Meaning of SLIM PICKINGS and LOTS TO CHOOSE FROM - A Really Short English Lesson with Subtitles

So in English, when we say,

there were slim pickings,

it means that there weren't very many of an item

that we went to buy.

The other day, I went to the grocery store

to buy bananas.

And when I got there, they didn't have very many bananas.

They had a very small amount of green bananas.

They had a small amount of over-ripe bananas,

they were actually a little bit brown.

And they didn't have hardly any yellow bananas,

you know the bananas that are just the right color yellow,

where you know they will taste delicious?

So in that situation, I could say,

there were slim pickings.

When you say there were slim pickings,

it means that there was not a lot to choose from.

This happens too, when you go shopping on a day

when there are big sales.

The other day, I went shopping on Boxing Day,

which is one of the biggest shopping days in Canada,

It's the day after Christmas,

and there were slim pickings.

There weren't actually a lot of things left to buy on sale.

Probably the opposite of slim pickings

would be the phrase, lots to choose from.

I really like it when I go shopping for something,

when I go to buy something,

and there is lots to choose from.

In English when we say that there is a lot to choose from,

or there's lots to choose from,

it means that there are all kinds of different sizes

and colors to choose from.

If I went to buy bananas,

and they had hundreds of bananas

that were the right color yellow,

I could say that there was lots to choose from.