English Expressions: Talking about good and bad habits

Is somebody smoking in here? E, are you smoking again? What a nasty habit. "Habit". I want

to teach you a new vocabulary word: "habit", and I'm going to teach you what it means,

how to pronounce it, some idioms that go with it, a couple of other phrases we use to talk

about habits, and then we're going to do a little test with some collocations. You ready?

Let's go to the board.

Habit. Notice he said: "What a nasty habit." Well, what does that mean exactly? "Ha-bit",

"habit", that's the proper way to say it when you see this word. It's a usual way of acting,

so it's something you do on a very regular basis or you do it all the time. You will

notice the word "habit" when we talk about the simple present because we use the word

"habit" or simple present to talk about our habits. I like to eat hamburgers. It's like

a habit. Not exactly, but you get the point. I do it regularly. I work at this school.

It's like a habit because I do it regularly, or it's my usual way of acting or doing something.

So now you can see why I'm teaching you this word because we use that word to talk about

the simple present, which is grammar. You got a free grammar lesson there, son. I hope

you're happy.

Let's go back to the second meaning. Something a person has done repeatedly until they don't

have to think... Think when they do it. So, sometimes you're like... And someone goes:

-"You're biting your nails." -"Oh. I didn't notice. It's a habit." It's a bad habit. There

are good habits, by the way, and I'm going to just quickly talk on them before I go over

here. Good habits are things like going to bed early. Right? Or studying with engVid,

studying your English every night to make sure you get better at English. These are

good habits. Brushing your teeth. Right? You know, remember: The habits you have will help

you become the person you want to be. Keep that in mind. Okay? Now, as I finish that,

let's go to the board and talk about habits.

See this one? This is Dracula. [Laughs] I want to bite your neck. He's a creature. You

might say monster, but in this case, creature, monster, or animal. A "creature of habit"

is somebody who likes routine. They like doing regular things. It brings them comfort or

makes them happy. So some people like to go to work, after work come home, sit down, grab

a beer, put the television on, and that's what they like to do. They don't want to party,

they don't want to go see their friends or play video games. They want one or two beers,

watch TV, go to bed. Creatures of habit. They like routine, they don't like it changed.

Okay?

Number two. Hi-ya. That's a hand. Okay? This is wood. So sometimes in karate you see people

go: "Ah-ya! Poof", and they break things. When you "break a habit" or if you need to

break a habit it means end, stop the habit. You're tired of doing something like biting

your nails. You go: "I need to end this. No more, no more, no more. I need to break that

habit. It's embarrassing. It makes me feel bad or look bad." So you need to break habits.

Remember, there are good habits, but to be honest, when we usually talk about habit in

English it's usually bad habits. If you talk too much about your good habits, we think

you're bragging or saying how good you are. "I save all of my money. I'm so good at saving

my money. I'm the best." This reminds me of somebody. "I'm the best saver in the world.

I'm the best doer of homework in the world. I always do my homework." I'll probably say:

"Shut up. I don't want to hear anymore." We like to talk about our bad habits, and we

tend to or we have a habit-[laughs]-of keeping our good habits to ourselves so people don't

get angry.

Number three: "force of habit". Think of Superman. Dunh-dunh-dunh-dunh. Is very powerful, right?

Can do many things. A force of habit means your habit, the repeated behaviour is so strong

that you don't think about doing it. I mean, sorry, it just happens without you thinking

about it. You know? I mean, sometimes you just have a... Oh, it's force of habit. I

didn't even know I was doing that. It just went to my mouth. So, a force of habit means

I'm so used to doing it or I do it so much that sometimes I just, you know, I'm talking

to people, I'm going... Oh, I did it again. The force of habit is so strong with me it

happens all the time.

How about number four? Have you ever tried to change or stop a habit, something you do

regularly, but you have a really hard time doing it? We say this one is "old habits die

hard". You can see the old man and the gun. Bang, bang, bang, bang, and the old man keeps

getting up. You shoot him, he gets up again and he gets up again. You're like: "It won't

die." I don't know what it really means... But oh, crap. See? I tried to stop the habit

and it came back. This habit won't die. When you say: "Old habits die hard", it means it's

very difficult to change. I want to change, but it's very difficult. Okay?

And how about number five? Kick. When you "kick a habit"... See? My man saying: "Ow!"

It means to end it. It is similar to "break a habit". If you notice, there's either a

foot or a hand being used to stop or break something, like this. Break the habit. Stop

it. Okay?

Now, there are a couple ways to talk about habits without actually using the word "habit"

so you don't have to keep repeating: "creature of habit", "break a habit", "force of habit",

"old habits die hard", or "kicking a habit". Sometimes we say: "to fall back into". If

you fall back into old habits or fall back into it, it means you go back to your old

habit. So maybe I used to smoke, I stopped for 10 years, and one day I'm at a party having

fun, have a beer and I go: "Hey, I'll have a cigarette." I just fell back into my old

habit. I went back to doing something I stopped doing. Okay? You don't want to fall back into

old habits.

Another one is to "have an urge". An "urge" means to have a strong desire or wish to do

something. Now, an urge can sometimes be okay, but in the case of habits it means if you

haven't had a cigarette and you're like: "I have an urge to smoke", it means the habit

is still inside me and it wants to come out, and it's very strong so it makes me want to

do something. Remember we said you do it so much that you don't think and just do it?

When you have an urge it's almost like something is coming inside or out of you, going: "Do

it. Do it. You want to do it." So if you have a strong urge for, like, junk food, fast food,

that's a bad habit. Right? So you're like: "Oh man, I want a burger. I want a burger.

I want a burger. I got an urge for a burger." My habit is to eat junk food, and now I want

one. A strong desire or wish for it. Hmm.

Leading me to talk about habits. What kind of habits do you have, good ones or bad ones?

Why don't we go do a test and take a look at some bad habits people might have. Ready?

[Snaps]

Okay, so we talked about habits and I wanted to give you some, you know, what we call some

bad habits that people do, and I've got them over here. So why don't we talk about bad

habits for a second? Okay, swearing. When you say, like: "[Makes noises]", you know,

all those bad words and they bleep them... Bleep means they take them out, so: "F you",

or: "Ah, sh__", that's swearing. Now, if you're really angry, it's... You know, it happens.

You hit your foot: "Oh, damn!" But if you say every second word is a bad word or a swear

word, that's a bad habit. You really should stop because your mother taught you better

than that.

Nail biting. You seen me this whole video doing this. Many people think it's bad because,

well, under your nails is dirty and if you bite them you put the dirt inside and it could

make you sick. Smoking. James Dean, go look it up, he was cool when he smoked. But smoking

can sometimes make you sick and it makes other people go: "Ew", so that's a bad habit. Eating

fast food. I didn't get this great body of mine by eating carrots. I love hamburgers

and pizza, just like you. And if you eat too much fast food, like McDonald's or Burger

King, too much of it's not good for you. It's a bad habit. You should really eat good, healthy

foods like apples, oranges, you know, potatoes.

Pick your nose. Okay? I can't do it, I'm not going to, but here. See? I'm getting it deep.

See? Look. Right in there now. Picking your nose. Some people eat it, too. Picking your

nose is a bad habit. I once saw someone do that on a subway in Toronto. They picked it,

ate it, and put their hand, and I was like: "Okay, not touching that. Not touching that.

That's disgusting." Watching too much porn. Oh yes. I know you're on the internet, I know

you're watching me now. Don't do it. Stick with the English lessons. Okay? You need to

get a job or learn English. So watching too much.

Good habits, eating healthy food. Broccoli, cauliflower, celery, having your apples. Drinking

water, that's a good habit. Good habit to have, cleans you, makes you feel good. Exercise,

working out, going to the gym. Another good habit, watching engVid once a day, take a

video. Right? Okay? No more pandering. You're here already.

So, these are habits, both good and bad, but they give you the idea of repeated behaviour

that we do. And remember: If you repeat it enough, that's who you become. If you do too

many bad habits regularly you become a person you're not too happy with. If you do a lot

of good habits regularly you become a person you're happy to be. I know it sounds, you

know, but it tends to be true. Right? Anyway, enough life lessons. Let's go to the board.

Time to test your habits for studying or habits of studying.

Let's do number one or A: "old habits die hard", hard, what would that be? Did you say:

"difficult to end a habit"? Yeah. Remember the old man? Difficult to kill. Right? Difficult

to end a habit.

What about number B? "Break a habit". Remember? Break. If you do remember it, you remember

it is four: "end a habit". That's good, you're doing well.

Let's see the next one. C: "a creature of habit". That's right, "to do something because

you like the routine". It makes you feel comfortable and happy. That would be number two. You're

a creature of habit. You like the things that make you feel good.

How about D? "Force of habit". Oh, sorry. That's right, it's so strong you do it without

thinking, that's a force of habit, biting my nails.

And the last one is: "fall back into", what? Yeah, I know, it's right there, number one.

It means to "return to old behaviours" or old habits.

Well, I hope you enjoyed the lesson and you learned how to say "habit", pronounce it,

its meaning, a few idioms, a couple of bad habits and good ones, and I'm going to give

you a place that you can go practice doing a quiz and keeping up your study habits. So

go to www.engvid or "eng" as in English, "vid" as in video. And I want to say thank you once

again. And don't forget to subscribe, okay? So touch your screen, touch with your pen

or your finger and subscribe. Look forward to seeing you soon.