Learn the English Phrases EVERYONE AND THEIR DOG and THE TAIL WAGGING THE DOG

5,504 views ・ 2021-10-06

Bob's Short English Lessons


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

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In this English lesson,
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I wanted to help you learn the English phrase,
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everyone and their dog.
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Now, this is a funny phrase that we use
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to talk about a situation where there are a lot of people.
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Maybe there's a new store opening in town.
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And when I go there, it's really crowded.
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I could say, wow, everyone and their dog is here.
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It doesn't actually mean that people brought their dogs.
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It just means that there's a lot of people,
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that it's very, very crowded.
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I might come home, and Jen might say,
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how was the store opening?
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I could say it was so crowded,
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everyone and their dog was there.
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So it's just a funny way of saying
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that there are a lot of people.
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The second phrase I wanted to teach you today
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is the tail wagging the dog.
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Now, normally a dog wags its tail.
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The tail doesn't wag the dog.
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But if there is a situation in life
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where someone is controlling the situation
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who doesn't have the authority or power to do it,
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we say that the tail is wagging the dog.
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You'll sometimes see this with parents, with little kids,
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sometimes little kids
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actually control what their parents are doing.
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They make their parents buy them candy.
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They make their parents get them everything they want,
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or they have what we would call a fit.
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And so we would in that situation,
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say that the tail is wagging the dog.
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Sorry, mosquitoes are out in force.
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Even on October 5th, there are mosquitoes out here.
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So to review,
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when you say that everyone and their dog was somewhere,
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it simply means that there were a lot of people there.
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And when you say that the tail is wagging the dog,
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when you say the tail wagging the dog,
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it means that the person who shouldn't have power
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or authority is actually controlling the situation.
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But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video,
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and I have to warn you.
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This is the longest comment I've ever read.
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And it's from Sabrina.
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We don't teach to get rich, but to enrich others.
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To all teachers, Happy Teacher's Day.
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Teaching is the most noble profession in the world.
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It serves as the pillar of our society,
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since it institutes other professions as well.
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Every fifth day of October,
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we celebrate World Teacher's Day,
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a day where the struggles and hardships of our teachers
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are appreciated and rewarded.
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Being a teacher will never be easy,
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because teaching will never be their sole task.
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Even the things that aren't listed in their job description,
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they do because of their love and passion.
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There are times when they will get tired,
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but after a little rest,
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they will continue to move on,
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and promote the future of their students.
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And my response was very simple.
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Thanks, Sabrina,
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for these words of understanding and support.
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Yeah, thank you for that.
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I think teachers, depending on what country you live in,
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I think teachers for the most part are appreciated.
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And I do thank you for that.
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I don't find the job to be too challenging,
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but I have been doing it for quite a while,
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but thank you for the appreciation.
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What I do have to say, and what makes me smile,
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is that one thing I didn't realize would happen
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when I became a teacher on YouTube
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is that people would wish me Happy Teacher's Day
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quite often,
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because if you look on Google,
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if you search for teacher's day,
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there's actually different teacher's days
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in different countries around the world.
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So every few weeks,
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someone will wish me a Happy Teacher's Day,
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and it makes me smile.
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And it makes me feel really good about the job I do.
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I think in a lot of countries,
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it's on October 5th or October 3rd,
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but when I looked on Wikipedia this morning,
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I could find teachers days in May,
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and in other months of the year as well.
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And it just kind of made me realize
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why every so often people start wishing me
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Happy Teacher's Day,
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because it's not the same day in every country.
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So, Sabrina, thank you for that comment.
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Thank you for the kind words.
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I will keep doing my job the best I can.
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I love doing it.
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I love doing it in the classroom.
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I love doing it here on YouTube.
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I hope all of you are having a good day.
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I'll see you in a couple of days
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with another short English lesson, bye.
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