Idioms in English - Body Parts

Hi, this is Alex.

Thanks for clicking, and welcome to this lesson on body idioms.

As many of you should know by now from the lessons that you've watched on engvid.com,

idioms are just phrases that we use in everyday speech that we kind of take for granted a

lot of the time, that we expect other people to know them.

So today we're going to look at five idioms related to parts of the body.

You can make idioms out of anything, pretty much, it seems.

So let's look at these phrases, and I'm going to give you some examples of when to use these

idioms and how you can use these idioms properly in your own conversations with English native

speakers.

So first we have, "My father has two left feet."

So what does that mean, "he has two left feet"?

Well, if you can imagine yourself, you know, normally your feet are kind of balanced, they're

pointed towards each other.

If you have two left feet, they'd both be kind of like this, right?

So you don't have a lot of balance.

So if you say someone has two left feet, usually we're talking about someone who is not able

to dance.

They can't dance very well.

You say, "Oh, come on, come on the dance floor, I really want to dance with you."

"No thanks, Mom, I've got two left feet."

If you dance with your mother, you know, that's up to you.

You'd be a very good son or daughter if you did.

So again, if someone accuses you of having two left feet, they're saying that you're

awkward on your feet, okay?

Usually that you can't dance, or that you can't balance well.

Okay, so look at the second sentence, the second idiom, "Keep your nose out of my business."

Okay, so this one is actually kind of straightforward if you get the image in your mind of keeping

your nose out of other people's business.

What it means is, don't concern yourself with problems that are not your own, okay?

So if I have two people that are standing over here, and they're having a conversation,

and it's a private conversation.

And if I'm going over here, "Hey, hey, what are you guys talking about?"

They might tell me to keep my nose out of their business.

So they might say, "Keep your nose out of our business."

It's not my problem, okay?

So again, if someone tells you to keep your nose out of their business, you should probably

leave them alone.

Because it means that, you know, we're having, this is a private conversation, these problems

are not your problems, worry about yourself, don't worry about other people, okay?

So number three, "This box is heavy, could you lend me a hand?"

So this is one of the most straightforward idioms.

So you think of, you know, your hand, right?

To lend means to, you know, let someone borrow something from you.

And could you lend me a hand means could you help me, okay?

So this box is heavy, could you lend me a hand?

We can use this in a variety of situations.

So usually it's about physical work.

So again, if you're doing some construction at home and you need help, "Hey dad, could

you lend me a hand with this painting?" or something like that, if you're hammering something

on the wall.

But we can also use it in non-physical work as well.

It's not very common to, but we can.

So, "Hey mom, could you lend me a hand with my homework?

Could you help me?"

Okay?

So, could you lend a hand, could you lend me a hand means could you help me?

Okay, finally, well not finally, number four, keep trying, put your back into it.

Okay, so put your back into it.

This basically means work hard, work as hard as you can.

So imagine yourself pushing something, right?

If you're pushing a box or something like that.

And you know, if you're not really trying, you're just kind of being a little lazy.

But if you put your back into it, use your whole body to work as hard as you can, you

know, you'll get the job done.

Okay?

So, you know, if you're studying late for an exam, your friend might tell you, "Come

on, put your back into it, work as hard as you can, stop being lazy, just keep pushing,

keep trying, work hard."

Okay?

Finally, and this time it's finally, finally, the two political leaders see eye to eye on

many issues.

So, you can imagine looking at someone, looking in their eye, right?

And if you see eye to eye, you understand each other.

Okay?

So, if you see eye to eye with someone, it means that you agree with them, or you share

a similar opinion as them.

So, if I'm talking about a movie with a friend of mine, and I can say, "Hey, have you seen

the latest Martin Scorsese film?"

I don't know if we're allowed to do that, because I'm advertising for Martin Scorsese,

but you might say, "Yeah, it was pretty bad."

And I might say, "Well, I thought it was really good."

Me and my friend, we don't see eye to eye on that movie.

Okay?

So, again, if you do see eye to eye with someone, you agree with them, you share a similar opinion.

Okay?

So, just to do a review, if you say someone has two left feet, you're saying that they

are uncoordinated, and that usually they can't dance.

That's the most common situation where you use that expression.

Keep your nose out of my business.

Don't concern yourself with problems that are not your own.

Okay?

Stay out of people's business.

This box is heavy.

Could you lend me a hand?

Could you help me?

Okay?

Give me your hand.

Help me.

Keep trying.

Put your back into it.

Again, keep pushing, work as hard as you can, and see eye to eye, meaning you agree with

someone or you share an opinion with them.

Okay?

So, if you'd like to test your knowledge of these idioms, please go to engvid.com and

try the quizzes there.

Have a good day.

Take care.