Learn the English Phrases TO GET AN EARFUL and TO GIVE AN EARFUL

In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn

the English phrase, "to get an earful".

When you get an earful,

it means that you've done something wrong.

and someone in authority over you,

someone like your parents or someone who's in charge of you,

tells you that you did something wrong, you get an earful.

So you were maybe told not to do something

and you do it anyways, and then you get an earful.

When I was a kid, let me turn this around.

When there were puddles like this in our driveway,

I remember there was a time where I stomped

through the puddles and then I went in the house

and I got the floors all muddy.

I didn't take my boots off when I came in

and did I ever get an earful from my mum?

My mum was quite angry with me

and I definitely got an earful from her.

So when you get an earful,

it means you do something that you're not supposed to do,

and someone tells you that you did it.

I think you get to see Jen in the background today.

The second phrase I wanted to teach you today is

"to give an earful".

And I kind of find myself on the other side of the coin now.

I am now the parent.

So the other night, one of my kids went out

and they came home at two in the morning,

and so I gave them an earful.

I didn't actually do that.

I mean, when you say, give an earful,

it means you're kind of being a little bit mean.

I think I'm actually a fairly nice dad.

I just kind of said, Hey, that was pretty late.

Try to be home on time next time.

So it didn't really give that, my kid an earful.

I think when you give someone an earful, you speak loudly

and you're maybe a little bit angry, even.

So to repeat, when you get an earful,

it means you've done something wrong

and someone tells you about it,

usually a parent or maybe a teacher.

And when you give someone an earful,

you're the person telling someone else

that they did something they weren't supposed to do.

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

This comment is from Padma.

"Of course, spending time with family

has to take center stage during Christmas vacation.

By the way, a blue sky and a snowy white backdrop

looks wonderful.

Wish you and your family, a Merry Christmas in advance."

And my response, "Thanks Padma.

I agree visiting with family should take center stage."

You know, especially during holidays.

Like the holiday season is a great time to,

oh, that's bright.

Is a great time to spend with family and friends.

Here, gatherings will be quite small

because of that pandemic thing

that I don't really enjoy talking about anymore.

But we are still going to have some gatherings.

And I think it'll be good to spend a little bit of time

with family and friends.

There will be nowhere near the normal size parties

that we normally have like two years ago.

Most gatherings will be only about five or 10 people,

and most people will do things safely,

but I am looking forward to spending

a little bit of time with my mom and with my siblings.

That should be a lot of fun.

I'm also looking forward to spending time

outside with my kids.

Often, if you watch any of the videos

that I've made in the past in the winter,

often when we get lots of snow, we will go tobogganing.

Tobogganing is where you go down the hill.

We call it sledding as well.

And I feel like at age 50,

I might be getting a little bit old to do that,

but I still really enjoy doing it.

It's great exercise.

You ride down the hill on a sled, then you ride,

then you walk back up.

Luckily I don't have to pull little kids

back up on the sled anymore.

When the kids were really little,

I would go down the hill on the sled

and that I would pull them back up again.

That was really good exercise,

but now they're all big enough

to walk back up the hill themselves.

So anyways, I hope you enjoyed this little English lesson.

I hope you have a great Christmas season

if you celebrate Christmas.

If you get some time off, I just hope it's a good time

and you can spend some time safely with family.

Bye.