Let's Learn English Idioms Outside! A Fun Way to Learn Idioms!

Hi, Bob the Canadian here.

I thought I would start this video by letting you

have a nice look at the country lane behind me.

When I was out on a walk the other day,

I found this country lane across the road from me

and I thought,

I should do a video outside where

I go to a bunch of different places

and teach you a bunch of different English idioms.

So welcome to this video.

We're going to do just that.

But I'm gonna step out of the frame again so you

can have a nice look at the country lane behind me.

When I come back,

we'll get started.

(upbeat music)

So there are two idioms that I want to teach you

as we look at this country lane behind me,

but before we get started with that though,

if you are new here,

don't forget to click that red subscribe button below

and give me a thumbs up if this video

helps you learn just a little bit more English.

So we have a country lane.

The first English idiom that I wanted

to teach you is a trip down memory lane

or a walk down memory lane.

We refer to memory lane as the place

we go when we're talking about something

that happened in the past with someone else.

So when I sit down and have tea with my mom,

if we talk about what it was like when I was a kid,

we would say that my mom

and I are going for a trip down memory lane

or a walk down memory lane.

So whenever you sit with someone

and you talk about things that have happened in the past,

we call that a trip down memory lane

or a walk down memory lane.

The other thing I wanted to talk

about with this lane behind me,

if you notice, it goes uphill.

We have another phrase in English called an uphill battle.

So when you are doing something

that's very, very difficult,

it can be like fighting an uphill battle.

If you could imagine it was a long time ago

and if there was an army coming from the top

and I had to not only climb the hill,

but I had to fight my way up the hill,

we would call that a literal uphill battle.

But in life,

sometimes you have situations

where your life feels like an uphill battle.

So that's two phrases

that I've now taught you out on this country lane.

Let's go somewhere else on the farm

and in the surrounding countryside to learn a couple more.

So you can see down here

that this water is flowing in one direction.

There's a bit of an echo because

I'm under the bridge right now.

We have two phrases in English,

two sayings about water and flow.

One of them is to say that you go with the flow.

When you go with the flow in life,

it means that you don't put up much resistance,

that you just do what other people want

and you just enjoy life

and you don't argue a lot.

So you often just go with the flow.

But if you go against the flow

or if you go against the stream,

it means that you argue a lot,

that you sometimes disagree with people

and sometimes you are someone who takes a contrary opinion

or the opposite opinion.

So when you go with the flow,

you are very agreeable,

when you go against the flow,

or when you go against the stream,

you are very disagreeable.

So behind me you see a bridge

and there are two English idioms,

two English phrases I wanted

to talk about that have the word bridge in it.

The first is the phrase water under the bridge.

When we say something is water under the bridge,

we're actually talking about something

that happened in the past

that we don't think we need to worry about

or think about anymore.

Let's pretend that you

and a friend had a big fight three years ago,

but now you wanna go on a vacation together,

but you might be worried that your friend

is still angry about the fight you had.

You could say to them,

let's just consider that water under the bridge.

When water flows under a bridge,

it starts on one side,

it goes out the other

and then it's gone.

And we're talking about the same thing here.

Let's think about the conflict in the past

as water under the bridge.

It came,

it flowed under

and it left.

Let's not worry about it anymore.

The second phrase with bridge is the phrase

we'll cross that bridge when we get there

or we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

This refers to a situation where if a couple

of people are working on something

and one person keeps thinking about step three

of the project and you still haven't done step one,

you could say,

hey, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it

or we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

Basically what you're saying is don't

worry about step three or four or five,

just worry about step one right now.

We'll cross that bridge when we come to it,

we'll take care of step three when we get there.

So this bush has a lot of thorns on it.

It's really sharp,

ow.

I should be more careful.

It has a lot of thorns on it

and it reminds me of the English phrase

that we use sometimes to describe someone who's annoying.

We say that they are a thorn in our side.

If you work with someone who is always being difficult

and makes your job really, really hard to do,

you could say that that person is a thorn in your side,

like one of these sharp thorns here.

So you can see on this tree

that the buds are starting to open.

Let me try to get them in focus for you.

This tree had small buds last week

and they're slowly opening.

And that reminded me of an English phrase,

nip it in the bud.

When you say that you need to nip something in the bud,

it means that you want to get rid

of a problem before it gets too big.

When you nip something in the bud,

when you nip, it usually means

that you pull something off or get rid of it,

it means that you are early

and you are solving the problem

when it's still really, really small.

Some people say nip it in the bud,

some people mistakenly say nip it in the butt.

That's not the actual phrase.

By the way,

your butt is down here.

I'm not gonna pan the camera down so you can see it,

but if you nip something in the bud,

it means that you get rid of the problem

or solve the problem when it's still really, really small.

So winter is over

and you can see that this bush

is starting to get a little bit green,

and that reminded me of the English phrase

to beat around the bush.

When someone beats around the bush,

it means that when they're talking to you

or when they're asking you about something,

they don't get to the point.

Let's imagine you really want to take a day off work

and you go to your boss

and you say,

hey, I've worked really hard lately

and I've noticed that the other people

take days off every once in a while.

As you say those things,

your boss could say to you,

just stop beating around the bush

and ask me what you want to ask me.

So basically, when you beat around the bush,

it means you kinda talk about

a whole bunch of other things instead

of talking about the main thing

that you should be talking about.

So you can see beside me here is a field.

This one has hay growing in it or grass,

this one doesn't have anything planted in it yet.

But when I came out here to look at my field,

it reminded me of the English phrase

outstanding in their field.

When someone is outstanding in their field,

it means that they are really,

really good at the job they do.

Maybe you know someone who is a scientist

and they are one of the best scientists

in the field that they study in.

Maybe they are in the field of medicine or research

and you would say

that that person is outstanding in their field.

It means that they are better

than a lot of the other people in that field

and it means that they are well

respected in that field as well.

So this creek behind me floods every year,

but because this tree has really good roots,

it stays where it is.

There are two English phrases

that I wanna teach you

that have the word root or roots in it.

The first is in English when you

say that you put down roots,

it means that you have decided to live somewhere.

If I was to move to Toronto,

and if I was to put down roots,

it would mean that I moved there permanently,

that I decided that I wanted to leave the farm,

that'll never happen,

and move to Toronto

and put down roots.

So the English phrase,

to put down roots,

means that you have moved somewhere permanently.

The other phrase I wanted to teach you

is the phrase to get to the root of the problem.

So when you have a problem in your life

and you want to figure out why you have that problem,

what you do is you try to get to the root of the problem.

So again, roots are what are in the ground

under a plant or a tree,

and when you put down roots,

it means that you settle somewhere

or go to live somewhere permanently,

and when you try to get to the root of the problem,

you try to figure out the reason why you have that problem.

So a long time ago,

my brother-in-law and I built this fence,

and there are three phrases,

three idioms I wanna teach you

that have the word fence in it.

The first is that in English,

we sometimes say that good fences

make good neighbors.

What we mean by that is that when you live somewhere

and there is a fence between you and your neighbor,

when people have something that separates them physically,

it can actually be a good thing.

It can help them get along

and it can help them enjoy each other's

company better because there

is a physical barrier that prevents them from,

oh, maybe taking each other's stuff

and those kinds of things.

So that's the first one.

The second one I wanted to teach you is the phrase

the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.

What that means is that a lot of times,

literally, if you look at your neighbor's yard,

you might think that their grass is greener than yours,

but we really use this phrase to talk about times

when we are jealous about what someone else has.

So maybe someone has a nicer house than us

and someone might say to you,

you know, when you keep talking about your neighbor's house,

it sounds like you are jealous,

but, you know, the grass is always greener

on the other side of the fence.

So that could mean that even though

your neighbor has a nicer house than you,

his life might not be that much better.

So that's two phrases that have the word fence in it.

And then the last phrase,

I actually have to look at my paper.

I forgot the last phrase.

Oh, the last phrase in English is to be on the fence.

When we say that someone is on the fence about something,

it means that they are undecided

one way or the other.

So let's say someone says to me,

hey, do you wanna go to a movie Friday night?

I could say,

I'm kind of on the fence about that.

I have two other things that I could do

and I haven't really decided which one I want to do.

So I'm on the fence.

So anyways, that was three idioms involving a fence.

Well, hey,

thank you so much for watching

this video on some English phrases

and idioms that I was able

to teach you in the great outdoors.

I hope that you were able to learn just

a little bit more English in this video.

I'm Bob the Canadian,

thanks again for watching.

If you're new here,

don't forget to click that red subscribe button down there

and give me a thumbs up if this video

helped you learn just a little bit more English.

And while you're here,

why don't you stick around

and watch another video?

(upbeat music)