Learn the English Phrases NOT ALL IT'S CRACKED UP TO BE and TO CRACK A JOKE

In this English lesson I wanted to help you

learn the English phrase,

"not all it's cracked up to be."

When we say that something is

not all it's cracked up to be,

it means that it's not as fun,

it's not as good,

it just isn't what you thought it was going to be,

or what people told you it was going to be.

Sometimes people have this with things like the job they do.

Sometimes they become a teacher and then they find out

it's not all it's cracked up to be.

That means someone told them it was a great job,

but when they actually started doing it,

it wasn't that great for them.

And sometimes this happens, too,

when you go to see a movie

that someone told you is amazing,

and then you go to see it

and then it's not all it's cracked up to be.

It's not as good as you thought it was going to be.

The other phrase I wanted to teach you today

is a simpler phrase, "to crack a joke."

When you crack a joke, it simply means that you tell a joke.

Sometimes people get in trouble when they're in school

because they're always cracking jokes.

I have a one (laughs), I have one or two students right now

that crack jokes regularly in class.

They just really like to crack a joke every once in a while

to make everyone laugh, and I'll be honest,

sometimes it makes me laugh, too.

So to review, when something is

not all it's cracked up to be,

it means that you were kind of told something

was going to be good or awesome or cool,

but when you did it, it actually wasn't as good

as how the person explained it to you.

So, it's not all it's cracked up to be.

And when you crack a joke,

it simply means that you are telling a joke,

so you tell a joke.

Sorry, you're probably gonna hear my children right now,

because they don't know

that I'm recording a video inside today,

but why am I recording inside today?

Because the weather is not very nice.

As much as I often say how much I like cold weather,

it is windy, it is cold, it is wet outside.

There's water and snow everywhere.

It's just not a good day to make a video outside.

So sometimes making a video outside

isn't all it's cracked up to be.

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

This comment is from American English

with this guy otherwise known as Brent.

And he says this.

"Getting snow this time of year is just wrong.

"I've never wanted to be top dog at school.

"This year has only solidified that notion.

"I like flying under the radar at school."

And my response is this.

"I agree, this year has really made me realize

"that being in charge isn't all it's cracked up to be."

So I kind of use the phrase that I just taught you today

in my response there.

That's actually when I thought of it.

So thanks, Brent, for that comment.

Brent's talking about the lesson on being top dog

and the response from Padma, I think yesterday,

on how sometimes being top dog

isn't all it's cracked up to be, right?

Sometimes it's nice not to be in charge.

And I would agree with Brent.

This year in particular with people who are leaders,

either government leaders or people who are bosses

at different businesses or in charge of people,

it hasn't been an easy year being top dog.

A lot of decisions have had to be made,

a lot of changes have had to be made,

and then there's always the problem

where some people have one opinion

and other people have a different opinion.

So when you're in charge,

you're always trying to find a balance

between people who think one thing

and people who think something else,

and it can be quite challenging.

So anyways, not to go on and on about the weather,

but yes, it is, in English

we would say it's a gross outside today.

The weather is not very nice.

It's kind of, it's like the world here

is stuck halfway between winter and spring

and isn't sure which season it is.

So as I look out, I see that the snow has melted

compared to yesterday,

but it's just still really, really gross outside.

Lots of wind, lots, a little bit of rain

that's turning to snow right now,

and it's just cold.

I think I've mentioned all of that too many times.

See you in a couple of days

with another short English lesson.