Meaning of A BIT OF A FIXER-UPPER - A Really Short English Lesson with Subtitles

4,806 views ・ 2019-09-26

Bob's Short English Lessons


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

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So I bought my house from my mom and it's a bit of a fixer-upper.
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In English when we say that something is a bit of a fixer-upper it means that it needs
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some repairs.
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You can see that this window here is a little bit rotted.
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So we are getting a new window put in.
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The house is in pretty good shape, but I would describe it as a bit of a fixer-upper.
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So that means that there are a few things, here and there, that need to be fixed.
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Interestingly enough, sometimes to be funny we will describe people in the same way.
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Maybe you know someone who has started dating a new boyfriend and she might describe her
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new boyfriend by saying, "He's a bit of a fixer-upper."
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So that's kind of a joking way to say that he's a really nice guy, but there are things
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about his personality that could be improved.
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So he's a bit of a fixer-upper.
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The other phrase we use in English when I describe things like my house is that it needs
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work.
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My house needs work.
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When you say that something needs work it's a general term referring to the fact that
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it, it needs some repairs, it needs some things done to it so that it is back in good shape
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again.
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So my house definitely needs work.
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It needs work.
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We don't usually use this phrase though to describe people.
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We don't often say that a person needs work.
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Sometimes though we'll just say, that person needs some help, because we think that they
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could improve their personality.
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But generally, if you say, that something needs work, or it needs work you are describing
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something like a house or a car.
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