Learn the English Phrases A SLAP ON THE WRIST and A SLAP IN THE FACE

4,232 views ・ 2022-04-13

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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"a slap on the wrist."
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When we say something is a slap on the wrist,
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it means someone was punished or disciplined for something,
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but the punishment or discipline was very minor.
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Here's a great example.
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Maybe someone on a sports team you like
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did something they weren't supposed to in a game,
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and so they fined the player $10,000.
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(engine rumbles)
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Sorry, it's a little loud here 'cause I'm in town.
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Maybe that player makes a million dollars a year.
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So a $10,000 fine would just be a slap on the wrist.
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So, basically, maybe the player did something in a game
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or outside of the game that they weren't supposed to do.
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And so they were given a really small fine
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and it was just a slap on the wrist.
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The other phrase I wanted to teach you today
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is the phrase "a slap in the face."
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Now this is completely different.
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A slap in the face is an insult.
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Maybe at work,
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you and another person both want the same promotion.
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Maybe you've been at the job for 20 years
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and you've worked really hard and you think you deserve it.
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And the other person has worked there for 15 years
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and they worked really hard and they think they deserve it.
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And then they give the promotion to the boss's son.
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(laughs) That would be a slap in the face.
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That would be a bit of an insult
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because both of you were probably way more qualified
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than the boss's son.
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So, to review, a slap on the wrist is
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when you are disciplined for something
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and it's a very minor discipline compared to what you did.
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And then a slap in the face is basically
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when a situation is such that it's insulting,
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that you feel insulted by what has happened.
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But, hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video.
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Sorry, I'm a little distracted with all the traffic,
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but I'm sure you're enjoying it.
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We'll take a little walk in a bit
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and you'll see some campers.
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This is from Aquiles,
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"Nice video, teacher Bob.
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Here in Mexico, spring break just began,
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so I'm going to take a break
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from English the next two weeks.
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See you later, everyone.
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Take care."
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And my response was, "I hope you have a nice break.
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Enjoy it, I'm sure it will go fast."
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So thanks, Aquiles, for that comment.
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Yes, breaks are always nice, aren't they?
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It's nice.
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We just actually had our spring break a couple of weeks ago.
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I'm not sure I actually mentioned that on any of my videos,
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but I did have a week off from work,
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and it was very, very enjoyable.
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So Aquiles, I hope you have a good break, as well.
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Anyways, I'm out here by this camper van place
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where you can buy basically camper trailers and camper vans
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and all sorts of campers that you can use,
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if you go camping.
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Now, Jen and I actually don't own one of these.
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We will probably never own one of these
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and we usually don't go camping.
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I think you can probably guess why.
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There are two reasons why we do not camp.
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Number one, we already live on a beautiful property.
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We live on a farm.
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We have lots of trees, and we have a river,
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and it's just very peaceful.
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So when I go to a campground,
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it actually seems a little bit crowded (laughs)
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and it seems noisy.
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So the place where I live is already quite nice
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and quite peaceful.
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The other reason is because we grow flowers.
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Here's someone coming on their super fast car.
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(engine rumbles)
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As the weather gets nicer,
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people take their old cars out
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because in Canada a lot of people with really nice old cars,
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they store them in the winter.
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So anyways, we live on a flower farm.
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So we're busy.
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We have work to do.
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There are things that we need to get done.
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And so we do not camp.
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Let's spin around and have a look once more though.
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I know there are a lot of people that enjoy these.
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But Jen and I, it's just not for us.
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Anyways, see in a couple days with another short lesson.
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Bye.
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