Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.
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Baseball is officially the national sport in the US.
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It’s called “the national pastime”,
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and we call the baseball championship “The World Series”
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even if only Americans play.
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Baseball has certainly given American English a lot of idiomatic expressions.
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They’re so common, that we
don’t even think about them as
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special expressions when we use them.
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I’m Christina and you’re watching Speak Better, Feel Great TV.
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The place to boost your English
and boost your career.
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In this video, you’re going to learn
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4 common baseball idioms Americans
use
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everyday in business.
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Ya ready?
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everybody knows what it means to strike out right ?
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No
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everybody doesn't know what that means
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Here are the 4 baseball-inspired idioms that you’ll learn today
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This means
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“an approximate number”.
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If Bob your American colleague says
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“Can you give me a ballpark figure on how much this is gonna cost?”
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He wants to know an approximate price.
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Nothing precise,
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just an estimation.
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“A ballpark figure”
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Careful,
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this may be a warning!
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In baseball, the person hitting the
ball has 3 chances to actually hit the ball.
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If he doesn’t hit the ball after the 3rd chance,
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he is eliminated.
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So if an American tells you
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“Careful, Philippe.
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Three strikes and you’re out”,
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it probably means that you have made some mistakes
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and only have one more chance to succeed.
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“Three strikes,
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and you’re out!”
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If your American project manager says
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“Marie-Pierre, can you touch base with Alain on his progress?”
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the manager wants you to contact Alain and talk briefly with him
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about his progress.
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“To touch base with someone” basically means
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“to talk briefly about a subject”,
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usually to get news
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or to give news.
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“To touch base with someone”
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It’s never a good thing to strike out, really.
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“Strike out” means
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“to be unsuccessful” at something.
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If the person hitting the ball in baseball doesn’t succeed,
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he strikes out.
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Now careful,
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it’s an irregular verb
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and we often use it
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in the past.
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Your American colleague might say
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“We really struck out on this one.
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What happened?!”
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Try not to strike out!
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And that’s the last play for today!
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Before we finish, a little test. We’ll call it
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the Word Series of Baseball idioms.
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Word Series, World series, see the joke?
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Nevermind…
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Try to complete the idioms:
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I'll say the first part
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and you try to remember the second part.
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What about you? Did you know these idioms before watching this video?
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Or do you know any other idioms inspired by sports?
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Share them with us
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in the comments below!
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and maybe you can teach
something to other viewers of Speak Better, Feel Great TV!
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Do you have a colleague who works with Americans?
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Do them a big favor and share this video with them!
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They’ll thank you for it, I’m sure!
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And if you’re not already a member,
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join The Speak Better, Feel Great Community at christinarebuffet.com.
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You’ll get a short video every week,
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plus some extra bonuses,
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so you can improve your English even if you don’t have
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a lot of free time!
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I’m Christina, from Speak Better, Feel Great TV.
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See ya next time!
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