Learn the English Phrases DOWN TO A SCIENCE and IT'S NOT ROCKET SCIENCE

In this English lesson,

I wanted to help you learn the English phrase

down to a science.

When you have something down to a science,

it means you have every step of a process figured out

and you do it smoothly and efficiently.

When you have something down to a science,

it means you're really good at it.

Jen has growing flowers down to a science.

She knows how to start the seeds,

she knows how to plant the tiny baby plants in the ground,

she knows how to grow them so they look beautiful.

She has the whole process down to a science.

So when you have something down to a science,

it means you're pretty good at it.

It means you've learned every step

and you know how to do it really well.

The second phrase I wanted to teach you today

is the phrase it's not rocket science.

Now, I taught this phrase actually in a previous lesson

I think about a year ago, but it had the word science in it,

so I thought I would throw it in here as well.

We say this to someone if they're having trouble

figuring out how to do something simple,

we say, "Ah, come on, it's not rocket science."

So let's say someone's trying

to fill a glass of water from the tap

and they can't get the water to go in the cup.

It's such a simple process.

In that situation, you might say to the person,

"Come on, it's not rocket science,

put the cup under the tap so the water goes in the cup."

So it's not a nice thing to say,

but when you say to someone, "It's not rocket science,"

what you're saying is, "Hey, that task you're doing

or whatever you're doing, it's actually really simple."

So to review, when you have something down to a science,

it means there's a number of steps

and you have every step working really well

or you just know how to do

each step really well and efficiently.

And when you say to someone, "It's not rocket science,"

you're basically saying to them,

"Whatever you're doing is really simple

and it shouldn't cause you too many problems."

Hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video.

This comment is from Cida,

and Cida says, "Bob, I love your lessons,

but with the cat, it became more than interesting.

I love animals.

By the way, where's Oscar?"

So that's from a previous video from a few days ago

where the cats were visiting me during the lesson.

My reply was this:

"I think the cats have finally figured out

that I don't have treats on me.

It will be hit or miss if they appear in the videos.

PS: Oscar is always with Jen at this time of year."

So yes, you've probably noticed a couple of things.

One is that the cats seemed to be around me

as they were in the last video,

but they've, I think, figured out that it's not me

that has the treats, it's actually my daughter,

so now, today even, there are no cats here at all.

I don't see a single cat.

And at this time of year, Oscar is always with Jen.

Jen is very busy out in the flower fields.

In fact, one of the reasons I didn't do

a short English lesson a couple of days ago

is because I was helping Jen for a couple of days,

just starting to get the farm ready

to plant flowers and to grow flowers.

So at this time of year,

Oscar spends a lot of time with Jen.

He loves being with Jen because he finds little mice,

he chases other animals.

He actually found a rabbit the other day

and chased it all the way across the field.

He didn't catch it, thank goodness.

I don't want him out there catching rabbits.

Rabbits are kind of cute.

I don't like it when Oscar chases them,

but yes, at this time of year,

Oscar spends almost all his time with Jen.

Hey, the other reason I didn't make a video this week

is because it is spring break here and I'm taking a break.

It was really fun just to do some outdoor work.

I do really enjoy farm work.

I don't always have enough time

to do the farm work that I want to do,

but the other day and yesterday as well,

I was able to do quite a bit of work on the farm with Jen.

We got quite a few things ready.

I'll give you a tour of the farm

in about a month and a half

when things really start to grow.

But as you can see, it's really greening up out here.

Anyways, see you in a couple of days

with another short English lesson.