Learn English - Vocabulary and expressions about HANDS

Hi. James, from EngVid, and I'm showing you my hand. It's handy for a reason. Now, I did

a video earlier on on hands with idioms, just idioms. So go check that out. Fun one. It's

rather handy. But this video is a little different. It's going to be, sort of, beginner, intermediate

-- and I'll explain -- simply because the first couple of minutes, Mr. E and I are going

to explain the parts of the hand. Now, you can skip it if you want and just keep watching

and go, "Oh, my god. They don't know." But really, sometimes, people don't know. I've

had students walk up and go, "Teacher, you do this. What is this?" I go, "It's not your

foot toe. It's not your toe finger. It's something else." Okay? They have names, and we're going

to work on them right now.

So the hand -- there. Okay? And we're going to look at the hand and the parts. To start

off with, you have a thumb. This is this part, you know, the cool one. You've got your index

finger. "Index" because we use it to point at things. That's why the other name is "pointer".

Right? Sometimes, we call it "pointer" because we point over or indicate or index. Okay?

Next one is the middle finger. It's this finger. I can't show it on camera. And if you're 18,

you can take a peek, but there. Okay? It's your index finger -- sorry. Middle finger.

Once again, the middle finger. Right? And that's it. So it's the middle one. I'll explain

what that's for. And the ring finger. Right? You put your rings on this one. It usually

indicates marriage, funny enough. You're married or you're single. If you have a finger -- finger.

Hopefully you've fingers because you're typing on the computer. But if you have a ring on

this finger, on the left hand, it usually means marriage in Western culture. And then,

you've got the baby finger, the pinky finger. You know? Dr. Evil finger. I will finger you

with this. No, I won't.

And what about the rest of the hand? Because these are the fingers, so you know. But then,

you've got that back of the hand. I call it the business hand. When someone is giving

you a problem, you go, "You want the business hand or the friend side?" Speaking of which,

this is the palm. The palm is the inside of the hand. Okay? And the back. So we've got

that. Now, it's not part of the hand, but very important is the wrist because the wrist

is where the hand connects to the rest of our body. Cool?

And doctors like this part. On your wrist, you can find your pulse. That's your heartbeat.

It's all in your hands, son. It's all in your hands, your whole life. Cool? All right.

So Mr. E is just demonstrating. You know? He blew it up so you could take a look at

what his hand looks like. All right? Now, these are called "fingers", by the way. I

know. Because you're going, "We have all these names, but what do I call all of them together?"

We call them "fingers". And before I nail this one, do you -- see? Fingernail. Your

fingernails. Your fingernails -- each one has a little thing here. It's called your

"fingernail". All right? So you've got fingernails on your fingers. And your forefingers plus

your thumb -- the thumb is separate. That's why I put these in blue. The thumb is not

considered a finger. It's considered just a thumb. Your fingers plus your thumb make

up your hand with your palm, the business end -- the back of the hand. Right -- and

your wrist. You ready? Let's learn how to use these things, shall we? Let's take a look

-- a walk. I'm just going to -- there we are. That was fast. Didn't need to do that, did

I? I should've just turned around. Oh, well.

Okay. So first thing I want to point out in this lesson, "somebody" and "something". "S/b"

like this stands for "somebody". It's found in most dictionaries for people learning English

and people who speak English. That's what it means when you see it. And "sth" like this

means "something". Just shorthand. Small, quick way to write "somebody" or "something",

so you know what it means.

Now, we talk about fingernails, the smallest part of your hands. So why don't we start

with that? When somebody tells you they're "hanging on by their fingernails", it means

they're barely surviving. It's almost like everything is going to go away, and they're

just barely alive. So imagine if you're on a mountain and you're -- and this is the only

thing touching, it means as soon as these go, you're going to die. So when someone says,

"How's the job going?" "I'm hanging on by my fingernails." You're like, "Oh, my gosh.

This is bad. You might lose your job." " Yes. It's true." Right? If somebody's in the hospital

and you say, "They're hanging on by their fingernails", they're this close to dying,

very close. So "hanging on by your fingernails", not a good thing. If you're hanging on by

your fingernails in a relationship, you need a new lover. It's over. All right.

What about this one? Let's move to the fingers. We've done the fingernail. We'll go to the

fingers. Well, this. "Have your fingers crossed" -- it means "good luck". "I'll cross my fingers

for you. Good luck to you. Fingers crossed." " I want to wish you luck", or "good luck

to you." "Fingers crossed."

Do you remember we talked about the pulse? I know exactly what's going on. Huh? Well, if this happens,

I'm dying. And

I know I'm dying, so I'll start crying. In English, to "have your finger on the pulse"

is to know what's going on around you. So you know what's important or who's doing what

-- everything. So when people want to know about something, they go to you because you

have your finger on the -- "He's doing this. She's going on." There you go. My finger is

on the pulse. Every time I touch it -- I'm going to have a heart attack. It's dinnertime.

I know what's going on. So if you say, "He has his finger on the pulse -- like, the news

-- he knows everything, everywhere. Cool?

What about this one? When you "give somebody the finger" -- I'm just going to take this

finger here and give it to you. No. When you give somebody the finger, you do this. Are

you ready? Nothing up my sleeve. It's going to be a magic trick. Are you watching carefully?

It's going to happen really quick. Abracadabra, boom! I give you the finger. Want to know

which one? Slow motion. Oh, yeah. There it is. And it's gone. You got the finger, Son.

Okay. It's a bad, bad thing. Please forgive me, mommy. I gave the finger to the world.

It means, "Eff off." And I'm sure you can fill in the blanks what that means. So when

someone goes in -- you know, any Western country, you're driving fast, you go -- they're telling

you to eff off. Because you can't hear them, they're going to signal it to you. Okay? That's

what that means. So if you're giving someone the finger -- "I'm giving him the finger."

E, I'm giving you the finger. So you can't see me doing it, but Mr. E is very upset now.

Okay?

Now, this is different than when somebody uses "finger" as a verb. When you want to

tell people that someone has done something or they're a bad person, we call -- you "finger"

them. You finger them because you take your indicator finger and you say, "He did it."

And I go, "He's fingering you." Look at the finger pointing at you. Yes, you, viewer.

I'm pointing at you. I'm fingering you saying you're watching these videos. It's true. I

fingered you. But we must be very careful because we also have an another meaning for

"finger". And if you're under 18, please leave. If you "finger" somebody, it also means to

put your finger or fingers on a private place. You know, the place down here. It could be

a Venus -- Venus. I'm so nervous. It's sex. Watch Ronnie's video on sex. She's much better

at it than I am. But it could be on the vagina, the woman's part, or the penis, the man's

part. And when you finger it, you touch it and, you know, get it excited. Anyway. You

don't need to know more. So when you finger someone -- if someone said, "He fingered that

girl", you can go, "She's not in trouble, is she?" No. He sexually touched her. Or a

girl can finger a guy. You figure that one out for yourself. Okay. So it's to place your

finger on someone's private parts during sex. Yes.

"On the other hand" -- let's talk about something else. On the other hand means a different

option or a different way of thinking. So if I say to you, "This is good. Blah, blah,

blah. But on the other hand" -- I have two hands, so it means I have two ways of thinking.

I can say that, you know, being a virgin is a good thing. But on the other hand, getting

experience is also good. I'm talking about two different things. Working in a foreign

country is great for experience. On the other hand, it costs you lots of money. Two different

things. Two options. So we say on the other hand to consider or think about what else

could be done or is happening.

Now, "wash one's hand of something". When you wash your hands, you want to get them

clean, right? Usually, when I wash my hands of something, I want nothing to do with it.

You wash your hands to the bet rid of the dirt. The dirt could be a person or a thing.

If your parents -- or if you're a parent, you could say, "I wash my hands of you." "You

are no longer in my life. Like the dirt, the water has taken you away. I no longer think

about you." If you say "I washed my hands of this situation", "I will not participate.

I will not be part of -- I will not do this anymore." Cool? I know you've got people you

want to talk to. Give them the finger and say, "I wash my" -- yeah. I know you're learning.

That's what we're here for, to help you, give you a hand in learning. Another one. That

means to help.

Now, I insist. -- it's not a Chinese movie. No. So if you're watching, Chinese people

and going, "Yes", no. It's not. But it is a comic book character whom I like a lot,

Iron Fist. Okay? But if you put it in a velvet glove -- a "glove" is something we wear when

it's cold out to keep our hands arm. And velvet is so soft and sweet and lovely. When you

have an iron fist in a velvet glove, it means you are a strong authoritarian. You want to

tell people what to do and how to do it. But you put on a nice glove and act nice. "And

I stomp on your heart." Okay? So when someone says, "He has an iron fist -- he rules with

an iron fist", it means they rule strongly, and they don't care about the people. But

they do care about getting things done. But "in a velvet glove" means but they pretend

to be nice and soft when they're really hard. Okay?

So I hope you enjoyed this lesson. Mr. E is proud of his hand. And he's had a hand in

this. I told you. Watch the video. It will explain it all. Anyway. I've got to get going.

I think we've done this correctly. I know. Hanging on my fingernails. I've only got so

much time to get this all done. You have a great day, but before you go, I'm going to

count on my fingers here. Which ones are they? My pinky, the ring, and my index -- you know

this finger. You know this one. Okay? Www.engvid.com, "Eng" as in "English", "vid" as in "video",

where you can go and watch this video and other videos and do the quiz. Don't forget

to subscribe. Subscribe. I can speak English. Don't forget to subscribe, okay?

It's been a pleasure. See you soon. Bye, guys.

Giving you the finger.