Idiom Battle! Learn 10 English Idioms AND their Opposites!

Thanks for clicking, and thank you for joining

us today for this lesson on 10 Idiom Opposites.

So today, we will look at 10 idioms and their opposites.

So today, you will learn a total of 20 idioms.

That's why this is an advanced lesson.

And if you are an upper-intermediate and advanced

student, before we get to the lesson, just

a quick reminder, I do have a book.

It's called 200 Practical English Idioms.

It uses, it teaches, it helps you practice idioms like the ones that we are going to

look at today.

It has over 1,000 examples, and as you can see, it's a wonderfully designed book, so

check it out on my site at the link attached to this video.

Also, that is also at englishalex.com, so you

have two websites, engvid.com and englishalex.com

to check out today.

Okay, let's begin.

First thing, "to have one's head in the clouds".

Do you have your head in the clouds?

And what does that mean?

If you have your head in the clouds, you are a dreamer.

You are someone who likes to imagine, and you

have fantasies in your mind, and you don't

really have your feet on the ground.

So, if you have your feet on the ground, you are more realistic, more practical.

Head in the clouds?

You like to daydream about fantasies, and maybe you're not a realistic person.

Such as this guy over here.

There's a famous fictional character.

Who is this?

Do you know who this is?

Hmm.

This is Don Quixote, a famous novel by Miguel de Cervantes.

I think I said that right.

And he liked to imagine a lot of different things.

So, at the beginning of the story, near the beginning, he imagined that windmills were

actually giants.

And he was a brave knight who was going to

fight the giants when, in fact, he was fighting

windmills.

So, Don Quixote had his head in the clouds.

Now, we also have two examples here.

Just a very direct example.

"Jim always has his head in the clouds."

So, ah, Jim.

You know, I know that Barbara is together with Jim, but I don't know if Jim is a good

fit for Barbara.

Like, Jim, how is he going to buy a house with his dreams?

So, maybe if you're not a realistic person, or you're always daydreaming, you have your

head in the clouds.

And here, she's really practical.

"She has her feet on the ground."

So, again, she has her feet on the ground.

She's realistic.

She doesn't have, like, these big ideas and fantasies, and doesn't live in other worlds

in her mind all the time.

So, do you have your feet on the ground?

Or do you have your head in the clouds?

Or sometimes, do you have your head in the clouds, and sometimes do you feel like you

have your feet in the ground?

It's not an X or Y situation sometimes, right?

Okay.

Oh, you can also say, "His head is in the clouds."

Or, "Her feet are on the ground."

You don't have to use "have".

You can say, "His head is in the clouds.

Her feet are on the ground."

The next one, "Cost an arm and a leg."

An arm and a leg.

So, if something costs an arm and a leg, it's very expensive.

So, for example, "My laptop cost me an arm and a leg."

Like, I had to give my arm and my leg, my body, a lot of myself, a lot of my money to

pay for this.

The opposite of "cost an arm and a leg", a way to say something is cheap is, "It cost

next to nothing."

Another idiom I will give you here is, "It was dirt cheap."

So, dirt from the ground, you pick up dirt, it cost nothing, right?

So, "It cost next to nothing."

For example, "His car cost next to nothing.

Maybe he bought a really cheap used car."

So, yeah, tell me about something in the comments

that cost you an arm and a leg, and tell me

about something where you found a really good deal and it cost you next to nothing.

Okay, next, we have "one in a million", and we have "a dime a dozen".

First, if something is one in a million, it is

very rare, it is unique, it is unlike anything

else that exists.

A person can be one in a million.

You might have seen this or heard this in movies or TV shows.

Someone looks at someone and says, "You are one in a million."

Right? "You are very special.

You are very unique.

There is no one like you."

Or, "I have to meet one million people first

before I meet another person like you."

So, for example, "This vase is one in a million."

I don't have a vase.

Let's imagine...

Not a mirror.

Okay.

We'll use a mirror.

No, you can't see what's here.

Okay.

So, I have a mirror.

This mirror is one in a million.

It's very expensive.

Did you see it?

A little bit?

Okay.

So, yeah, and again, some people pronounce

this "vahs", some people pronounce this "vays".

So, if you pronounce it as "vahs", it sounds much fancier.

Anyway.

So, one in a million, very rare, unique, special, one of a kind, you can also say.

And "a dime a dozen", very common.

So, if something is a dime a dozen, you can find it anywhere.

It's not special.

It's not unique.

A dime a dozen, the meaning of this is a dime is 10 cents.

So, 10 cents is not a lot of money, whether American 10 cents, maybe, and compared to

Canadian 10 cents, could be some, sometimes more.

For a dozen, a dozen is usually 12, so 10 cents for 12 of something.

Something that is easy to find.

So, those shoes are a dime a dozen.

So, if you have a pair of shoes and they're

easy to find, they're probably cheap, everyone

has them, yeah, they're a dime a dozen.

Like, there's nothing special about them.

You can find them anywhere.

So, that's the difference between one in a million and a dime a dozen.

Typically, we don't talk about people being a dime a dozen.

You can talk about, like, professions or the

type of jobs that people have being a dime

a dozen.

Like, I don't know, if you imagine a call

center rep or something, oh yeah, call centers,

call center reps are a dime a dozen.

Like, you can get a high school student to

be a call center representative, for example.

No disrespect to call center representatives, it's a very hard job.

I did it for one year in my life, I did not enjoy it.

And then I became a teacher, so you're lucky that I had that experience.

I'm lucky that I had that experience, actually.

Okay, next we have "to take it easy on someone".

If you take it easy on someone, you are very

gentle with them, you are forgiving with them,

you are not strict.

So, for example, "Take it easy on him, he's just a kid."

So, if you have a coach who's very strict and

hard on your child, and you can say, "Whoa,

whoa, whoa", it's like, chill, right?

Take it easy on him, he's just a kid.

Be gentle, be more forgiving of his mistakes.

The opposite of taking it easy on someone is being hard on someone.

So, if you are hard on someone, you are strict,

you are tough, and you do not forgive their

mistakes very easily.

So, don't be so hard on him.

You can also say, "You are too hard on him."

Like, you are too critical, right?

You are too rough and tough on that person.

All right, "take it easy on someone", "be hard on someone", and next we have "to turn

the other cheek" versus "an eye for an eye".

So, these are two philosophies of life, right?

So, are you someone who believes in forgiving

other people, not responding with violence,

being more of a pacifist, perhaps?

If you are a pacifist, if you are someone

who doesn't believe in violence, for example,

or you believe we should not react with anger

to people, if someone hits you on one cheek,

you...

Okay.

You turn the other cheek.

Because this shows their actions don't affect you, like, yeah, go ahead.

It doesn't...

It doesn't affect me.

I'm not going to respond with anger.

So, for example, "just turn the other cheek".

So, if your friend says, "Oh, I'm so mad, I

want to, like, really get back at this person",

to get back at someone means to get revenge on them, and your friend says, "just turn

the other cheek", it's not a serious, big thing.

If you react with anger, you will give him exactly what he wants.

Just turn the other cheek, and this will go away.

The other type of justice, I guess, for some

people is the belief in an eye for an eye.

So, let me ask you, do you believe in an eye for an eye?

So, if you poke my eye, I poke your eye, I get revenge.

Right?

So, this is a moral, an ethical philosophy.

"Which side of the fence", another idiom, "which side of the debate, of the fence do

you sit on?"

Do you believe in an eye for an eye?

Do you believe in turning the other cheek, or does it depend on the situation?

And which situations does it depend on?

Okay, so that's 10.

I said 20.

Wow.

Okay, 10 more.

Let's go.

Okay, so next we have "give up".

You have probably heard this if you are an advanced learner.

Never give up means never quit.

You can give up bad habits.

So, my mom gave up smoking many years ago.

This is actually true.

So, yeah, you can give up a bad habit, like you can give up drinking, you can give up

smoking.

And if you say never give up, like never quit, keep going.

The opposite of giving up is sticking with something.

So, if you stick with something, you persist,

you continue, you keep going, you keep doing

it.

So, for example, don't give up playing piano.

Stick with it.

Right? Stick with this activity.

Continue with this activity.

Another way to, you know, say the opposite of give up is to hang in there.

So, if someone says just give up, just quit,

the opposite of, like, just quit, just stop

trying is hang in there.

This means persevere, continue holding on,

continue hanging on, and things will get better

or you will reach, you know, the end soon of something.

And it will be a positive experience.

Next, we have the difference between morning

people and evening people or night people,

I guess.

I'm a morning person.

This means I like to wake up early, I like to have my tea or my coffee before everyone

else in my house wakes up.

It's a very calm, peaceful time in the morning.

I think a lot of you are probably similar.

If you're not, that's fine.

All right, another way to say I'm a morning person is I'm an early bird.

So, I wake up at 5 a.m.

Not for me, but, you know, I'm an early bird.

So, you wake up with the birds in the morning

who are tweeting outside, like, tweet, tweet,

tweet, tweet.

Not tweeting.

Is it X-ing?

No?

Anyway.

Okay, social media.

Next, a night owl.

So, you can be an early bird or a night owl.

A night owl is someone who stays up late because

maybe they do their best work at night or

they feel focused at night or they just watch Netflix.

I don't know.

So, a night owl.

Breanne is a night owl.

She stays up until 2 a.m., like, every night.

She always stays up until 2 a.m.

She does...

She writes emails, and she does her work, and maybe she goes to the gym.

I don't know.

Okay, next we have to have time on one's hands.

If you have time on your hands, you have extra time.

You have free time.

You have a lot of time that you can use to do different things.

So, I have a lot of time on my hands.

So, imagine you are someone who has lost their

job recently, and you can say, "Yeah, I have

a lot of time on my hands right now because I'm not working."

So, if you have time on your hands, like you're

holding time in your hands, "Yeah, I have

a lot.

So, yeah, I can help you this weekend.

I have some time on my hands."

The opposite of having time on your hands is being short on time.

So, if you say, "Sorry, I'm short on time.

I don't have a lot of time.

I have other things I need to do.

So, sorry, I can't stay long.

I'm short on time.

Like, I promised my mom I would be at her house in 30 minutes.

So, sorry, I don't have time on my hands.

In fact, I am short on time."

So, how are you this week?

When you're watching this video, do you have

a lot of time on your hands these days, or

do you feel you're short on time these days?

Next, and last, not last, we have "to be under the weather".

If you are under the weather, you are sick.

You are not feeling well.

Typically, you have a cold, maybe you have the flu.

Imagine there is a dark cloud and it's raining

on you, and you're sniffling because you're

under the weather.

So, you sound under the weather, right?

Or you sound like you are under the weather.

You sound sick is what your friend means when they say this.

If you're not under the weather and you feel

fantastic, great, you're ready to go outside

and play sports, you are fit as a fiddle.

So, a fiddle is a musical instrument.

I like fiddle music.

Look up "fiddle".

You can find a Google image, I'm sure, or

whatever other image search software you use.

I feel great.

I'm fit as a fiddle.

Okay?

So, this means, like, I am very healthy,

I'm in good shape, I'm strong, I'm not sick.

Finally, we have "to be on top of something" and "to be behind on something".

So, if you are on top of your work, you are on top of it.

This means that you are not behind, like, you are on...

You're doing everything on time.

You are in control.

Nothing is overwhelming you.

You know, you are in control, basically, of your work, and you know what to do.

So, if I say, "I'm on top of my homework", like, don't worry.

I know everything is due tomorrow, but I started

three days ago, I am not behind, I am on top

of it.

So, if you have a job, you can say, "Yeah, I'm on top of everything.

Don't worry.

Like, I will take care of it.

I can take care of it without problems."

So, if you don't have problems with a specific

task, a specific project, you are on top of

it.

If you're behind, it means the work, or whatever

it is, is getting too big, and you have to

catch up.

Right?

So, you have to do more.

So, for example, "I'm behind on my payments."

So, if you are renting a house, or if you are

maybe buying furniture with multiple payments,

some places allow you to do this.

And if you say, "I'm behind on my payments",

maybe your credit card payment, "I didn't

pay my credit card this month.

Ugh.

Like, I'm not on top of my payments.

I'm behind on my payments."

This is a negative thing.

So, how do you feel at work right now?

Like, are you behind on a lot of stuff, or are you on top of everything?

You're in control.

Like, you're looking at things from up here, "Yep, I'm on top of it."

You're not behind it, and everything is in front, and you're trying to catch up.

Okay.

20 idioms.

That's a lot.

I know.

So, if you want to test your understanding of all of these, maybe you're familiar with

some of them already.

You can check out the quiz on www.engvid.com.

The link is in the description of this video, so check it out.

And if you're watching me on YouTube, and

you enjoyed this video, and you made it this

far, make sure to like it, share it, subscribe to my channel.

Tell your friends, tell your kids, tell your

grandma, tell everybody to come to www.engvid.com.

And now, if you'll excuse me, I am feeling

fit as a fiddle, so I'm going to go play some

badminton right there.

And pick up the book, 200 Practical English Idioms.

It's a good one.

Bye.