off guard.

So, a guard, a patroller, someone who protects something, if they are off guard, then they

are not prepared.

They are not ready for whatever is happening.

You surprise them.

To catch someone, you find them in that moment that they are not ready for what you're about

to do.

Attitude, over the top.

So, this comes from World War I, where the soldiers came from the deep trenches and went

over the top, so it was a very dangerous thing to do.

They put themselves in a position where they, well, they were told to do it, but they could

be shot down, but if something is over the top, nowadays we mean that it is a little

bit kind of extravagant, a little unnecessary.

Okay, next one, up in arms.

Up in arms, arms here meaning weapons, weapons.

Up in arms, so maybe, I'm thinking about, like, the English Parliament, Boris Johnson

has just said something controversial and everyone is, "Up in arms, how can you say

that?

That's a ridiculous thing to do."

Yep, they don't have machetes and grenades that they're about to go, but, you know, it's

a metaphor, it's a way of speaking to show that they are very, very angry.

An axe to grind.

You talk about having an axe to grind, grind, like my teeth, it's not very nice, grinding

teeth.

If you have an axe to grind, yep, that thing that you chop your wood with, well, that's

a lot worse than grinding with your teeth, so if you've got an axe to grind, it means

that you are, you feel very strongly about a particular thing, you're very cross about

something in particular.

I've got an axe to grind about that, I don't like that, an axe to grind, I'm ready to kick

up a fuss, I'm ready to take issue with that.

Okay, soldiers.

To rise, yep, to go up through the ranks.

So this is to do with the hierarchy of the army, this is like the most important major

general up here, and here is our foot soldier, and they go through officer, I don't know

the ranks very well, officer, commander, yep, so they're going more important, more important,

more important, yep, to rise through the ranks.

Now we can use this to talk about any organization.

I've made a video about all the different roles in film production, so you could go

from runner all the way up to executive producer if you ride through the ranks.

The rank and file.

So think about all the different soldiers, lining up, ready for battle, thinking about

like great war films, like Braveheart or something.

The rank and file, there they are, they're all lined up, they're in files.

The rank and file just means like the ordinary, the ordinary soldier, but we don't have to

use it in a military context.

The rank and file of an organization are the normal people who make it into a big organization.

Guns, I won't start telling you stories, that's also another video.

Guns, if I have you at gunpoint, yep, it means the gun's right up at your head, it's a very

dangerous place to be.

So if I've got you at gunpoint, yep, you have no choice, I'm forcing you to do something,

to have someone at gunpoint.

To bite the bullet.

The bullet we put into the gun, bullet.

If you bite the bullet, it means you accept having to do something to get on with it.

All right then, I'll bite the bullet.

If maybe my wife is asking me to eat some foul sort of bone marrow broth, I'm like right,

okay, I'll bite the bullet and eat this thing.

To dodge the bullet.

To dodge, meaning to avoid, thinking of dodge ball.

If you dodge the bullet, then you get out of the way of the bullet, but we're not thinking

of an actual bullet, maybe we're thinking about a question.

If you dodge the bullet, then like a politician, you're not actually answering any of the questions

that people ask.

Dodge the bullet.

To stick to your guns.

This is my gun, no one's taking this gun away from me, this is my gun.

Okay, if you stick to your guns, then you're sticking to your intentions, to your ideas.

Yeah, I'm going to stick to my guns and I am going to become an acrobat.

That's stupid, why would you become an acrobat?

I like being an acrobat, I'm going to stick to my guns.

Shoot from the hip.

Yeah, I've got my gun here, I've got someone coming along here, they're trying to kill

me.

Yeah, I don't get it out and slowly go, I just go, it's like cowboy style.

So if you shoot from the hip, you are reacting instinctively and you're acting quickly, yeah?

Shoot from the hip, tell me what you think right now, what do you think?

By the way, if you do think good things about this content, you like my videos, press subscribe

and watch some more, yeah?

All right.

To stare down the barrel of a gun.

Yeah, so we're thinking about a long shotgun, yeah?

And someone is holding that gun and we're looking down the two pipes.

They're holding it, they've got the trigger.

Not a very nice view for us, is it?

It's not looking great.

If you're staring down the barrel of a gun, then something really bad is about to happen.

You're like, you accept it, like, okay, fine, yeah, I know it's not looking very good.

In your sight.

Now the gun has changed places and we are looking through the, what's it called, telescope,

you know, the round bit, the sighter.

So if you have something in your sight, then you can see it and, you know, it's possible,

maybe you're thinking about a move to a different city, maybe you're going to go somewhere.

You've got it in your sight.

Maybe you've got a new job that you're lining up.

You've got it in your sight.

You can see it, it's possible.

A long shot.

All guns have a range, yeah?

If something is a long shot, then maybe what you are firing at is at the very edge of that

range and you're not quite sure if the bullet will reach the destination.

So if something is a long shot, then, you know, it might work, it might not.

Bit of a long shot.

Okay, I've got some more stuff, got to do some scrubbing and a bit more writing.

Look, there we are, there we are.

So much rich vocab for you guys to be using after this lesson.

Right, phrases to do with war, a turf war.

Turf is another word for grass.

Now, if we've got a turf war, we've got these guys over here saying, "Hey, that's ours",

and these guys over here saying, "Hey, no, that's ours".

So a turf war is like a battle over a local area, okay, a very localized kind of fight.

This is not like England v. France, this is like Ghetto A v. Ghetto B. It's often used

in the press, talking about, like, local fights, bit of a turf war.

A war to end all wars.

Now, this is not a phrase that is used in, you know, describing situations.

I put it in here because it's a great quote about what the intentions were for the Second

World War.

It was going to be a war to end all wars.

Fortunately, it didn't prove out that way.

Next phrase, "All's fair in love and war", short for "All is".

Everything is fair in love and war, which means that you can do anything you like in

the arenas of love and war.

Do you agree with that?

I don't know.

But it's a nice quote to be able to pick out in a conversation.

This next one we often use with children if they have been in the wars, past perfect tense.

Maybe your child comes in and they've got a little graze on their knee, and you say,

"Oh, dear, you've been in the wars, haven't you?"

It doesn't mean they've been in the Battle of Trafalgar, the Battle of Waterloo, the

American Civil War.

No.

"Wars" here means, "Oh, dear, you've had a bit of a difficult time.

You've been a casualty.

You've got injured."

Okay?

You've got hurt.

We declare war on, this is like a, you know, something you would say current affairs.

Slovenia has declared war on Slovakia, yeah?

It's factual rather than a way of describing something.

A tug of war, this is a game, yeah?

We've got a long piece of rope, again, might be a children's party, and these guys are

going to try and pull the rope this way, and these guys are going to pull the rope this

way.

And often you have, like, a little colored piece of material on the rope, and you're

trying to get it over a certain line.

So tug of war is a game, but you could use it to describe a bit of a sort of fight between

two different opinions.

It's been a bit of a tug of war between choosing to go to this Halloween party or that Halloween

party.

Describing someone as an old war horse.

I don't know if you know the book or the film or the play War Horse, but Joey the horse

goes out to France and he experiences so much, and he's asked to pull all these, like, cannons

and guns across these muddy fields.

So it's someone who has been through many battles, they're kind of old and a little

bit sort of tired, but they've got that fighting spirit.

Describing someone as an old war horse, like, they're keeping going, they've been through

a lot.

If you are on the war path, then we need to stay clear of you.

It means you are intending to do some harm.

You're angry, you're upset, and you are going to make someone pay for this.

Yep.

If you're on the war path, we need to be out of your way.

Let's do with knives and swords, something... if something is a double-edged sword, yep,

here's my imaginary sword.

Oh, look at me, Knight Benjamin of the realm of Ingvid.

So I've got this side of the sword, which is a really good thing, and I've got this

side of the sword, which is a really bad thing.

So a double-edged sword, meaning there are good things and there are bad things about

it.

The knives are out.

You've got...

I keep on thinking of British Parliament, and all the parliamentarians have got their

knives out.

Yeah?

They're not happy.

They're going to kill.

Of course, they don't have their knives out, but it means they're upset.

To twist the knife.

Yep.

If I stick my dagger into you, ow, yep, hurt, pain, and then I twist it, yep, I turn it,

then that's really going to finish you off, and it's going to be, like, goodbye.

So if I twist the knife, then I'm cementing it, I'm really adding insult to injury, I'm

adding to the pain, and I'm kind of forcing you to do whatever I want you to do.

"Miss", do you know what that's short for?

It's short for "miscellaneous".

Pen grab, whoosh, miscellaneous, and I can't spell.

What this means, it means, like, a kind of collection of other bits and bobs.

To drop a bombshell, whoosh, boom, we're not talking about a real bomb, we're talking about

an idea, a comment that upsets people.

I dropped a bit of a bombshell, yep, I told them that I thought the pasta dish was disgusting.

And that I'd rather eat a smoked, jellied toenail or something, no, just, it means some

really kind of contentious comment.

A loose cannon, so we've got this great, big, sort of 150-foot wooden ship, and the cannons

are all firing out at that other ship there, but this cannon turns around and starts sort

of shooting there, and it starts, like, making holes in the boat, because it's loose, it

means it's not connected, it's all over the place.

If we describe someone as a loose cannon, then they are unpredictable, and they need

to be watched to make sure they don't do anything too silly.

More than one string to their bow, so this comes from sort of medieval times where you

had the archers on top of the castle, yep, they've got their bow and arrows, but if my

bow only has one string and then it breaks, then I'm not of much use, but if my bow has

two strings, yep, then I can keep going, and that is a metaphor for having different skills

that you can do, so maybe I am a writer, yep, one string, but oh no, I'm not making any

money from my writing, luckily my second string is that I can work in a bar, I'm a mixologist,

yep, and that string is keeping me alive.

To run the gauntlet, so here I am, I'm going that direction, but on either side of me I've

got these nasty soldiers and they've got clubs, and I'm going to walk along here and they're

going to beat me, ow, ow, ow.

If you run the gauntlet, it means that you are facing criticism, yep, so you want to

go over there, you've got this idea, but you know that all these different people are going

to criticize you for this idea, so running the gauntlet means running down the line of

soldiers who are going to beat you half dead.

To take the flak, so flak here, this is an informal phrase, flak means like stray bullets,

if you take the flak then you absorb the bullets, it means like you kind of take the blame,

yep, if you take the flak for it, you're like yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, fine, it's all right,

I can take it, bullets, yeah, yeah, couple more there, it's fine, I can deal with this.

Can you deal with today's monster quiz, yep, because there have been so many words and

phrases haven't there, yep, perhaps you need to watch this video again, perhaps you need

to send it to a friend who you think will enjoy it, if you do want a little bit of help

from me, then honey, ourenglish.com, we need to improve it, or honeyourenglish.com, once

you've done the quiz, I'll see you in the next video, take care.