Let's Learn Some English Idioms and Phrases in Beautiful Places

Hi, Bob the Canadian here.

I was wondering if you wanted to see

some of the beautiful places that are close to my house

and if you wanted to learn

some cool English phrases at the same time.

This is The Comfort Maple.

It is one of the biggest maple trees in Canada,

and it's actually close to my house.

So it's kinda cool that I can take you here

to have a look at it.

We'll start here

and we'll go to a number of beautiful places

and I'll teach you some English phrases along the way.

(gentle music)

Well, hey, welcome to this English lesson

where I am going to help you learn

some new English words and phrases,

while we visit some beautiful places.

So stick around because we're gonna go to quite a few.

By the way, if you are new here,

you should click that red subscribe button.

And if this video helps you learn

just a little bit more English,

you should give me a thumbs up.

Did you notice I was hugging the tree?

I was giving the tree a big hug.

That is the very first word

that I'm going to teach you today,

the word treehugger.

So a treehugger is someone who loves trees,

but they also love the environment.

They are someone who would recycle all the time.

They are someone who would live as simply as possible

in order to protect the earth

and to protect the environment.

So, a treehugger might actually hug trees

but it's a term we use in English

to describe someone who just loves the planet.

The next phrase I wanted to teach you,

with the word tree in it, is the phrase

the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

This is a phrase that we use when we talk about children

who are a lot like their parents.

So my one son is a lot like me.

Someone could say to me,

"Wow, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

And what that means is that my son

has a lot of the same personality traits

and a lot of the same characteristics as I do.

And this last phrase with the word tree in it

is one of my favorites, and that's the phrase

money doesn't grow on trees.

This is something that parents

often say to their children

when they think their parents

should buy something that's really expensive,

because children don't always understand money.

So you say something like,

"What do you think, money grows on trees?"

Or you say, "Hey, we can't afford that.

"Money doesn't grow on trees."

Because if money grew on trees,

you could just go grab money from the tree.

That would make life a lot easier, wouldn't it?

(water swooshing)

So I'm at a place called Ball's Falls

and I wanted to teach you a few English phrases,

while I'm standing here in front of the falls.

The first phrase I wanted to teach you

is the English phrase cry me a river.

This is not a nice thing to say to someone,

but if you say to someone, "Cry me a river"

it means that they are telling you something

that they find kind of stressful

and you don't actually care that they're telling you.

So it's a really mean thing to say.

But maybe one of my children is constantly telling me

that they're not having fun

and they can't have fun unless they buy a new video game.

I could say, "Aw, cry me a river."

Basically what I'm saying is,

"I understand you're upset, but I really don't care."

It's not very nice, is it?

The other phrase I wanted to teach you here,

while we're by some water, has to do with fish.

And it's the English phrase

to feel like a fish out of water.

If you feel like a fish out of water,

it means you're not comfortable

in the situation that you are in.

If I went somewhere to learn how to ballroom dance,

I would feel like a fish out of water.

I don't mind dancing, but I have never in my life

gone and taken dance lessons.

So if I went to take dance lessons,

I would feel like a fish out of water.

(water swooshing)

The last phrase I wanted to teach you while we were here

is the English phrase dead in the water.

And this has to do with an idea

that isn't a good idea anymore.

So let's say at work, you came up with this incredible idea

and you told your boss

and your boss said, "It sounds great

"but there's not enough money to implement your idea."

We would then say that that idea is dead in the water.

Another beautiful place is, of course, the forest.

Let me get out of the way so you can see this one.

I came to this forest

to teach you a few English phrases, of course.

The first one being,

when someone can't see the forest for the trees.

If we say that someone can't see the forest for the trees,

it means that they can see all the little details

in a job they are doing,

but they have trouble seeing the big picture.

So, let's imagine someone is teaching, like me.

And instead of planning my whole day and my whole week,

I only plan one small part of the lesson.

You would say that I'm having trouble

seeing the forest for the trees,

especially if I spend way too much time

just planning that one part of my week.

It's always important to see the big picture.

If I went that way, I would be going into the woods.

And if I went that way, I would be going out of the woods,

which reminds me of the next English phrase

that I wanted to teach you

while we're out here in the woods or the forest,

and that's the phrase, we're not out of the woods yet.

When you are solving a problem

and you are working on it with someone else,

and if they say, "Yes, we're done"

but you're not quite done, you could say,

"Whoa, just a minute, we're not out of the woods yet."

And what that means

is that even though the problem is almost solved,

or whatever you're working on is almost done,

there are still some things that you have to finish.

So when a job is almost done,

especially when someone you're working with

thinks it's done but it's not,

you could say, "Whoa, we're not out of the woods yet."

So this next English phrase is a little weird.

It's actually a superstitious phrase.

It's something people say

after they talk about something

that they want in the future.

They will say, "Knock on wood."

And then they'll actually find something

that's wood and knock on it.

So, maybe, someone says, "Oh, I really hope everyone

"comes to my birthday party next week, knock on wood."

Basically what they're saying is,

because they've expressed their want or desire out loud,

they're a little bit superstitious,

so in order for it to come true, they say, "Knock on wood."

I don't say it very often,

but you will hear English speakers say this phrase.

So I noticed when I was driving here that my van needs gas,

so I hope there's a gas station in this neck of the woods.

This is an English phrase that we use

to talk about the neighborhood or area that we're in.

We'll say things like, "I hope there's a gas station

"in this neck of the woods."

Or if I saw someone, I could say,

"Do you know if there's a gas station

"in this neck of the woods?"

So basically, the English phrase, in this neck of the woods,

means in this area or in this neighborhood.

(birds chirping)

So this walking bridge is part of the Bruce Trail.

The Bruce Trail is a place near me where you can go hiking

and it reminded me of the English phrase, go take a hike.

If you tell someone to go take a hike,

it doesn't mean that they should go out

in the forest or woods and go for a brisk walk for exercise.

It means that you want them to leave.

It means that you want them to get lost.

So, if I am working on something

and someone is bothering me, I might just say,

"Hey, leave me alone, go take a hike."

And that just means that I want them to leave.

It's kind of informal and it's not very polite,

but you will hear it.

So I'm up here on this hill

and I wanted to teach you two English phrases

while I'm up here.

The first is a bird's eye view.

When you have a bird's eye view of something,

it means that you are somewhere really high

and you are looking down.

So we are looking down on this road

and we are looking down on a small town in the distance,

so we have a bird's eye view right now.

The second phrase I wanted to teach you

is the English phrase, as far as the eye can see.

There is fog as far as the eye can see right now,

and I wasn't expecting that today.

So when you use the English phrase,

as far as the eye can see,

it means that you are describing something

that you can see in the distance

and pretty much as far as you can see.

So sorry, I'll come back another day

when there's less fog and I'll show you the view

because sometimes you can actually see Toronto from here.

So I'm gonna have to teach you the rest

of the English phrases sitting here, hiding behind my van,

because I came out to the lake

and it's a little windier than I expected.

So, I'll teach you the English phrases while I sit here,

and then what I'll do is, I'll show you some pictures

of the lake while I'm talking.

The first English phrase I wanted to teach you

is the English phrase go jump in the lake.

When we tell someone to go jump in the lake,

it means we want them to get lost.

And you could say, "Take a hike.

"Go jump in the lake.

"Go fly a kite.

"Get lost."

All of these things mean

that you want the person to leave you alone.

So if I say, "Go jump in the lake"

which I would never say to you,

it means that I want you to stop bothering me

and to go somewhere else.

The second English phrase I wanted to teach you

out here by the lake is the phrase, that doesn't hold water.

If someone presents an idea to you

and it doesn't make a whole lot of sense,

you would say, "Your idea doesn't hold water."

or, "That doesn't hold water."

So when you say, "That doesn't hold water.",

you're telling someone that what they told you

isn't very logical and doesn't make a lot of sense to you.

The other phrase I wanted to teach you out here

is the English phrase, there's plenty of fish in the sea.

And even though this is a lake, it's not actually a sea,

it kind of applies because what this phrase is used for

is when someone breaks up with someone.

So let's say you have a boyfriend or girlfriend

and you break up and you're quite sad about it,

someone might say to you,

"Hey, it's not the end of the world.

"There's plenty of fish in the sea."

So this means there is a boy or girl out there

that you will probably meet some day,

even though you're sad because you just broke up

with your current boyfriend or girlfriend.

So, there's plenty of fish in the sea.

The last phrase I wanted to teach you out here by the lake

is the phrase, fishing for compliments.

If someone gets a new haircut,

maybe new glasses or a new shirt,

and they keep saying things to you like,

"What do you think of my new haircut?"

or "What do you think of my new glasses?"

or "What do you think of my new shirt?"

We would say that they are fishing for compliments.

So, because you're not giving them a compliment,

they are saying things about themselves,

that they would love it if you were to complement on.

So that is called fishing for compliments.

There's also the English phrase, don't rock the boat.

If you are someone who rocks the boat,

it means that you like to ask questions

and it means that you complain a lot.

If you are someone who has a job

where you are constantly questioning

how things are done, or constantly complaining,

you are someone who rocks the boat.

Well, hey, thanks for coming with me

to a few beautiful places.

Sorry that we had some bad weather, there, towards the end.

But, it was fun that you could come along

and I hope you were able

to learn a few more English phrases.

I'm Bob the Canadian.

If you're new here, don't forget

to click that red subscribe button

and give me a thumbs up if this video

helped you learn just a little but more English.

And, if you have the time,

why don't you stick around and watch another video.

(upbeat music)