English Listening Practice: Talking about Winter - (The English Like A Native Podcast)

Now, today it is freezing cold.

Freezing cold.

It's interesting because we can say it's cold.

And we can say it's freezing, but we often put those two together when

we want to say that it's very cold.

We say it's freezing cold.

Actually, I think it's interesting because we use the phrase freezing cold

even when it's not actually below zero.

When the temperature is above zero, but still quite low,

perhaps it's five degrees.

Then we might say, oh, it's freezing cold, or I'm freezing cold.

I feel freezing cold today.

So it is just a way of emphasising how cold you think it is, even if it's

not literally freezing temperatures.

Okay, so that's our first phrase, freezing cold.

And today it quite literally is freezing cold.

We've had very low temperatures in London in the last week.

It's been dipping below zero every day and every night.

In fact, it even snowed in London recently.

Not enough for us to be snowed in, but we did have a little light

blanket of snow across the country.

So there I said there wasn't enough snow for us to be snowed in.

I said, snowed in twice, actually.

I said "it snowed in London".

And then I used the phrase "to be snowed in".

Now, the first time I said snowed in, in was the preposition.

I was saying it snowed, where?

In London.

But the second time in was part of the phrasal verb.

Snowed in, snowed in.

So, it's not enough snow for us to be snowed in.

Now, to be snowed in means that you are trapped in your location because,

there's too much snow for you to go out or go where you need to go.

So, I can't travel to work today because I'm snowed in.

The trains are not running.

My car is stuck on the drive because there is a lot of snow.

Too much snow for me to actually get the car out and

drive to work, to be snowed in.

I don't think I've ever been seriously snowed in before.

I've certainly had days rearranged, whether it was work or an event

rearranged, because public transport hasn't been running due to snow or ice,

or in some cases 'leaves on the track'.

This is a part of popular culture.

There was criticism one year that some of the trains weren't able to run

because there was heavy leaf fall, so the leaves were falling off the trees

and falling onto the train tracks, which was preventing the trains from going.

And so they were saying, "I'm terribly sorry.

The trains have been cancelled due to leaves on the track", which we all

thought was quite funny really, as much as it was annoying, it was quite funny.

It kind of shows that we are not really very good at dealing with weather, even

something as simple as falling leaves.

Anyway.

Have you ever been seriously snowed in to a point where perhaps you couldn't open

your door to go outside of your house?

Now, I also said that London has been covered in, in fact, the UK has

been covered with a blanket of snow.

So, this is another phrase, a blanket of snow.

Obviously a blanket is something you sleep with.

It's a large piece of cloth material.

Usually a blanket, well, a duvet is filled with feathers or synthetic

materials, and a blanket covers you, and it covers your bed, and it

covers you, and it keeps you warm.

But a blanket of snow is just a way of saying that snow has

covered the ground and the houses and the cars and everything.

There's a blanket of snow covering everything, because sometimes

it snows and it doesn't stick.

We talk about snow sticking, "oh, it's snowing, but I don't

think it's going to stick".

When snow sticks, it means that it stays, so it hits the ground or it hits a

surface and, it maintains its snow form.

It doesn't melt into water or slush.

Slush is melting snow.

So, it stays nice and crispy, white, beautiful, fluffy snow for you to then

enjoy, once you have a thick enough blanket of snow to go and dive into.

So, if the snow sticks, then you will have a blanket of snow covering the

ground and you can go, hopefully and enjoy the snow, especially if you've

been snowed in and you can't go to work.

So, you can somehow get out of your house and go and enjoy the deep snow.

Now, I am not a huge fan of the cold weather, I have to say.

I always have very cold extremities.

I have cold hands and cold feet and a cold nose.

All the bits that kind of stick out of my body, but you know what

they say, "cold hands, warm heart".

And that's my next phrase.

Cold hands warm heart is something you might say to

someone if they have cold hands.

You're just reminding them that even though they have cold hands,

they aren't cold as a person.

They have a loving, warm heart.

So, it doesn't really mean anything.

It's just something we say.

I don't know why it exists, but if I say, "oh, my hands are cold".

"Cold hands warm heart."

You have cold hands, but you're still lovely.

Or if you touch someone with cold hands, "ooh, your hands are cold".

You might say yourself.

"Well, I have cold hands.

But, cold hands, warm heart".

My hands are cold, but I'm a lovely person.

Yeah.

I don't really know why that phrase exists.

It's just something that people say.

So, tell me, do you often have cold hands?

I think the phrase should really be 'cold hands, poor circulation',

or 'cold hands, need gloves'.

That would make more sense, then you're saying: I need some gloves.

Could I borrow some gloves?

Or, I've got cold hands.

I have poor circulation.

Maybe that's something I should look into.

Can I improve the circulation in my body?

Anyway, being cold is not fun.

I think it makes it hard to work and function, and in fact, and I guess

this is the same for many people, I find that I'm unwell more often

in the colder months of the year.

I recently, I was under the weather, in fact.

I went out for a meal with some friends, quite late at night.

It was cold.

And then the next morning I woke up with a very sore throat.

I actually had laryngitis.

I'd lost my voice, had a sore throat, a headache, a little bit of a temperature,

just didn't feel well at all.

I was very much under the weather.

And under the weather is another phrase that's lovely.

Most English learners learn that phrase very early on, so I'm sure those of you

listening have already heard this phrase, and it is commonly used so, keep using it.

Hopefully you haven't felt under the weather at all because, you know, I

think once you get to a certain level, a certain age in your life, being ill is

actually hard work because you can't have the rest that you need because we need

to function, especially if we're parents.

And the children, they don't stop, you still have to look after them.

You still have to get up in the night and you know, you have to cook for

them and do all the administration that comes with parenting.

So, even if you're ill, you still can't rest when you're

an adult with responsibility.

And I don't just have the kids, I also have my own business, so I'm

often snowed under with work and admin and things that I have to do.

To be snowed under a commonly used phrase often used in the workplace.

If you are snowed under, it means that you have a lot of work.

Almost as if it's on top of you.

You are overwhelmed with work.

You've been snowed on.

All this work is snowing down on you, weighing you down, and you're

really struggling to cope with it all.

You can't take anymore.

You are snowed under.

Okay, so I often feel snowed under, overwhelmed with work.

But the other thing that I find hard in the colder months is my battle with

my sweet tooth is often more tricky.

It's a more fierce battle, should we say, in the winter months.

Something about being cold makes me crave sugar and it makes me crave things

like a nice hot chocolate with melted marshmallows and chocolate biscuits and

just chocolate, chocolate in any form.

And also things like cakes and, oh, just liqueurs as well.

I'm not a big drinker of alcohol, but I do like a sweet liqueur

on a cold winter's evening.

So, I have this very fierce battle going on across the winter months to

keep control of my cravings for sugar.

What I really need to do, to be honest, is to try and go cold turkey

and just cut it out completely.

Now, to go cold turkey, is our next phrase, and this means

to give something up abruptly.

So often when you are giving up something that you're addicted to, then you

might wean yourself off, to wean off.

That's another interesting phrasal verb.

It means to give up something gently, incrementally.

Bit by bit, step by step.

So, if you are going to wean yourself off sugar, then you might

just start day by day reducing the amount of sugary snacks you have.

You still have sugar, but just a little bit, not as much as before, and you

reduce it down and down and down until you're hardly having any sugar at all.

But to go cold turkey, to go cold turkey is to completely give up straight

away, have no sugar whatsoever, or whatever it is you're trying to give up.

You give up abruptly, suddenly, and that can be hard.

That usually means that you have a few days of hell while you are

dealing with your withdrawal.

So we talk about having withdrawal symptoms.

Often if you give up something like caffeine abruptly, if you go cold

turkey and give up all caffeine, when you usually have a lot of caffeine in

your diet, then you'll have withdrawal symptoms like a headache or you

might feel quite tired and grumpy.

Oh, I'm just looking out the window, and there's a fox in my garden.

He's a beautiful fox.

And he looks lovely against the snow.

He's got a big bushy tail and he is, he's looking quite fat,

actually, usually the foxes around here look a little bit skinny.

You know, they're city foxes.

They look a bit grubby and a little bit skinny, but this chap

looks like a real winter fox.

Very bushy and like tawny, like burnt orange red kind of colour.

Beautiful.

Absolutely beautiful.

So anyway, back to going cold turkey.

Yeah, I thought once about going cold turkey and doing a zero sugar

diet, like cutting it out completely.

But after the first few hours, I got cold feet.

I just decided I couldn't do it.

To get cold feet is to feel like you can't do it.

So you are committed to something and then if you get

cold feet, you have your doubts.

That's a good way to explain it, to doubt something.

So we often use this phrase when someone's about to make a

big commitment like marriage.

So imagining your best friend is about to get married and then the

day before the wedding they start talking about, how awful married life

might be, and they just seem a bit jittery, a bit nervous and anxious.

Then you might say to them, "you're not getting cold feet are you?

I hope you are not getting cold feet."

"Oh, no, no, no, no.

I'm not getting cold feet.

I'm just a bit nervous.

What if it doesn't work out?"

Okay, so to get cold feet is to feel doubt about something you're about to do.

So, the thing is with sugar and especially a Western diet.

Our general Western diet is the sugar that's obvious, like sweets and biscuits

and the sugar that people add to tea.

That is just the tip of the iceberg.

Because actually sugar is such a huge part of everything that we eat, unless

you have like a whole foods diet.

Sugar is in our bread, sugar is in pasta.

You have a kind of a starch, um, uh, I can't remember what they call it.

Is it like complex sugars?

Are in things like potatoes as well, so you know, it's hard to escape sugars.

Then you've got fructose and fruit sugars.

Even if you have a whole foods diet, you are going to have sugar

in some form in parts of your diet.

It's very hard to completely eliminate sugar.

It's very, very hard, especially if you have a busy life and you don't

have the time to research, to plan, to shop, and to cook and prepare all

the food that you need to prepare.

Now, I said that our sugar addiction, the basic sugars that we are familiar

with, that's the tip of the iceberg.

If something is the tip of the iceberg, then it's just a small,

visible part of the problem.

So, for example, I might have some swelling in my finger, in my thumb joint.

My thumb might start to swell.

The joint in my thumb might start to swell.

And you say, "oh, your thumb looks quite swollen".

I'll say, "yes, yes.

It's quite a problem actually."

"Oh, well it's just a swollen thumb joint.

Just needs some anti-inflammatory."

"No, no, no.

This is just the tip of the iceberg.

I actually have a rare disease that causes inflammation throughout my

body, and there're so many things going on, and I'm slightly diabetic and all

these problems that you have no idea about because they're not visible."

So, this little visible part of my problem is just the tip of the iceberg.

And of course if you think about a true iceberg, what you see coming out

of the water, it, it could look large, but the tip of the iceberg is usually

only a very small percentage of what actually exists beneath the water,

which makes me think about Titanic.

Now, hands up if you are a fan of the film, Titanic.

Obviously based on a real, tragic event back in 1912, if I remember

correctly, of the huge ship, the first of its kind that on its maiden voyage.

A maiden voyage is, a ship's very first outing, first voyage.

Its maiden voyage from, where did it go from?

Was it from Liverpool to New York?

I can't remember where it set off from.

I think it was Liverpool to New York and it hit an iceberg.

And it was surprising for many, first that the iceberg did so much damage.

And that's because icebergs are so dangerous 'cause we don't know how

large they are under the water.

You only see the tip, but it's a huge mass under the water.

And then people were also surprised by the fact that this supposedly unsinkable ship

ended up sinking on its maiden voyage.

I mean, it's just irony for you, isn't it?

Very ironic and unfortunate.

Yes, I digress.

Let's get back onto the topic.

So, tip of the iceberg.

What other phrases have we had so far?

We've had freezing cold, brr, to be snowed in, under a heavy blanket of snow.

Ah, something I didn't mention, which is very important.

If it is freezing cold and you are snowed in, or if there's just a blanket of snow

outside, then you want to wrap up warm.

Wrap up warm, and this is something we use very, commonly, very regularly.

We tell people to wrap up warm, it's cold outside.

Or I might say, "I need to wrap up warm.

It's freezing" and it just means to cover yourself in lots of layers to

wear very warm clothes in order to keep your temperature up in the cold weather.

So, wrap up warm because it's freezing cold, but you

know, cold hands, warm heart.

Useless saying.

If you don't wrap up warm, you might end up under the weather, which will be

a disaster if you are snowed under with work and you need to, you know, get on

with work and function on all cylinders.

To be functioning on all cylinders means everything's full energy.

You're functioning full energy, you are fully aware.

Everything's 100%, but if you're under the weather, then you are not 100%.

And then we talked about sugar, didn't we?

I talked about having a sweet tooth and the fact that I should go cold

turkey, but that every time I think about going cold turkey and just cutting

it out, suddenly I get cold feet.

I have my doubts.

I think to myself, I can't do it, because I know that even the most

obvious sugar, even if I just cut that out, that's just the tip of the

iceberg, and that actually sugar is such a huge part of everything we eat.

It would be very difficult to be completely without sugar.

So, we had quite a few cold wintery idioms and phrases there.

I'm gonna share a few more with you.

So, one phrase you might use to describe a person who is unpredictable,

is the phrase to blow hot and cold.

Now, if you blow hot and cold, it means that your mood changes from

being a very warm personality.

So, when we talk about people being warm, we mean they're friendly,

they're nice, they're warm.

You might warm to somebody.

"Oh, I really warmed to him.

He was very nice."

I felt warm and friendly and nice towards this person.

But if someone blows cold, then you know, if they're icy, you can

describe someone as being quite icy.

Then they're not very friendly, they don't make you feel warm and fuzzy inside.

So, if someone blows hot and cold, then they really switch between

being friendly and being unfriendly.

So, with these kinds of people, you don't know where you stand.

You don't know if they like you or not.

You don't know if they're going to be happy or if they're

going to be angry and agitated.

You don't know if they're annoyed with you and if you've done something wrong.

It's really hard to know with someone who blows hot and cold what is going on.

So, to blow hot and cold.

And another one similar to this is to go hot and cold.

You might say, "oh, it just went all hot and cold.

I just went all hot and cold."

This is, although it sounds very similar to the previous one, to go hot and

cold is a way of describing a feeling of being shocked or stunned usually

because it's, you know, bad news.

So, perhaps you hear that trip that you've been planning for over a year

and you've spent a lot of money on.

Perhaps you hear the news that everyone's going on strike, which is something

that's happening in the UK at the moment.

It seems like everyone is going on strike, which is causing havoc, especially for

those who are travelling over this period.

So if I hear that this trip of a lifetime that I've put a lot of energy and

finance into is potentially going to be cancelled because of strikes, then

I might suddenly go all hot and cold.

"Oh, what?

Is my flight still going ahead?

Oh, I just went all hot and cold for a minute there, phew.

My flight is still going.

I'm very pleased about that."

So to blow hot and cold, and to go hot and cold.

Very similar, but very different.

Now, in the cold light of day, this is a great phrase.

This means in reality.

When you see something in the cold light of day, then you

see it for what it really is.

We often use this phrase when talking about a decision that's been made

probably a little bit too quickly.

So, if you make a decision, maybe to commit to something that's too

much or to spend money on a product that's too expensive, or to agree

to something like moving in with your boyfriend or girlfriend.

In the cold light of day, you might look at that decision and think,

actually, that was the wrong decision.

So to see something in the cold light of day is to see something in

reality with a level head, a clear mind, and we usually use it when

talking about regret of a decision.

Or changing our mind about a decision we made when we weren't thinking

straight or in the heat of the moment.

So there we go.

Heat and cold.

You make a decision in the heat of the moment.

Sometimes we feel passionate and we make a quick decision in the heat of the

moment, but then in the cold light of day, we realise that was the wrong decision.

Now, I'm sure I've been in this situation many times.

Can I think of one occasion right now off the top of my head?

Off the top of my head, that means right now, in the moment without preparing.

Can I think of a time when I made a decision in the heat of the

moment and then later regretted it?

Yes, I decided, when I was younger, to enroll on a course

to become a driving instructor.

I enrolled on the course because I was convinced by a salesperson that

it was the best side job I could do while I was studying and it was a

remote job, so I could do it anywhere in the world or in the UK at least.

And so it would be a good thing for my future as well to have this side hustle.

I made a split decision in the heat of the moment after listening

to a very good sales pitch.

But then when it came down to it, to actually doing the course, the amount of

money I had to spend, I realised in the cold light of day that I wasn't passionate

about being a driving instructor.

I hate being sat in a car for hours and hours and hours, and it was a

lot of work, I gave it up in the end.

I had to cut my losses.

To cut your losses is to walk away from something, even when you've lost,

either financially or maybe you've put in a lot of effort, a lot of time, and

you just have to say, I've lost that.

I can't get that back, but I'm not going to lose anymore.

I'm just going to cut my losses and walk away.

So I lost quite a lot of money, but I decided it just wasn't for me.

It was taking too much time and it was continuous money I was having

to put into this training and I thought, I'm not gonna pay anymore.

It's not for me.

I'm gonna walk away.

So I cut my losses and I walked away.

In the cold light of day, I made the right decision.

Have you ever made a decision like that?

A heat of the moment decision that you regretted in the cold light of day.

Okay, so we've had, to blow hot and cold, to go hot and cold -whew, in the heat of

the moment, and in the cold light of day.

Now, to add fuel to the fire, this is a phrase, which means you

are giving even more agitation to an already agitated situation.

So, if someone is annoyed that you borrowed their car without asking and

they're shouting at you, "I can't believe you borrowed my car without asking.

That's terrible.

How dare you?"

And then you say to them, "I crashed your car while I was

out, and it's a complete mess."

Then you are adding fuel to the fire.

You are going to make that person explode with anger.

So to add fuel to the fire is, you can see it visually, can't you?

If you have a fire that's burning.

And you add fuel to it, what's gonna happen?

The fire is going to become more intense.

So, adding fuel to a metaphorical fire is just giving it reason

to be even more intense.

Usually fire represents passion.

In this case, it's usually anger, so it's a negative passion.

So, to add fuel to the fire, to make a situation seem worse or

make someone feel more angry.

Now, talking about things growing.

Our next phrase is the snowball effect.

A snowball effect.

When we talk about a snowball effect, we're talking about something

becoming greater, becoming bigger than it was when it started.

So, imagine you have a teeny tiny little snowball and you continue to roll it,

roll it, roll it through the snow.

It will get bigger and bigger and bigger.

So, if something is a snowball effect, then it's something that's growing.

You could say that a trend has a snowball effect.

If one person tries doing something new on social media, with a new piece of music

and they share it and a few people like it, but then someone with a big following,

they like it and they copy the trend.

Then it has a snowball effect.

The more people like it, the more they do it, the bigger the trend grows.

So, that is a snowball effect.

Now, when it comes to trends, there's not a snowball's chance in hell I'm

ever going to be one of those social media people who does every trend

because it's just, it's just not me.

I just don't have the time.

So, to have a snowball's chance in hell.

Or there's not a snowball's chance in hell means there's just no chance.

Thinking about hell being all fire and brimstone.

It's a very hot place, hell, and so a snowball in hell, it's

not going to last very long.

So, a snowball doesn't have a chance of surviving in hell.

Okay, so there's not a snowball's chance in hell that I'm ever going

to be one of these people who does all these social media trends.

In fact, I will do daily trends when hell freezes over.

That's another phrase that you can use to say something is never gonna happen.

I'll do it when hell freezes over because hell is very hot

and it will never freeze over.

So, moving from snow through to ice.

If you are in a situation where you don't know someone, or it's a little

bit awkward, no one's talking, then you might want to try an icebreaker.

An icebreaker.

You might want to break the ice.

So, this is when the situation is quite icy.

Nobody's talking to one another.

It feels a bit awkward, it feels icy and cold.

And so you might want to tell a joke or simply ask a question

in order to break the ice.

So, you break the cold atmosphere by trying to encourage conversation.

Now, a phrase that means to discourage.

If you need to discourage something you could say to pour cold water on something.

For example, if I break the ice by talking about something generic like

the weather, but then we move on to talking about politics and that

becomes a heated discussion which could potentially turn into an argument,

then I might want to pour cold water on that discussion and change the

subject completely, to stop it becoming too heated, too angry, too awkward.

Another phrase that uses the word ice is to be on thin ice

or to be walking on thin ice.

This means that you are in a precarious, a dangerous situation.

You are perhaps behaving in a way that will get you into

trouble if you're not careful.

For example, you are at work and you keep breaking the rules.

Not in a big way, just in a little way, but you keep doing it and

you've had a few warnings, but you keep bending those rules, behaving

in a way that's questionable.

Then your boss or your supervisor might say to you, "look, you are,

you are on thin ice right now.

If you don't start behaving yourself and doing the things

you're supposed to do, then you might find yourself without a job.

You are on very thin ice.

I'm watching you".

Okay, so it's to be in a precarious situation, which is different

to putting something on ice.

If you put something on ice, like a project that you're all

working on, then it means that you delay it, you postpone it.

You freeze it until a point in the future.

For example, I was building a course in the summer and I decided to put

that project on ice until next year, while I focused on other things.

So, to delay something for a little while.

Ooh.

Well, I have definitely heated up with this discussion of wintery phrases.

If this is your first time here, then I'd really appreciate your support

by giving this a like, or rating the podcast or at least sharing it with

someone else who might find it useful.

Until next time, take care, wrap up warm and goodbye.