Learn the English Phrases SCARED STIFF and BORED STIFF

4,609 views ・ 2022-02-25

Bob's Short English Lessons


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

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In this English lesson,
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I wanted to help you learn the English phrase
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to be scared stiff.
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When you're scared stiff,
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it just means that you're really, really scared.
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It means something's happened,
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and you went kind of like this,
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like your whole body is stiff as a board.
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Now I'm exaggerating a bit.
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We use this phrase, even if your body didn't go like that.
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I think I told you the story before
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of how, when I was younger, I hid behind the tree at night.
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And when my sister walked by, I jumped out, and said boo.
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And she was definitely scared stiff when I did that.
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She was also very angry with me.
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So don't do that.
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I don't know how many of you like to play practical jokes
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where you scare people.
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It's not very nice.
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And when you do it, sometimes people get so scared,
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you would describe them by saying that they're scared stiff.
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The other phrase I wanted to teach you today
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is to be bored stiff.
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Now, I certainly hope this doesn't happen in my classroom.
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When you're bored stiff, you look like this.
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It's when you're in a class,
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or you go watch a movie that's really boring,
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or you're doing something in life
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that's just not very exciting or enjoyable.
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You would say that you're bored stiff.
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It's just a way of emphasizing
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that you're really, really bored.
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You could say that the movie was really, really boring,
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but you could also say, I was bored stiff during that movie.
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It just was not very good.
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So to review, when you are scared stiff,
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it means you're really, really scared.
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And when you are bored stiff,
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it means that you're really, really bored.
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I don't know why we have so many ways
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of saying things in English.
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Sometimes I feel like we should have less,
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but it's just another way of saying it.
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And by the way, I heard both of these phrases
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in the last week.
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So they are something,
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phrases that are very common in English.
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But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video.
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This comment is from Alex.
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Every time you pick the paper
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to read out a previous comment to us,
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it sounds like for me, and the Oscar goes to,
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and my response is ha ha,
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I should maybe have music start playing
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when I have 10 seconds left to talk.
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So I'm not sure if you're familiar with the Oscars.
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The Oscars are awards that are given out in Hollywood
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for people who did a really good job making a movie,
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or starring in a movie, or doing the writing for a movie.
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And when you win an Oscar,
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the person at the front opens an envelope,
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and says, and the Oscar goes to.
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And that's kind of what Alex was talking about there.
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Whenever I go to read a comment,
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I reach into my pocket, and I pull it out.
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And for him, that reminds him
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of when he's watching the Oscars,
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and they say, and the Oscar goes to.
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And my joke there was that maybe I should have a timer
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where after I talk for a certain amount of time,
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the timer goes off,
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or on the Oscars what happens
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is the microphone goes down I think.
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I think when you've talked for too long,
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the microphone starts to go down.
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So maybe I should do that.
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I'm trying to find a spot here where it's not too bright,
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and not too windy.
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Maybe I should do that for my videos
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when I get close to the four minute mark,
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maybe the microphone should start to go down,
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or maybe the camera should start to move down.
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And that would indicate to me
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that it's time for me to stop talking.
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Hey, I'm just gonna head this way a bit.
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It's a little windier than I expected.
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It wasn't windy when I came out,
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but for some reason, it's windy now.
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I know I showed you this in the last video already,
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but the river is very, very flooded.
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It's way bigger than it normally is.
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And it's quite frozen right now.
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I'm a little worried,
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because way back there, I have a hayfield,
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and that hayfield is underwater.
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Thankfully, the hay isn't growing right now.
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It would be worse
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if it was the middle of the spring or summer.
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But right now the grass is dormant in the hayfield.
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So hopefully it goes away, the water goes away,
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and it grows nicely in the spring.
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Anyways, see you in a few days
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with another short English lesson, bye.
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