Learn the English Phrases "a close call" and "to call off"

4,382 views ・ 2023-04-05

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 close call."
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When something is a close call, it means
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that something bad almost happened,
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but it didn't happen.
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Here's a little story.
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Once when I was younger,
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I was working, I was about 17.
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I was working on a building on scaffolding.
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You know, what they put along the side of the building?
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And lightning struck the ground
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about a kilometer from where I was.
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But me and my coworkers saw little bolts
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of static electricity go
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from the scaffolding to the building.
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So we quickly climbed down and ran inside.
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That was a close call.
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I didn't get hit by lightning
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but it was certainly a close call.
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I was happy that the lightning hit far away.
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So the second phrase I wanted to teach you today
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is the phrase "to call off."
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When you call something off, it means you cancel it.
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This happens sometimes when it snows a lot in Canada.
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They'll call off school, they'll cancel school for the day.
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Sometimes this happens when two people are planning
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to get married and then they start to not like each other.
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Sometimes they call off the wedding,
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they decide not to have it.
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So to review a close call is whenever something
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almost happens that would be bad.
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Like if you almost hit someone with your car.
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If two cars are driving and almost hit each other,
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we would say that that is a close call
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and when you call something off,
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to call off means to cancel something.
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So, hey, I don't have a comment today.
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I have to apologize.
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I've had a really busy week
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and I did not have a chance to respond
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to all the comments
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and it's close to raining out here.
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So I ran outside quickly.
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I'm not sure if you can see the storm approaching.
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There are
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actually some small raindrops hitting me right now.
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If you don't believe me, I'll show you the puddle.
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You might be able to hear the thunder as well.
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Whoa, that's upside down.
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That's not how
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that's supposed to work.
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Here we go.
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You can see maybe
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some drops hitting that puddle there.
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Let's see if we can get this turned around.
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(birds chirping)
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I'm not sure if you can hear the thunder.
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I probably should just go inside now
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instead of staying out here.
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So just a short lesson today.
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Busy week, haven't had time to reply to comments.
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I'll get back at that as soon as possible.
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But I thought I should still jump outside
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and make a quick lesson for you.
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Hopefully you learned a couple phrases
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and I better get back inside now.
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I don't want to tell another version
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of the lightning story after this lesson.
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So, have a good couple days.
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I'll see you in a couple days
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with another short English lesson.
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Bye.
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