English for Beginners: Animal Vocabulary & Expressions to Describe People

Hi there. My name is Emma, and in today's video, I am going to talk to you

about something that has to do with vocabulary, as well as culture — and

that's how we use animal words, and what they mean. I always find it interesting

when you talk about animal words in different languages, because they

usually have different meanings. Sometimes what is a nice thing to say in

one language by using an animal word might be a bad thing to say or an insult

in another language. So, in today's video, I'm going to teach you my

favourite English animal words and how we use them. So, let's get started.

The first word I want to talk about is "dog". Now, I love dogs; and in my mind,

you know, it should be a really good word. But in English, if you call

somebody a "dog", it's an insult; it's a bad thing to say about somebody. So,

oftentimes, people, especially some men might call women who are not attractive

or ugly, a "dog". I don't like the way that's used, but just so you're aware of

the one meaning. You'll also find a lot of people use this word to mean somebody

is disgusting. So, it's an insult. If you call somebody a "dog", it means you

think they're disgusting. So, it's... usually has a bad meaning in English to

call somebody a "dog". Is that the same with your language? Another thing — this

expression I really like is: "in the dog house". So, when somebody is "in the dog

house", it means they're in trouble, and they're in the dog house. So, it's a

funny expression in English. Maybe you have something similar in your language.

So, here are some examples. "Brad is a dog." So, that means Brad is disgusting.

Or: "Brad is in the dog house." And notice the... this means "is". So,

somebody "is in the dog house", meaning that person is in trouble. So, a lot of

the times comedians will use "in the dog house" to talk about marriage because

somebody did something wrong, so they're "in the dog house".

All right. So, what are some other expressions? Well, the next animal we're

going to look at is "chicken". Okay? I... again, I think chickens are cute; I

like chickens. But in English, if you call somebody a "chicken", you're

calling them a coward, or another way to say that is "not brave". So, when I was

a kid, I was always called a "chicken". And the reason is because I was the kid

that was always too afraid or too scared to do things. So, my friends or my

brother would always say to me: "Don't be such a chicken. Stop being a chicken.

You're such a chicken." So, I remember this word, because I used to be a

"chicken". But now I'm nice and I'm brave. Okay? Usually. I can still be a

chicken when I watch scary movies, though.

The next animal word is "ass" or "jackass". So, an "ass" is... it's an

animal. I think it's another term for "donkey". And so, an "ass"... when you

call somebody an "ass", you might be saying that they're stupid, but usually

when we use the term "ass" or "jackass", we're calling somebody rude or impolite.

So, if you want to call somebody rude, you can say: "Oh, he's such an ass." Or:

"She's such an ass." Now, remember these words, they're... they're more like

slang; they're not used professionally. So, don't use this, you know, in a

meeting or something. But this is, you know... these types of words we use

informally. So, you might call somebody an "ass" or a "jackass". My favourite

example of this is when Obama called Kanye West a "jackass", because he was

rude to somebody.

So, the next word I wanted to cover is "pig". I love pigs; I think they are so

cute. But in English, sort of sad, but pigs have a very bad reputation. In

English, when you call somebody a "pig", you're saying that they're rude or

disgusting. Or another meaning might be... you might call somebody a "pig" if

they eat too much. So, these two are both insults. So, you... in English, you

don't really want to call somebody a "pig" unless you know what it means. I

think actually in a lot of languages, "pig" is used this way. Is it the same

in your language? Two other words I wanted to teach related to "pig" is

"pigheaded". So, we say somebody is "pigheaded" when they're very stubborn,

and they, you know... they keep arguing about things, they won't change their

behavior. So, if you call somebody "pigheaded", it means that they're very

opinionated and stubborn, and they won't change. But it's an insult; it's not a

nice thing. The other word is "pigsty". A "pigsty" is the place a pig lives. So,

in English, if you call somebody's house a "pigsty", you're saying that they live

in an unclean, very messy house. Okay? So, let's look at some examples. "She

lives in a pigsty." So, again, she lives in an unclean, dirty, disgusting house.

You might say: "She is pigheaded." Meaning she's very stubborn. You might

say: "Did you see she ate the last slice of pizza? What a pig." Okay? So, again,

this means she ate too much, or maybe was rude. So, we use "pig" in multiple

ways in English. I want you to think about your language: Do you use "pig" in

the same way, as an insult? All right. Let's look at some other animals and how

we use them in English.

Now, before we talk about the rest of the animals on my list, I just want to

say: You don't have to remember all of these. Sometimes what helps when you're

learning a language is you choose the words that are most meaningful to you,

or that make the most sense in your own life and in your context. Okay? But

these words, again, are fun. And if you are able to remember all of them —

that's great, too. So, let's look at the next word. I really love animals, so I

feel sad whenever I see animals have bad names in English. The next one: "rat".

"Rat" is a bad... a bad thing to call somebody in English. So, if you call

somebody a "rat", it means you're saying they're untrustworthy. Okay? You can't

trust them; they're a "rat". Another thing we might say in English is... you

might have heard the word "snitch" — that's somebody who tells the police

something and, you know, people who are gangsters might call that person a

"snitch". Or it might be somebody who tells the boss something, and employees

might call that person a "snitch". So, another way to call somebody a "snitch"

is to call them a "rat". So, let me give you an example. "That rat" — meaning

that person — "that rat told the boss I left work at eleven am", meaning: "That

person told the boss something and I'm not happy about it. They snitched;

they're not trustworthy." Okay? "They tattled on me." You'll find "rat" is

used a lot in movies about gangsters. So, if you've ever seen the movie,

Goodfellas, Casino, you know, any movies about gangsters, there's often somebody

who they call "the rat" or "a rat" because they're not trustworthy, and

they will tell the police or, you know, tell somebody what people are doing.

The next word is "weasel". So, you might not know what a "weasel" is. A "weasel"

is an animal. They like to... They're long, skinny mammals. It's sort of hard

to describe what they look like, but they love eating chickens' eggs, and

what they do is they usually steal eggs from chickens. Their fur is sometimes

used in fashion. So, a "weasel" is a type of animal you might not have it in

your country, but, you know, they live in North America, as well as England.

When we say: "weasel" in English, we often use it as a verb. Okay? So, so

far, I've been telling you a lot about nouns. "Weasel" is often used as a verb.

And what we say when we're talking about "weasel" is we're talking about avoiding

doing something we don't want to do. And oftentimes, to get out of doing

something, we might use a trick. So, for example, imagine you're at a restaurant

and you have a friend who didn't pay. You might wonder: "How did he weasel his

way out of paying at the restaurant?" So, how did he avoid paying? Maybe you

have somebody who the boss asks to do some work, but somehow he gets out of

doing the work. You can say: "How did he weasel his way out of doing the work?"

Now, you know, in terms of this avoiding doing something — it's a negative way to

talk about somebody. So, if "somebody weasels out of something", it's a

negative way to say it.

The next animal I wanted to talk about is "deer". So, "deer"... We often talk

in English about "a deer in headlights" or "a deer in the headlights". This is

how I feel a lot in life. So, let me tell you about being "a deer in the

headlights". When people are driving, and a deer runs onto the road, what do

deers do? They freeze. Okay? Deer freeze, and they look really surprised,

and they don't move. So, sometimes when people feel afraid, they feel the same

way. They don't say what they should say, and they don't do what they should

do. There are many examples, for everyone, when this happens. So, imagine

you have to go to a meeting and you don't know how to answer a question.

When somebody asks you a question, you might go... This look I'm doing right

now — this look is "a deer in the headlights". It's when you don't know

what to do, you don't know what to say, so you just freeze. So, I wonder if any

of you have ever been like "a deer in the headlights" before. So, now, let's

look at some other expressions about animals.

All right. So, the next expression is actually quite a funny expression, and

it has to do with "elephants". So, I want you to think about "elephants" for

a moment. They're very big. Right? Well, when we talk about elephants in English,

we often talk about "the elephant in the room". So, what's "the elephant in the

room" mean? Well, "the elephant in the room" is something big. It's not, you

know... it's not an actual elephant, but it means something big that everybody

notices or knows, but everyone feels too uncomfortable or awkward to talk about.

Okay? So, for example, imagine you're at a wedding, and you know the groom just

lost his job. Okay? It's really sad, bad luck — he lost his job. And so everyone

knows he lost his job, and it's an awkward thing for people to talk about,

so that might be "the elephant in the room" — meaning: "Let's talk about the

elephant in the room — I lost my job. Let's talk about the thing everyone

knows, but that's an awkward topic: I lost my job." Another example of

"elephant in the room" is maybe you meet... you have a friend, and she used

to have tiny lips; and the next time you see her, her lips are, like, half the

size of her face because she got some kind of plastic surgery. That's cool,

but you might not know: "Do you say something about her lips?" Her lips have

changed. You know she has plastic surgery. So, you might think of that as

"the elephant in the room". Okay? So, just some examples of how you might use

that expression.

Now, the last two expressions are actually my favourite from the whole

list, and that is: "night owl" or "night hawk". So, "owls" and "hawks" are birds.

They're birds that are predators. And in terms of owls, they're known to go out

at night. So, when we talk about a "night owl" or a "night hawk", what

we're talking about is a person who stays up very late. So, maybe you have a

friend, or maybe you yourself are a night owl or a night hawk, and you can

use either word. So, it's someone who stays up late. For example: "Joe is a

night owl. He goes to bed at four am." So, for me, I'm not a "night owl" or a

"night hawk". I'm not a morning person either. I'm somebody who likes sleep, so

I like to go to bed early and I also like to wake up late. Unfortunately,

with work, you can't usually do that, but I'm a person who loves sleep. But I

know a lot of people who are "night owls" or "night hawks".

So, we've covered a lot of different vocabulary about different animals.

Again, the first thing I wanted to mention is: Animals have different...

People have different beliefs or different ways to talk about animals in

different cultures. In some cultures, what might be a positive thing might be

negative in another. So, for example, maybe in some cultures, calling somebody

an "owl" might be a good thing or a bad thing; and maybe in another culture, it

might be different. So, it's interesting to know what different animals... how

people talk about different animals in different cultures and what they mean.

So, thank you again for watching. And I just wanted to invite you to check out

our website at www.engvid.com There, you can find a quiz where we go over all of

these different... or where you can actually practice everything you learned

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for watching; and until next time, take care.