Learn the English Phrase TO HAVE A KNACK and the Term KNICK-KNACK

In this English lesson, I wanted to help you

learn the English phrase, to have a knack.

When you have a knack for something,

it means you have a natural ability to do it.

Some people have a knack for playing certain sports.

Some people have a knack

for playing certain musical instruments.

Some people have a knack for just talking to people.

You probably know someone

who, if they're somewhere out in public,

they just have a knack for meeting new people

and talking to new people.

I don't have a knack for that.

It takes me a while to get to know people

and to enjoy talking to them.

But certainly, if you say that somebody

has a knack for something,

it means that they're really good at it.

My brother has a real knack for programming computers.

He's just really good at using computers.

He has a real knack for it.

My sister has a real knack for taking care of people.

She's actually a nurse.

I don't know if I've ever mentioned that before.

The other phrase I wanted to teach you today,

it's actually more of a term,

is the term knick-knack.

Knick-knacks are a little things

that people keep in their houses, usually on shelves.

My mom has a lot of knick-knacks.

She has small figurines.

I'll put some pictures up here.

She has some nice rocks that she found.

Knick-knacks are just little things,

you might even use the word trinkets.

They're just little things that people have either bought

or that they've found that they kind of keep.

Sometimes when people go on a trip,

they'll buy a souvenir,

they'll buy some kind of small thing to remember their trip.

And we might also call that a knick-knack.

You could say, "Oh, she has a lot of knickknacks

on her shelf.

She has a mug from Niagara falls

and various other things."

So to review, when you have a knack for something,

when you say that someone has a knack for something,

it means that they have a natural ability to do it, okay?

Different from, well, they could also learn to do it,

but usually it means they're learning to do it,

but they also have a natural ability to do it.

Like they were born to do it.

And then knick-knacks, or a knick-knack,

is just some kind of small thing

that someone keeps on their shelf

or somewhere else in their house, just because they like it.

But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video here.

This comment is from Vito.

Let me get it out and read it to you.

Vito says to work as hard as you

is sometimes not a good idea.

I know that we need to try our best to be better

at something, but we can also lose energy and enthusiasm.

I know the term burnout.

These two phrases are new for me. Thanks Bob.

So thanks Vito for that comment.

My reply was, I have in my life experienced burnout

or near burnout.

It is not fun.

The first time it happened

I ended up being so worn down from work,

I was working 70 hours per week in my thirties,

that I ended up getting pneumonia.

It wasn't fun.

So Vito, thanks for that comment.

What Vito's talking about here is something called burnout.

Burnout is when you work so much

or you're so busy in life

that you just wake up one day

and you just can't do it anymore.

You have run out of energy

and you've run out of a desire to do it.

It's not a good feeling.

As I mentioned, I've experienced, I would say near burnout

a couple of times in my life.

The first time was after our third child was born,

and Jen was in the hospital

for a few extra days, and I was working full time,

or more than full-time,

taking care of the two older kids.

Jen recovered, but it was kind of serious

after our third child was born.

So I was even stressed a bit.

By the way, this is like, 17 or 18 years ago.

It's a long time ago.

But yeah, and then I ended up being so worn out.

I just, I got physically sick. I got pneumonia.

That was not fun.

I don't know if any of you have ever had pneumonia.

It is not a fun thing to have.

So Vito, I promise you this and everyone else,

I will keep my work schedule

such that I do not burn out, okay?

I promise I will keep doing these videos

and I won't work too hard.

Anyways, have a good day everybody. Bye.