Learn the English Phrases RECIPE FOR DISASTER and DISASTER STRIKES - An Lesson with Subtitles

In this English lesson,

I wanted to help you learn the English phrase

"recipe for disaster."

Now, a disaster is a really bad thing that can happen

and a recipe is something you use when you bake something

or make something in the kitchen.

So a recipe for disaster is a situation

where everything is just going wrong

and something really bad is going to happen.

Here's a good example.

Let's say you have a really old car and that car has tires

that needed to be replaced a long time ago

and the car also is not very good mechanically.

We would say that's a recipe for disaster

because the tires aren't good

and the car's just not in good shape,

there's a really good chance that you're gonna go

in the ditch or have an accident.

So a recipe for disaster is a situation

where a few things make it

so that you just know something bad is gonna happen.

The second phrase I wanna teach you today

is the phrase "disaster strikes."

When you say in English that disaster strikes,

it's the point when something bad really happens to you.

You could say, "I was driving down the road

and then I was worried because the tires were bad

that disaster might strike."

So again, when disaster strikes,

it's when something really bad happens.

It's the exact moment when that bad thing happens.

I don't think disaster is going to strike today.

I think the only small disaster that might happen today

is I came outside with no gloves on

and it's colder than I thought.

Anyways, to review, a recipe for disaster

is when there's a few things that are happening

that together might cause something really bad to happen,

something we would call a disaster.

And when that disaster happens,

you would describe the moment that it happens

by saying, "Disaster has struck," or, "Disaster strikes."

Hey, let's look at another.

Let's look at a comment from a previous video.

Sorry, I got distracted 'cause a car

was pulling into my driveway but they're turning around now.

I don't know if you can see them way over there

and they're going in a different direction.

I think they were just using my driveway to turn around.

Now my camera's a little bit off kilter. There we go.

Let's look at a comment from a previous video.

This is from Roberto and Roberto says,

"If you hire me and let me be your sidekick,

I promise I will bring something good to the table

and I will pull my weight.

I am no slacker."

And my response was, "I'm glad to hear you aren't a slacker.

Slackers definitely don't pull their weight."

So Roberto's using a couple of phrases there.

The phrase "to bring something to the table"

and the phrase "to pull my weight."

And then he uses a word that some of you maybe don't know

and that word is slacker.

In English, if you call someone a slacker,

that you are saying that they are lazy,

you are saying that they aren't pulling their weight,

if you wanna use the phrase from the other day as well.

Slackers are not enjoyable people to work with.

When you work with a slacker, you're often frustrated

because you're working really hard

and the person who is a slacker

is not working very hard at all.

Anyways, why am I wearing sunglasses

in the middle of the winter?

Well, I think I've mentioned this to some of you before,

when you have a lot of snow on the ground

and when the sun is shining, it's very, very bright outside.

In fact, in our house, our house is extra bright

on a day like this because we have sunlight

coming in our windows

but the sun is also reflecting off the snow

and coming in our windows as well.

So there is no way, like, if I take these off,

I have to keep my eyes almost closed

just to be able to see the camera.

So I'm wearing sunglasses in the middle of the winter

because it is a bright, sunny day and there's lots of snow.

And these are actually my really old sunglasses.

These aren't even my good pair.

I lost my good pair and I can't find them back.

I'll have to look for them later today.

Anyways, I'll see you tomorrow

with another short English lesson.