Vocabulary - Tools & hardware: screw, hammer, wrench, level...

Get 'er done with Ronnie. Today, we're going to talk about these things called "tools".

Now, "tools" have many different meanings. But what I'm going to teach you today is something

that you would find in a hardware store. These are things to help you if something is broken

or if you need to build something. If you want to build something in your house, if

you want to tear down a wall and put up a new wall -- maybe you just want to change

the color of your room. Maybe you just want to paint your room. So I'm going to help you

go through some vocabulary about tools. I can't resist the drill sound. It's like going

to the dentist. This is not the dentist.

So as I told you -- at the beginning of this, I said, "Get 'er done". Why is Ronnie speaking

in a strange Alabamian accent from America? It's a joke. "Get 'er done" is an expression

that people use to mean, "Go do something. Do it well. Get 'er done." It sounds very

American, so yay. "Get 'er done." We've picked it up in Canada. Maybe you will hear people

say it when they're drinking. "Get 'er done!" I don't know. We're crazy here, all of us.

The most common kind of tool that people use will be something like this. This is a hammer.

It makes that kind of noise. This is actually a rubber mallet, but Ronnie doesn't have a

lot of supplies. She makes do with what she has. So a "rubber mallet" or "hammer" is for

something like a nail. So a "nail" looks like this. And what you do is you -- you hammer

the nail into something. Be careful you don't hammer your thumb. I've done this before.

Hammering the thumb is very painful. "Hammer" is a noun and also a verb. Okay? So I can

say, "I hammer in the nails." So I take my hammer, and I smash the nails into my wrist.

Not a good idea. Please be careful when you're using these things. They just might bonk you

in the head.

The next one we have is -- it's not a drink of vodka and orange juice, unfortunately,

ladies and gentlemen. It is a "screwdriver". Now, my screwdriver was very expensive. I

did get it from the dollar store, which is another place where you can get these tools.

Each screwdriver has a different head. Okay. So unfortunately, I do not know the names

of the different heads of the screwdriver. I do know that this one is called a "flat"

head because it's flat. And I do believe that the one that looks like a star is called a

"Phillips", but don't quote me on that because I just kind of guess and hope that they fit

in. And if all else fails, just hammer it in. That's the thing. So with a screwdriver,

what you're going to do is you're going to take this thing called a "screw" -- that also

means something different. So you're going to screw in the screw with a screwdriver.

English is so repetitive. Okay. So one more time. So you're going to screw in the screw

with a screwdriver. This one you've to twist a lot. It hurts your wrist. If you screw too

much, you can hurt your wrist and do other things.

The next one we have is a "wrench". A "wrench" could look like this. This is a very big example

of a wrench. I also have a tiny wrench. So this part, what's going to happen is you're

going to take something like this. Now, this, I believe, is called a "bolt". Okay? So we

have these things called "nuts" and "bolts" -- I know what you're thinking about "nuts".

Not those kind. "Nuts" are something that go around the bolt, and they position the

nut and the bolt so it doesn't move. So what's going to happen is I'm going to use my wrench,

and I'm going to put the bolt -- or screw the bolt into the wall. Or I can unscrew the

bolt, and I can take it out. If you have a bicycle -- I have a bicycle. I love my bicycle.

Sometimes, you need to do repairs on your bicycle. Sometimes, you can use a wrench.

Also with the other end of the wrench, there's a "hacksaw" -- not a "hacksaw". I'm sorry.

A "hex". And you can crank it and take it off.

One thing that would've been useful a couple of weeks ago when my friend's chain fell off

and we had to change a tire would've been one of these. This is called an "Allen key"

or "hex key". So it basically fits in the point of something and turns it. So if you

have a bicycle, this is a very important tool. Ronnie needs to bring this with her every

day because Ronnie's a bit of a klutz. That means she breaks things a lot. So an Allen

key will help you undo things.

We also have this word "pliers". These are pliers. I have a story about pliers. I was

a wee girl. I think I was probably maybe a five-year-old. My front tooth was wiggly.

That means it was ready to come out. So it would not fall out. So my mother did what

she knows to do. She took a string and tied it around my tooth, tied the other part of

the string to a door and slammed the door. My tooth didn't come out. So here I was with

one wiggly tooth. Well, my father, he's quite smart. He took a nice set of pliers. He put

a Kleenex or a tissue here, and she just gently yanked my tooth out. So I was left with one

front tooth missing. True story. Pliers are not recommended for yanking out teeth. Don't

do that unless you want to. Pliers are good for things like a nail that you can't get

out of the wall. You could pull it out. It's basically used for pulling things out. Again

-- not teeth. Shouldn't have told you that story. So let's say that I have a nail in

the wall that won't come out. I can put the pliers here and pull it out. Yay. Success.

What else do we have here? This thing. One of my favorites. This is a "drill". The purpose

of a drill -- and the all-important "drill bit" -- this will go in here. I'm not going

to turn it on with this because it will fly in my eye. A "drill" is something that's going

to make a hole in the wall. So "drill" is the machine like this, and the "drill bit"

is the actual thing that's going to make a hole. So the drill bit attaches to the drill,

and this is used to make a hole. Okay?

Pliers, I told you, are used to pull things out of the wall, not your mouth. And an Allen

key or a hex key are really good if you have a bicycle or if you have to undo something

or take something apart.

Hammer -- you can put things up with a hammer, or you can screw something into the wall.

And a wrench, again, is for fastening things. Fascinating, I know.

Let's go back to some home decorating. Whew! Let that dust fly. So this thing, this beautiful

thing, it's called a "paintbrush". Two-piece brush set right there. So if I wanted to paint

the white board, I could change the color of it. One thing to be careful about is this

is not for your hair or your face, okay? It's usually only for the wall. Sometimes, you've

a large wall that you want to paint. This could take hours. What? What? We have this

thing. It's missing one thing, but this is called a "roller brush". Right here. So this

is a paintbrush, and this is a "roller" or a "roller brush". You get a spongy bit around

here, you dip it in the paint, and then you roll it. Rolling, rolling, rolling. It covers

more area than this. So this would paint this much, and this would paint this much. These

are fun. These are really fun. I suggest you go and buy one of these and just paint your

house. Go do it now.

If you are building something or -- like I said, you knocked down the wall -- you want

to make sure that what you've done is level or straight. So you want something to be like

this, not like this. This beautiful piece of equipment -- or this "tool" -- is called

a "level". I don't know if you can see, but in the middle of this, there is a bubble.

And the way that you line this up is if the bubble is in between the two lines here, it

means your piece of equipment is level. We're level. We're level. We're level EngVid. So

I may not be level. I may be a bit off-the-wall. If you need help fixing something, I suggest

you call in a professional. If you want to give it a try yourself, good luck. Be safe.

Go to the hardware store. Go to the dollar store and sometimes at the supermarket. You

can find all of these tools.

One thing that's one of my favorite ones, too, is measuring tape. It looks like this.

So you can measure things. You can measure anything you want. The possibilities are endless

out there, ladies and gentlemen. So let's say that something was six inches -- you could

measure that. Maybe something is seven or eight inches. You could measure that. Anything

that has a length or width, you can measure. In Canada, we usually measure things in feet.

There are different levels on this. It has feet and inches. Sometimes, they have centimeters;

sometimes, they have millimeters. It depends on what you use in your country.

So homework: Everyone measure something. Write me in the comments, and tell me how long it

is. Good-bye.