Learn common English expressions... that come from shoes?!

Batman slowly turned over, and he saw his arch-villain or arch-nemesis, the Joker.

Hey.

Sorry.

James from engVid.

Just reading about the Batman.

And Batman is famous for having his utility belt and tools to solve crimes.

I'm going to use this shoe to teach you some vocabulary and some idioms.

You guys ready?

Or and some phrases.

You ready?

Let's go.

Use this shoe.

"Wa-cha."

All right, so Mr. E says: "I'm a shoo-in for this job."

What the heck does he mean?

He's actually wearing a nice pair of shoes, so it must be something serious.

Let's go to the board and find out.

Hmm.

Here is a shoe, and you may notice in brown I have put one, two, three, four things about

a shoe you may not know.

I know you know what a shoe is-right?-basically, but did you know that these things here, we

call them "laces"?

Yeah, that's what you tie up.

Someone will say: "Do up your laces."

But there's also an idiom that comes from this.

Now, what do you call the back of the shoe?

We call that "the heel".

Right?

The heel of the shoe.

Now, this part you can't really see, but it's the part that bends like this, we call that

"the arch".

That's where your foot kind of goes like this.

And then finally, this is "the sole".

Now, I'm not talking about the soul that goes to Heaven.

Right?

I'm not talking about the soul that goes to Heaven, I'm talking about the sole of your foot.

So, it's heel, arch which is the middle part, and then the sole, and we've got our laces,

and now we're ready to do our lesson.

Let's go.

So, let's start with the shoe itself, the whole shoe and nothing but the shoe.

The first one I want to talk to you about is about a "goody two-shoes".

Now, if you're a goody two-shoes, it means you're a good, good person.

You know, the person who does all their homework, comes on time, is very nice to everybody.

You might be religious even, I don't know, but you're a really, really, really good person.

You don't smoke, you don't drink.

I know, if you're an engVid watcher, that's not you.

Okay?

Because you're on the internet, so I don't know what you're up to.

But a goody two-shoes only does good things, never does bad things; no bad words, no alcohol,

no anything that's bad.

Goody two-shoes are usually children.

Okay?

The next one I want to talk to you about with the shoe is "a shoo-in".

And notice I said: "shoo-in".

It looks like the word "shoe" here, but it's spelt differently, which might be a bit confusing.

Well, that's because when we as English people say it, we don't really think of this particular

verb, but we use the word, and when we use it we mean...

If someone's a shoo-in, and usually for a job or a situation...

He's a shoo-in for...

To be her girl...

Boyfriend.

She is a shoo-in for the job.

When we say it what we mean is they are the person candidate or the perfect person to

get it.

Okay?

So, if you're going for a job, and let's say you're a lady and you're going for a job,

and go: "She's a shoo-in for the job.

She's got the right education, she has the right connections, she has the right experience."

We mean you're the perfect one for the job.

Now, remember I said it looks like this, but it's not like that?

I've got to give you the real meaning behind it.

See, this "shoo-in" comes from horseracing.

You know horses?

Well, way back what would happen is horses would be racing and then one horse was...

That was winning would kind of go back and fall back, and the second horse would win,

and it would become the winner, and it was called the shoo-in.

"Well, why?" you're thinking: "That's like perfect candidate, right?"

Not exactly.

This is in what we call the fixed race.

It means that the first person in the race...

So let me get you some markers so you can see the difference.

This horse was winning, but it was cheating.

Then it would stop and slow down to let the other horse win, that way people would make

money on this horse.

Boo.

Bah.

Yes, but this would still get the job and win.

So, over time we took the idea from horseracing: "shoo-in", the person who would win and then

we'd say: "Whoever gets the job, or the girl, or whatever is a shoo-in" because they were

guaranteed to win, just like this one would let it win, that's where "shoo-in" comes from.

Yeah.

Sometimes it's better not to know the history of things.

But now you can impress your friends because when they say: "You're a shoo-in", you can

say: "Do you know what 'shoo-in', where it comes from and what it really means?

Are you trying to say I'm cheating for this job?"

All right, see?

There.

It's nice to know.

Okay, so that's "shoo-in", but it will be pronounced like this.

And in modern times if someone says: "You're a shoo-in for this job", what they're trying

to tell you is: "Hey, it's yours.

You've got everything that is necessary to get it."

Cool?

All right.

Next, let's move to the laces.

Remember the laces?

These funny things, laces?

Sometimes they look like string.

All right?

So sometimes we say: "string".

Different laces look different.

These ones are laces.

If they're really, really tiny and look like string, you might call them "shoe string".

Similar, but now you know.

So let's go and look at these.

Now, I've got a couple.

When it looks like a string, we say: "shoestring budget".

What's a shoestring budget?

Well, a string is really, really, really small and fine.

Ah, you know what?

This is like a string.

See how small this is?

This could be like a shoe string.

Hopefully you can see that.

If you can see that, it's so small it means there's nothing to it, there's not very much.

There's nothing much to it.

So when we say: "You're on a shoestring budget" it means you don't have a lot of money.

All right?

You want to go shopping, but you only have, if you're in America, 10...

America or Canada, you have $5.

You can't buy very much with it, so you go: "I'm on a shoestring budget."

Or if you wanted to go to a movie or you wanted to go on vacation, you say: "I have $300."

Well, that's a shoestring budget, not very much, so I have to be careful with my money.

How about laces?

Well, when I showed you the lace, which is different, if somebody "laces into you", it

means: "Boom", like attacked you.

What?

Yeah, man, I was walking on the street and I saw this one guy lace into another guy.

"Boom, boomday, boomday."

It means hit him.

Hit him, hit him hard.

"Lace into" means to attack.

So, if somebody laced into me, for instance: "The boss laced into me about my project",

it means attacked in a negative way.

He might have said: "That wasn't good.

This wasn't good.

I don't know why you did this.

Bah-bah-bah-bah- -bah-bah-bah-bah".

"Lace into somebody", okay?

So: "The boss laced into him".

"Lace up", that's a funny one.

See my shoes?

"Lace them up" means put the laces in the shoes.

And if you lace them up, then...

Lace them up and tie them.

Usually you hear this one more in boxing, when they say: "Lace up the gloves", it means

put these things in the gloves and then tie it so you can fight.

Sometimes your trainer has to lace up your gloves.

Okay?

So now we've done "shoe" and "lace".

Let's go to the bottom of the foot, the sole of the foot.

That's the bottom, the sole of the foot.

In this case, "sole" is one big thing.

In the church they talk about the soul, and the soul is the part...

You, it's essentially you, one thing.

And when we talk about the sole of a shoe, we mean it's one thing.

So, "sole" in this case means one thing.

"Sole purpose" means it only has one...

One job it can do.

"Your sole purpose here is to make me happy", that means your only job here is to make me

happy.

"Mr. E is the sole authority on cameras."

It means Mr. E is the only one who knows about cameras.

Not only one, knows the most and can tell everybody about it.

So, if you're the sole authority, you're numero uno, you're the one person that everybody

goes to because everybody knows you know, you're the authority.

"Sole survivor", oo, this is not a good one.

But if an airplane crashes somewhere, what that means if you're the sole survivor - everybody

died but you.

You're the only one alive.

If you work in a company, and they fire...

They get rid of...

"You're fired!"

Okay.

"You're fired, you're fired!"

Does that remind you of anybody?

"You're fired, and she's fired!"

Right?

Like on The Apprentice, and you're the sole survivor, you're the only one left after everyone's

fired.

Okay?

Now, do you remember the arch?

We talked about the arch.

Now, I want to talk to you about the arch because the "arch" or "ark" some people will

say, the arch is in a structure.

They found this in Rome, that if you put a little kind of half circle, it can support

a lot of weight.

So they have an arch support in your shoe so you can stand and be strong.

Okay?

It's usually inside the shoe.

You'll notice this word: "arch" is in "architecture", which is in buildings because they take the

idea of arch support, which is design, and they put in architecture.

All right?

Cool, right?

So it's design.

Design.

Now, I put "arch-villain" here, and when I did that I put two of these things to explain

to you.

"Arch" also means mischievous or cunning, which could be very bad.

A cunning person is a clever or smart person, but in not a nice way.

And "mischievous" means someone who acts in a little bit of a bad way.

Right?

So, if you put "mischievous" and "bad" with "arch", it has another meaning which means

chief or first, when you get something like the word "arch-villain"... Batman's arch-villain

is the Joker.

He's his first villain, number one villain, and he is smart and he is bad.

Arch-villain.

You'll see "arch" before a lot of things for that very reason, because they're either trying

to tell you it's first or it's bad.

Now, you can also talk about "arch" as being old.

Right?

But that's another thing we'll go into another time.

But here I want to show you this one: "arch" is first and chief, and that's why we have

"monarch".

A monarch is a king or a queen.

"Mono" meaning one and "arch" meaning first.

So, one leader, "monarch".

Cool, huh?

Now you're learning about history as well as vocabulary.

And finally I want to touch on the back part of the shoe, the heel.

That's the back part of your foot as well.

Right?

So, the arch is part of your foot as well as a shoe, and the heel is the back part of

your foot.

"Achilles' heel", that's right around here.

An Achilles' heel is a weakness.

If you have an Achilles' wheel...

Heel, it's something that makes you weak.

Example: My Achilles' heel is chocolate.

Anybody who knows me knows I love chocolate.

I told you, anybody who knows me.

See?

That came from nowhere, like magic.

I love chocolate, I'm sorry.

That's my Achilles' heel.

"Bring someone to heel".

If you've ever had a dog, when you say to the dog: "Here, boy, here.

Come here.

Stay.

Sit."

That dog does what you say it does.

If someone says: "We need to bring Mr. heel...

Mr. E to heel, it means Mr. E is doing whatever he wants to do, and we're going to say: 'Stop

it.

You must listen to me.

You must obey me.'"

So, if a wife says: "I need to bring my husband to heel", it means: "Husband, here.

Now.

Sit.

Roll over.

Play dead."

[Laughs] Or it could be the reverse, I don't know.

But "to bring someone to heel" means that they are out of control and you need to control

them.

So, let's talk about the last one: "heels".

Heels are shoes that make people appear taller.

Usually they're worn by women.

Guys, don't say you wear heels.

You're not a woman.

Just for women.

In fact, you know what I'm talking about because heels look like this.

All right?

And, guys, you know you don't wear shoes like that.

Right?

Those are women...

Oh.

Another Achilles' heel besides the fact I love chocolate is I made a spelling mistake.

Sometimes I make many spelling mistakes, but this time I caught it.

I'm going to change the "a" here because Achilles' heel comes from a Greek myth about a person

who couldn't be killed, and their heel was a point they could be killed on, that's why

it's called Achilles' heel.

So this is actually his name.

It's the Achilles' tendon, but we use his name to describe this area.

And also, this is possessive, so it's "Achilles' heel" because we don't really like...

Not all the time in English do people go: "Achilleses heel", and they drop that and

just put it there, so it goes: "Achilles' heel".

Cool?

All right.

Sorry about that, guys, I made a break there.

But, hey, you got Achilles' heel twice, James has two weaknesses.

You can send me chocolate and all your spelling mistakes.

All right, so we've got that, we've done "architect", and as you know, this is never the end of

the lesson.

We've got a quiz, a bonus, and something else coming up.

Are you ready?

Let's go.

[Snaps]

Okay, so we worked on our shoe, so let's see if we remember our idioms and our vocab.

But before we do that, I've got a bonus for you.

In the bonus section, that'll be one, two, three other things that have to do with shoes.

Now, these aren't exactly shoes, but they are things we do with shoes.

Number one: "laced with".

When something is laced with something else, we add to it and it's usually actually drugs

or alcohol.

So if you're drinking a coffee, and you're like: "Oof, this is laced with something",

it's probably going to be alcohol, like a Blueberry Tea or a Long Island Iced Tea where

we say it's laced, someone has added alcohol.

In a more negative way of thinking, if something's laced with drugs, maybe you're out with a

friend and they're talking about business, and they don't like that you don't agree with

them and you want to do something.

You come back...

You go to the washroom, you come back.

You start eating some more food, and you start going: "Oh, my head.

The room is spinning."

And you go: "You laced this food with drugs."

They laced it with drugs, they put drugs in the food to make you tired or sick.

Okay, so: "laced with" is usually either going to be drugs or alcohol, and usually have a

negative meaning; not a good meaning.

"Stepping out in style".

Well, what do you do?

Well, when you take...

When you're wearing your shoes you step, right?

You take steps.

So I know it's not exactly a shoe, but rarely do we go outside of our house with no...

Without wearing shoes.

Right?

Without footwear.

So we have to say: "Stepping out in style", we're talking about a shoe, and it means you

look good.

If you're stepping out in style, probably you have some new shoes, some new...

Another word is "kicks", some new kicks, or you're wearing a suit and we say: "Hey, you're

stepping out in style."

You're leaving your house looking good.

Cool?

It means to leave.

You can think of leaving and looking good.

And finally: "step-by-step guide".

I know I wrote: "a guide", but I didn't have much room so I wanted to explain.

A step-by-step guide means it will be a book or a manual or an individual, a person, will

explain everything you have to do in order.

So: "First you do this, then you do this, then you do this, then you do this, then you

do this."

You get what I'm saying.

It tells you every single thing you have to do in the order you have to do it to make

sure you don't forget or miss anything.

Cool?

So that's what a step-by-step guide does.

So, when I put a guide, it's a guide, and I can put with...

That's got everything.

Everything in it.

Okay?

Even something like as simple as: "Put the cap on the pen."

You're like: "Of course."

I go: "It'll be in the step-by-step guide.

Everything."

Cool?

Now we've done that I'm going to step on this side, and I want to see if you can remember

this.

Ready?

So, let's do the quiz.

"I thought Mr. E was such a little _______."

What?

"...such a little", what?

That's right: "goody two-shoes".

Now, sometimes we add a little thing, we put: "Goody little two-shoes", but I already put

this here.

Right?

Goody little two-shoes, I already put it there, but sometimes people say: "You goody little

two-shoes".

Right?

So if you don't say it at the beginning, you can add it here.

So: "He was a little goody two-shoes".

Next: "However, he really _______ me at the meeting

yesterday."

That's right.

"...laced into", remember?

When we said attack.

Someone laces into you, they attack you.

Okay?

So: "He really laced into me at the meeting yesterday."

What about this one?

"He told everyone that I wasn't the _______"...

Hmm.

Yeah, that was it.

"...sole authority".

Yeah, he said: "You're not the only one who knows.

Someone else knows, too."

Okay?

"...on chocolate.

He said Ronnie", of all people...

If you don't know who Ronnie is, go check out engVid, she's there.

She's really good.

"Ronnie knew more about chocolate and was a _______"...

Come on, you can do it.

Did you say: "shoo-in"?

Smart, but careful.

Yeah, I know, I know, I know, know.

You know, you were just waiting for that, weren't you?

You thought: "Oh no."

Okay, good on you, you listened to the story, you remember "shoo-in" from the horse race.

Smart.

Now, how about this one?

"Damn that Ronnie!

Now she is my new _______."

What?

What would Ronnie be?

Now, there's a few words we can say.

Nemesis, villain, but I'm going to say this: "arch-enemy".

Right?

Like villain, it means my enemy, but arch-enemy, meaning first.

Good on you.

That's one, two, three, four, five.

And I know you're going to go back to the website and check out the quiz you can do.

But before you do that, I'd like you to do one thing.

It's always good to get practice.

A test is good.

I give you a quiz here, that's twice or two things.

Now I want you to do one more thing to help you learn a little bit faster.

All right?

Because the best way to learn is to use, and to use in a way that helps you learn.

I want you to do some homework, and the homework I have for you here is I want you to get a

shoe, okay?

Point out the parts that I talked about, see if you can remember what they're called, and

try to remember at least one thing I told you about that shoe.

Are you the sole provider?

Oh, no?

Sole authority.

Arch-nemesis?

Are you a monarch?

What about heel?

Are you going to be wearing heels tonight?

And was that punch laced or wasn't it?

See?

I can do it, you can.

But it's not as much fun doing it by yourself.

When you're done, go to the website, go to engVid, check out what other people have done.

All right?

Maybe they can teach you something or you can help them as well, because once again,

we are a community and sharing...

Helping is sharing and sharing is helping.

Right?

Anyway, thanks a lot.

I need you to subscribe, so look around here, somewhere around here.

If you could press that subscribe button, that way you could get all the information

and latest videos from myself and my other colleagues, who are wonderful, right in your

mailbox, so you can sit down, open it up, get what you need to learn.

Anyway, have a good one.

It's been fun. Ciao.