Learn English - Vocabulary and expressions about HANDS

119,653 views ・ 2015-04-15

ENGLISH with James


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

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Hi. James, from EngVid, and I'm showing you my hand. It's handy for a reason. Now, I did
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a video earlier on on hands with idioms, just idioms. So go check that out. Fun one. It's
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rather handy. But this video is a little different. It's going to be, sort of, beginner, intermediate
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-- and I'll explain -- simply because the first couple of minutes, Mr. E and I are going
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to explain the parts of the hand. Now, you can skip it if you want and just keep watching
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and go, "Oh, my god. They don't know." But really, sometimes, people don't know. I've
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had students walk up and go, "Teacher, you do this. What is this?" I go, "It's not your
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foot toe. It's not your toe finger. It's something else." Okay? They have names, and we're going
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to work on them right now.
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So the hand -- there. Okay? And we're going to look at the hand and the parts. To start
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off with, you have a thumb. This is this part, you know, the cool one. You've got your index
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finger. "Index" because we use it to point at things. That's why the other name is "pointer".
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Right? Sometimes, we call it "pointer" because we point over or indicate or index. Okay?
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Next one is the middle finger. It's this finger. I can't show it on camera. And if you're 18,
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you can take a peek, but there. Okay? It's your index finger -- sorry. Middle finger.
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Once again, the middle finger. Right? And that's it. So it's the middle one. I'll explain
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what that's for. And the ring finger. Right? You put your rings on this one. It usually
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indicates marriage, funny enough. You're married or you're single. If you have a finger -- finger.
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Hopefully you've fingers because you're typing on the computer. But if you have a ring on
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this finger, on the left hand, it usually means marriage in Western culture. And then,
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you've got the baby finger, the pinky finger. You know? Dr. Evil finger. I will finger you
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with this. No, I won't.
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And what about the rest of the hand? Because these are the fingers, so you know. But then,
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you've got that back of the hand. I call it the business hand. When someone is giving
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you a problem, you go, "You want the business hand or the friend side?" Speaking of which,
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this is the palm. The palm is the inside of the hand. Okay? And the back. So we've got
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that. Now, it's not part of the hand, but very important is the wrist because the wrist
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is where the hand connects to the rest of our body. Cool?
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And doctors like this part. On your wrist, you can find your pulse. That's your heartbeat.
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It's all in your hands, son. It's all in your hands, your whole life. Cool? All right.
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So Mr. E is just demonstrating. You know? He blew it up so you could take a look at
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what his hand looks like. All right? Now, these are called "fingers", by the way. I
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know. Because you're going, "We have all these names, but what do I call all of them together?"
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We call them "fingers". And before I nail this one, do you -- see? Fingernail. Your
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fingernails. Your fingernails -- each one has a little thing here. It's called your
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"fingernail". All right? So you've got fingernails on your fingers. And your forefingers plus
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your thumb -- the thumb is separate. That's why I put these in blue. The thumb is not
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considered a finger. It's considered just a thumb. Your fingers plus your thumb make
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up your hand with your palm, the business end -- the back of the hand. Right -- and
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your wrist. You ready? Let's learn how to use these things, shall we? Let's take a look
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-- a walk. I'm just going to -- there we are. That was fast. Didn't need to do that, did
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I? I should've just turned around. Oh, well.
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Okay. So first thing I want to point out in this lesson, "somebody" and "something". "S/b"
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like this stands for "somebody". It's found in most dictionaries for people learning English
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and people who speak English. That's what it means when you see it. And "sth" like this
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means "something". Just shorthand. Small, quick way to write "somebody" or "something",
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so you know what it means.
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Now, we talk about fingernails, the smallest part of your hands. So why don't we start
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with that? When somebody tells you they're "hanging on by their fingernails", it means
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they're barely surviving. It's almost like everything is going to go away, and they're
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just barely alive. So imagine if you're on a mountain and you're -- and this is the only
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thing touching, it means as soon as these go, you're going to die. So when someone says,
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"How's the job going?" "I'm hanging on by my fingernails." You're like, "Oh, my gosh.
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This is bad. You might lose your job." " Yes. It's true." Right? If somebody's in the hospital
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and you say, "They're hanging on by their fingernails", they're this close to dying,
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very close. So "hanging on by your fingernails", not a good thing. If you're hanging on by
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your fingernails in a relationship, you need a new lover. It's over. All right.
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What about this one? Let's move to the fingers. We've done the fingernail. We'll go to the
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fingers. Well, this. "Have your fingers crossed" -- it means "good luck". "I'll cross my fingers
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for you. Good luck to you. Fingers crossed." " I want to wish you luck", or "good luck
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to you." "Fingers crossed."
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Do you remember we talked about the pulse? I know exactly what's going on. Huh? Well, if this happens,
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I'm dying. And
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I know I'm dying, so I'll start crying. In English, to "have your finger on the pulse"
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is to know what's going on around you. So you know what's important or who's doing what
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-- everything. So when people want to know about something, they go to you because you
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have your finger on the -- "He's doing this. She's going on." There you go. My finger is
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on the pulse. Every time I touch it -- I'm going to have a heart attack. It's dinnertime.
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I know what's going on. So if you say, "He has his finger on the pulse -- like, the news
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-- he knows everything, everywhere. Cool?
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What about this one? When you "give somebody the finger" -- I'm just going to take this
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finger here and give it to you. No. When you give somebody the finger, you do this. Are
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you ready? Nothing up my sleeve. It's going to be a magic trick. Are you watching carefully?
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It's going to happen really quick. Abracadabra, boom! I give you the finger. Want to know
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which one? Slow motion. Oh, yeah. There it is. And it's gone. You got the finger, Son.
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Okay. It's a bad, bad thing. Please forgive me, mommy. I gave the finger to the world.
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It means, "Eff off." And I'm sure you can fill in the blanks what that means. So when
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someone goes in -- you know, any Western country, you're driving fast, you go -- they're telling
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you to eff off. Because you can't hear them, they're going to signal it to you. Okay? That's
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what that means. So if you're giving someone the finger -- "I'm giving him the finger."
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E, I'm giving you the finger. So you can't see me doing it, but Mr. E is very upset now.
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Okay?
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Now, this is different than when somebody uses "finger" as a verb. When you want to
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tell people that someone has done something or they're a bad person, we call -- you "finger"
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them. You finger them because you take your indicator finger and you say, "He did it."
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And I go, "He's fingering you." Look at the finger pointing at you. Yes, you, viewer.
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I'm pointing at you. I'm fingering you saying you're watching these videos. It's true. I
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fingered you. But we must be very careful because we also have an another meaning for
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"finger". And if you're under 18, please leave. If you "finger" somebody, it also means to
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put your finger or fingers on a private place. You know, the place down here. It could be
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a Venus -- Venus. I'm so nervous. It's sex. Watch Ronnie's video on sex. She's much better
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at it than I am. But it could be on the vagina, the woman's part, or the penis, the man's
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part. And when you finger it, you touch it and, you know, get it excited. Anyway. You
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don't need to know more. So when you finger someone -- if someone said, "He fingered that
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girl", you can go, "She's not in trouble, is she?" No. He sexually touched her. Or a
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girl can finger a guy. You figure that one out for yourself. Okay. So it's to place your
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finger on someone's private parts during sex. Yes.
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"On the other hand" -- let's talk about something else. On the other hand means a different
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option or a different way of thinking. So if I say to you, "This is good. Blah, blah,
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blah. But on the other hand" -- I have two hands, so it means I have two ways of thinking.
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I can say that, you know, being a virgin is a good thing. But on the other hand, getting
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experience is also good. I'm talking about two different things. Working in a foreign
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country is great for experience. On the other hand, it costs you lots of money. Two different
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things. Two options. So we say on the other hand to consider or think about what else
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could be done or is happening.
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Now, "wash one's hand of something". When you wash your hands, you want to get them
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clean, right? Usually, when I wash my hands of something, I want nothing to do with it.
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You wash your hands to the bet rid of the dirt. The dirt could be a person or a thing.
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If your parents -- or if you're a parent, you could say, "I wash my hands of you." "You
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are no longer in my life. Like the dirt, the water has taken you away. I no longer think
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about you." If you say "I washed my hands of this situation", "I will not participate.
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I will not be part of -- I will not do this anymore." Cool? I know you've got people you
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want to talk to. Give them the finger and say, "I wash my" -- yeah. I know you're learning.
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That's what we're here for, to help you, give you a hand in learning. Another one. That
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means to help.
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Now, I insist. -- it's not a Chinese movie. No. So if you're watching, Chinese people
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and going, "Yes", no. It's not. But it is a comic book character whom I like a lot,
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Iron Fist. Okay? But if you put it in a velvet glove -- a "glove" is something we wear when
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it's cold out to keep our hands arm. And velvet is so soft and sweet and lovely. When you
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have an iron fist in a velvet glove, it means you are a strong authoritarian. You want to
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tell people what to do and how to do it. But you put on a nice glove and act nice. "And
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I stomp on your heart." Okay? So when someone says, "He has an iron fist -- he rules with
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an iron fist", it means they rule strongly, and they don't care about the people. But
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they do care about getting things done. But "in a velvet glove" means but they pretend
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to be nice and soft when they're really hard. Okay?
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So I hope you enjoyed this lesson. Mr. E is proud of his hand. And he's had a hand in
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this. I told you. Watch the video. It will explain it all. Anyway. I've got to get going.
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I think we've done this correctly. I know. Hanging on my fingernails. I've only got so
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much time to get this all done. You have a great day, but before you go, I'm going to
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count on my fingers here. Which ones are they? My pinky, the ring, and my index -- you know
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this finger. You know this one. Okay? Www.engvid.com, "Eng" as in "English", "vid" as in "video",
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where you can go and watch this video and other videos and do the quiz. Don't forget
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to subscribe. Subscribe. I can speak English. Don't forget to subscribe, okay?
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It's been a pleasure. See you soon. Bye, guys.
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Giving you the finger.
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