Meaning of TEST DRIVE and PUT THE BRAKES ON - A Short English Lesson with Subtitles

So in English, we have the phrase test drive that,

sorry, I always laugh when the wind blows my paper away

just when I start recording.

But anyways, in English, we have the phrase test drive

that we use to talk about

usually when we're going to buy a car,

we say that we would like to have a test drive

or take a test drive,

but we use it in other ways as well.

You can test drive a lot of things.

Maybe you are at a store

where you are buying new running shoes,

but you don't wanna see my running shoes.

They're so old.

Here, I'll show them to you.

There they are.

Those are my super old running shoes.

Anyways, you could try on a pair of running shoes

and take them for a test drive around the store.

Maybe you are going to play a racket sport like tennis,

and a friend of yours has a really good racket.

Maybe he might lend it to you

so you can take that racket for a test drive.

So it's not just for cars.

We sometimes use the phrase test drive

to talk about trying out new things.

We use phrases related to driving a lot, in fact.

We use the phrase to put the brakes on

to talk about when we want to slow down in life.

Sometimes, you just need to put the brakes on a little bit.

Maybe at work, you are working on a project with a colleague

and you think they are just going too fast,

that they are making decisions too quickly.

You might wanna suggest to them that it's time

to put the brakes on just a little bit,

maybe slow the project down and maybe just take it easy,

and think things through a lot better.

So when you take something for a test drive,

it's not just a car.

It's when you try something out.

And when you put the brakes on,

by the way, brakes are the things in a car

that slow it down.

That's why this is an automotive phrase,

but in life, when you put the brakes on something,

it means that you want to slow down a bit.

Bob the Canadian here.

Hope you're having a good day today.

I'm starting to get used to just being at home.

I think that this is all gonna work out fine.