12 expressions with COLOURS in English

Hello. Welcome back to www.engvid.com. Today, we're going to be dealing with: "Idioms of Colour".

Okay? There are really beautiful ways of describing things in the English language,

and they will add a degree of richness and variety to your spoken and written English.

I'm going to be telling a story today about my friend, Bob, and what happened to him,

and you're going to be learning 12 idioms using colour, or 10-12 colour idioms. First

thing I wanted to point out was here in the UK, we spell "colour" with a "u". We like

our u's in UK style English, original English. But in the America... Well, in the USA, they

tend to forget about our worthy u's. So, you know, make your own mind up.

My friend, Bob, he got beaten up until he was "black and blue". Okay? He got beaten

up. Okay? So, "black and blue", it describes the colour of his skin because he has bruises.

Okay? He gets beaten up. He was in a fight. He got in a fight until he was... Until he

was beaten black and blue. It means he got badly beaten up.

The police said that the matter was "black and white". Okay? So, my friend, he's got

beaten up, so I ask the policeman: "What's happened, here? My friend, he got beaten up."

And they said to me that the matter, that this whole topic, this subject, this event,

it was "black and white". Okay? It was clear. Okay? It was clear what had happened. There

was no questions: what had happened? My friend, Bob, had been drunk, so he got attacked, he

got beaten up. Okay?

So, what did I do? Well, I asked Bob's mom: "Why? What's happened? What's happened to

Bob? He got drunk. He got beaten black and blue. What's going on, Mrs. Bob?" And Mrs.

Bob said: "Well, Bob, he's always been a bit of a 'black sheep'.

" That's a red sheep. What's

a black sheep? Ma-a-a. A black sheep is one that goes a different way. So, we got lots

of sheep. Okay? Here's a big family of sheep, and here's Bob. Here's Bob being a black sheep.

Well, what does a "black sheep" mean? Well, a "black sheep" means he's gone a different

way. Okay? Because most of the time, sheep are what colour? Yes, they're white. But Bob,

he's a black sheep, he's a bit different. He's taken a wrong turning. You are going

the wrong direction. Okay?

So, I'm still talking to Mrs. Bob, and I'm like: "Yes, but he was 'born with a silver spoon'.

" Okay? If I'm born with a... Woo, it's silver, the spoon. With a silver spoon

in his mouth, it means the gods are giving riches. Okay? Caliban in The Tempest, Shakespeare:

"Me dreamed that the clouds opened and showed riches ready to drop upon me." Okay? Sorry.

A bit over your head. He's born with a silver spoon, Bob. Okay? What...? What the...? What

does that mean? It means he was born into a good family. Yeah? He's born into a big

house, there's a car, there's food. But Bob's been a black sheep, okay? And he's gone to...

He's gone to Hull instead of to New York, maybe. Sorry, people in Hull. It's a glorious

city. I love it very much.

Okay, so he was born with a silver spoon. He was given-okay?-gold, silver; valuable.

Okay? Lots of money for gold and silver. He was given "a golden opportunity", a great,

a fantastic, a magnificent, a brilliant opportunity. Yeah? To... To go to a good school. Okay?

And so Bob went to the good school, but he thought... Okay? Past tense of the verb: "to

think", he thought that "the grass was always greener on the other side". Okay? So here's

Bob, he's at his school. He's got his silver spoon, and he thinks that it's always better

to be... Well, a... Someone swimming in the sea, under water. He thought it was always

greener to be a deep sea diver. Okay? A deep sea diver. So "deep" means far under the water,

right down. So Bob thought it was greener to be under water, to be doing something completely

different. Okay? So here's Bob, to think it's greener on the other side, he always thinks

it's better over there. So if I'm in a blue car, I think it's better to be in a red car;

if I'm in a red car, I think it's better to be in a blue car. Bob thought it was better

to be a deep sea diver. Uh-oh.

So, he soon was "in the dark" about things. Okay? So he's swimming, he's in the water.

He's in the dark, it means: don't know what's going on. Yeah? I don't know. So, you could...

You could say... If someone asked you a question, you could say: "Sorry, mate. I'm a bit in

the dark about that." It means: "I don't know. No one has told me." Yeah?

Because he was a bit in the dark with his finances, he didn't know what was going in

and out of his bank, he soon came "into the red". Yeah? "Into the red", yeah? Pound sign

going down, down, down, down, down. Or dollar, if you prefer the dollar. I don't. Okay, he's

going into the red until he's minus. Yeah? So he has no money at all.

What Bob really wanted was for people to "roll out the red carpet" for him, to treat him

as an important person. Okay? You see movie stars, they have the red carpet. Bob so wants

to have the red carpet rolled out for him, but he's being a deep sea diver, and he doesn't

have any money. I'm not saying that deep sea divers don't have money. Don't get me wrong.

It's just Bob's a bit in the dark about what to do with his money, and so it all goes to

the wrong places.

Now, Bob would have been "tickled pink"... Okay? You know what tickle is? Tickle. [Laughs]

That looked a bit like a chimpanzee, but tickle is like, you know, we have an itchy bit here,

an itchy bit here. [Laughs]. Yeah? That's to be tickled. Okay. A bit weird. Sorry. Inappropriate.

To be "tickled pink", it means really happy. Yeah? Pink, you know, it's kind of... It's

a happy colour, a bit of a gay colour, but it's happy. Yeah? Tickled pink. He would have

been... He would have been. So we can use our tenses with... Because it's "to be tickled

pink", so he wanted to be... No. We wouldn't say: "He wanted to be". He was tickled pink.

So normally, we would use it in the past or in the present. I am tickled pink that you're

watching my video right now.

So, we never really saw his "true colours", dee, dee, dee. Yeah? You know the song? His

true colours. We never really saw Bob's true colours. It was such a shame.

And he didn't really "pass life with flying colours". But, you guys, on the other hand,

are going to pass my quiz with flying colours. Aren't you? You're going to know exactly what

"black and blue", when you beat him black and blue. To see things in "black and white",

yeah, crystal clear. The "black sheep" of the family, the one who does things a bit

different. "Born with a silver spoon", born with everything they could want. "Given a

golden opportunity". "The grass is always greener on the other side" or not.

"In the dark", when you don't know about something. "In the red", when you're in the minus.

"Roll out the red carpet", to be treated importantly. And "tickled pink" when you're so happy with

everything.

You want to see the "true colours". So "true colours", what is this? It's if my colour

is red, and grey, and black, and blue, it's like saying my person. These are my colours.

Inside my mind, you see all the beautiful colours. Okay? It's seeing my heart, seeing

the colours that are in me, Benjamin. Okay? To see someone's true colours, you see the

best of that person. Okay? So... You could see... "To see someone's", okay? The true

colours of someone. To see someone's true colours. To see the very best of that person.

Okay? "To pass with flying colours". Flying, yeah? I'm doing pretty well because I'm flying,

so the colours... So we're flying colours. What do you think "flying colours" are? Sort

of red, yellow, green, blue, pink, purple, I don't know. "With flying colours" just means

that you do exceptionally well, like 100% distinction.

That is what I want you to do now. Do the quiz: www.engvid.com, quiz on "Idioms of Colour".

If you really want to, subscribe to my YouTube channel, and I've got some more things going

on at Exquisite English. So if you want to continue the relationship and, well, get out

of the dark in terms of your English, then maybe go there as well.

Thanks a lot for watching my video. See ya next time.