Let's Learn English! Topic: Body Part Idioms! 😛👣👁️ (Lesson Only)

Well, hello, and welcome to this

English lesson about body part idioms.

It's kind of a funny title, but I

do know that people love to learn idioms.

Idioms in English, of course, are little phrases we

use that sometimes have a different meaning than the

words that we actually have in them.

So if I was to give you one example, I would

say that when people talk to me, I'm all ears.

Basically means that I am willing

and wanting to listen to them.

So I have just over 30 idioms, and they

will all have a body part in them.

The eye, the shoulder, feet, legs.

And it sounds stranger than it actually is.

But once again, welcome to this

English lesson about idioms where.

Where we'll be specifically focusing on idioms that have, you

know, one of the parts of your body in a

hand, ear, your feet, hair, elbows, and all those.

So once again, welcome to this English lesson.

By a hare.

So, the first idiom I want to teach

you is the idiom by a hare.

So if you are in a race and you win by

this much, we might say that you won by a hair.

If you're playing a game like tennis, and if the ball

is out, you might say that it's out by a hare.

So, as you know, a hare is very, very thin.

So sometimes we use this idiom to describe a

situation where something, you know, it's just out.

The ball was just out.

It was out by a hair.

Or we would say, oh, he drove his race car just a little

bit faster than the other guy and he won by a hair.

So whenever you're measuring a really, really small

distance, we might use the English idiom hair.

Because hairs, you know, I don't know.

I can't pull one out to show you,

but they are very, very, very thin.

Play it by ear.

When you play something by ear, it

means you don't use a plan.

You kind of look at what's happening and

you decide what to do in the moment.

So sometimes I have a plan.

Most times I have a plan for my classes.

But sometimes, maybe there's.

Maybe half the students are missing.

And then I just play it by ear, and I

invent something to do with the students who are left.

Maybe you're working on a project at work

and you have a plan, but maybe some

materials or parts didn't show up.

And then you just have to play it by ear,

and you have to figure out what to do.

So when you play something by ear, it means that you

kind of come up with a plan in the moment.

So you don't necessarily have a plan and you decide what

to do in the moment as you are doing it.

You play it by ear.

Drag your feet.

When you drag your feet, it means you are lazy.

When you drag your feet, it

means you're not working hard.

You might have a co worker like

this person who always drags their feet.

They do not work very hard.

If you are on a team with

them, sometimes they slow the team down.

It's very difficult to get work done if you have

a co worker who decides to drag their feet.

I don't often drag my feet, but I will say this.

When I'm sick, I will drag my feet at work.

So I won't work as quickly as I normally work

and I will drag my feet a little bit.

But some people will do it intentionally.

They'll drag their feet.

And it's.

It can be a little bit frustrating.

So to drag your feet means to not work very hard.

It means to be a little bit lazy.

Give someone a hand.

Now you can give someone a hand.

You can lend someone a hand.

You can basically use your hands

to help them do something.

It looks like this guy needed to move his couch.

So it looks like that lady is going to give him a hand.

You can't move a couch by yourself very easily.

It's a little, little bit tricky.

So sometimes you need someone to give you

a hand or to lend you a hand.

This is probably one of the nicest

things you can do in life.

Sometimes people are moving and they might say, hey,

does anyone have time to help me move?

And you can say, oh, I can give you

a hand or I can lend you a hand.

So when you help someone, we use

the idiom to give someone a hand.

It just simply means to help them.

Do all ears.

When you're all ears, it means you are listening

and you are paying attention to that person.

This girl is talking to this group

of people and they are all ears.

So they are all listening.

You can see how the idiom has the word ear in it.

If I say to you I'm all

ears, it means I'm listening to you.

I probably won't interrupt you.

I am respecting what you're saying and

trying to understand what you are saying.

So sometimes a will come to me

and say, I have a question.

And I might say, okay, I'm all

ears and I will not be distracted.

I will focus on what the student is saying so

that I can help them as best as I can.

So when you say I'm all ears, it

means you're listening and you're paying attention.

It's a nice thing to do as well, to bite your tongue.

So your tongue, of course, is in your mouth.

Sometimes when you're eating, you do bite your tongue.

It's not a nice feeling.

But when we use the phrase bite your tongue,

we mean to try and not say anything.

So sometimes something might happen where you want to

say something, but you know it would be bad.

So you bite your tongue.

You try not to say it.

You don't actually bite your tongue, but you might

have a boss who isn't a very good boss.

And whenever they announce something new that you

know won't work, it's a bad idea.

You might have to bite your tongue because

you don't want to say out loud that

the boss is making a bad decision.

So you will bite your tongue.

When you bite your tongue, it means you.

You try not to talk. It's.

It's usually a good thing to do in certain situations.

Cold feet.

So when you have cold feet, it means

you initially said you were going to do

something, but you've changed your mind.

You change your mind.

That's another idiom, by the way.

So if, let's say I said to you, I'm going to do

a live stream every day this week, and then later today, I

say, no, no, I changed my mind, you could say cold feet.

Usually it means you're a little bit

afraid or you're nervous about something.

We often use this when, if two people, if

you think they're going to get married, and then

one person decides not to, you could say, oh,

he got cold feet, or she got cold feet.

So it means you initially agreed to something, but

then for some reason later you changed your mind.

The cold shoulder.

So this is a little bit different.

When you give someone the cold shoulder,

it means you intentionally ignore them or

you intentionally leave them out.

Okay, so let's say at work there's someone

who no one really likes working with.

So when you are planning something, you

might give them the cold shoulder.

You don't tell them about the thing you are planning.

It's not a nice thing to do.

Trying to think of another example.

Let's say you play on a team and you guys in

the last game, you were really mean to the other team.

When you go to play again, that

team might give you the cold shoulder.

They might not be very happy to see you.

So it can mean to leave someone out

or to intentionally ignore someone or a group

of people to give them the cold shoulder.

Have an eye for.

When you have an eye for something,

it means you're good at it.

And it's usually a visual thing.

So I'm an okay editor, but some

people really have an eye for editing.

They really know how to put a video

together so that it's interesting to watch.

I always use this example.

Jen really has an eye for

putting flowers together in a bouquet.

Some people have an eye for decorating a room.

This lady is picking out colors using a color swatch.

She probably has an eye for interior design.

She's probably really, really good at putting different

colours together so they look really, really good.

So when you have an eye for something,

it means you're really good at something visual.

Like, you could say, he really

has an eye for photography.

He's really, really good at it.

Pain in the neck.

So this is your neck.

Of course, when you say someone is a pain

in the neck, it means that they are annoying.

We have another phrase that instead of the

word neck, has the word for butt.

Oh, actually you could say pain in the butt,

but you can also say pain in the ass.

But this simply is used to

refer to someone who is annoying.

Sometimes children could be a pain in the neck.

So it looks like this lady is on the phone and

this child is just yelling at her or doing something annoying.

We would say that that child is a pain in the neck.

It's not a very nice or kind thing to say,

but when you certainly in a situation like this, I

would say that girl is being a pain in the

neck to probably her mom or her sister.

I can't tell, actually.

But yeah, sometimes I'm a pain in the neck.

When someone owes me money, I will phone them a

lot and I will become a pain in the neck.

I will annoy them on purpose so that they pay me.

I will become a pain in the neck.

To get something off your chest.

When you get something off your chest, it

means something was bothering you and you need

to talk to someone about it.

So let's say, trying to think of an example,

let's say your parents want you to go to

the University of Toronto, but you really want to

go to the University of Windsor.

You have to get that off your chest.

At some point you have to sit down and talk

to them and say, look, I know you want me

to go to U of T, the University of Toronto,

but I would rather go somewhere else.

If you're in a relationship, maybe you

want to continue in the relationship.

And then we would say you need to get something

off your chest, you will want to explain to the

other person that you don't really enjoy being with them

anymore and you might want to break up.

So when you get something off

your chest, it means you talk.

So this is your chest, of course, but it means

you talk about something that has been bothering you.

Get on your nerves.

When someone gets on your nerves,

it means they are bothering you.

It looks like in this situation, the guy has been talking

too much and he's starting to get on her nerves.

She is starting to become annoyed with him.

Usually we use the phrase get on someone's

nerves to talk about a repeated action.

If I'm trying to work, and if another teacher

keeps talking to me and I'm on my computer

trying to get work done, I might say the

teacher started to get on my nerves.

So it's a little different than

being a pain in the neck.

It's a little more like just light annoyance.

But certainly in this picture, he is

starting to get on this lady's nerves.

Head in the clouds.

So this can mean a couple of things.

One of the things head in the clouds means

is that you aren't thinking about what's actually happening.

You're just dreaming or daydreaming about stuff.

So someone with their head in

the clouds might forget things.

They might often forget their keys or their phone

and have to walk to their car twice.

Sometimes we use this phrase,

though, to talk about someone.

This is a slight usage.

Someone who's really smart, like, oh, he's not very

good at taking out the garbage and buying groceries

because he always has his head in the clouds,

which might mean he's thinking about complex math problems.

This is a body idioms, and

I'm really using my hands today.

Cost an arm and a leg.

When something costs an arm and a

leg, it means it's really, really expensive.

In North America, as the US And Canada start to

put tariffs on each other's products, things are going to

start to cost an arm and a leg.

In fact, this isn't related to the tariffs, but

in the United States right now, in some places,

eggs cost an arm and a leg.

They cost a lot more than they used to.

So when you say that something costs an arm and

a leg, it definitely means it's very, very expensive.

Gas right now is really expensive.

It costs an arm and a leg to fill your van up.

When you think of something off the top of

your head, it means you just thought of it.

If you're talking to someone and they say, hey,

we should Go to Toronto and see a show.

Is there anything you want to say?

See, you could say, just off the top of my head,

I think there's a play that is closing in a week.

We should go see it now.

Or you're having an idea in the moment, you're thinking of

something and it's just off the top of your head.

So you, in that moment, you think of something.

Sometimes when I'm doing my other live streams, I

have to think of things off the top of

my head to see eye to eye.

When you see eye to eye,

it means you agree with someone.

So let's say I'm trying to think of an example here.

Let's say I voted for the current mayor.

I would say I voted for the mayor because we

see eye to eye on a lot of issues.

It means that I like the mayor

because we think the same way.

We agree on a lot of things.

A lot of times when you vote, you vote for

someone because you see eye to eye with them.

Basically, it means that you agree with them on

a lot of really important issues or topics.

It's hard to work with people if

you don't see eye to eye.

It can be very, very tricky.

So when you see eye to eye, it means

that you agree with that person or you agree

with a lot what that person thinks.

Keep your chin up.

So this is your chin.

To keep your chin up means to stay positive.

So let's say I.

I'm being more political than I normally would be.

But if you are a Democrat and you live in the

United States, you just need to keep your chin up.

And maybe in three and a half years,

your person will win the next election.

So when you tell someone to keep their chin

up, you're telling them to try and stay positive.

You're telling them to not be too stressed or worried

about the current situation, to maybe do things that will

help them the next day or the day after.

Sometimes when a team loses, the coach will

say, come on, everyone, keep your chins up.

Or, keep your chin up, guy.

We're gonna do better in the next game.

Get off my back.

So of course your back is back here.

When you tell someone to get off your

back, it means they keep telling you to

do something and you want them to stop.

Sometimes people feel like saying this to their boss, but

then it's a good idea to bite your tongue.

But if you say, get off my back, basically someone

has been telling you to do something over and over

again or even nagging you a little bit.

When you nag, it's the same thing.

It's you tell someone to do

something over and over again.

So you might just say to them, hey, get off my back.

Doing my best.

Please stop annoying me and bothering me.

Head over heels.

I think we had this in a previous lesson on love.

When you are head over heels, it usually means

you are really, really in love with someone.

So much in love that you would go to some sort

of parade where they throw paper hearts onto the street.

In order for Bob to go to a parade like this, he

would need to be head over heels in love with Jen.

So I guess that means I would go that sort of event.

But when you are head over heels, it means you

love someone very, very much and in a romantic way.

Okay.

You would never be like, head over

heels for a friend or something.

That doesn't make sense.

Head over heels refers to romantic love.

Very, very strong romantic love.

So when something's on the tip of your tongue,

it means you can't quite think of the answer.

This happens to me every once in

a while in a live lesson.

Be like, I can't quite think of the word.

And then in the chat, people usually find the

answer for me or bring the answer forward.

It's really, really nice when that happens.

But when something is on the tip of

your tongue, how would I say this?

It means you know, you know the

answer, but you can't think of it.

This probably happens a lot to

you when you're speaking English.

The word is just.

It's on the tip of your tongue.

You know what word you want to use,

but you just can't think of it.

You might even be able to picture the word like the.

Let's say you're trying to think of the word for fox.

You can picture a fox in your mind and

the word is just on the tip of your

tongue, but you can't quite think of it.

To pick someone's brain.

When you pick someone's brain, it means you ask

them for some feedback or for some ideas.

So let's say I wanted to start a new business.

I might actually go to my brother and say,

hey, can I pick your brain for a bit?

I'm thinking of selling watermelons at the road.

What do you think?

And then my brother might give me some ideas.

So when you pick someone's brain, it means you have ideas,

but you want someone else to kind of tell you if

it's a good idea or give you some suggestions.

Another example would be when Brent and I meet during

the summer, often we will pick each other's brains.

Like, Brent might ask me a question

about how I use my camera.

And I might ask Brent about, well, how

did that lesson go when you did this?

So we might try to get ideas from each other

and to help each other stick your neck out.

So here's a graph, and the graph is going down.

When you stick your neck out, it means you

take a risk, you do something that is risky.

So if this is a guy planning to buy stocks,

he's planning to invest in the stock market, he would

be sticking his neck out if he bought that stock.

Maybe, maybe because it's low, it might go up again.

But when you do something risky, we use

that phrase to stick your neck out.

And of course, this is your neck.

It has to relate probably to something with turkeys

or birds that are going to be processed.

I can't think of a better word.

But when you stick your neck out, it

means you do something risky, like pulling teeth.

So these are your teeth.

Sometimes you go to the dentist and the dentist has to

take out a tooth that is bad and it hurts.

But in English, we use this phrase to

describe trying to get someone or even a

pet to do something they don't want to.

I have a few students at my school who

are always late for class, and getting them to

be on time is like pulling teeth.

This dog doesn't want to go for a walk, and so

the owner is pulling it, but it's like pulling teeth.

So if there's someone who you want that person

to do something and they are stubborn and won't

do it, trying to convince them to do it,

we would say, is like pulling teeth.

It's never enjoyable when you're in that situation.

Sometimes when kids are little, getting them to brush

their teeth at night is like pulling teeth.

It's kind of funny.

It has the word teeth in it as well.

A sweet tooth.

So if you have a sweet tooth,

it means you love eating sweet food.

You probably like candies and you like chocolate, and you,

like, try to think of other stuff that is sweet.

You probably like soda.

You probably just like everything that

has lots of sugar in it.

You probably like donuts with lots

of chocolate icing on the top.

So when you have a sweet tooth, it

means you enjoy really, really sweet food. You love it.

You are a sweet tooth.

Elbow room.

When you fly first class or business

class, you have lots of elbow room.

There's lots of room between you

and the person beside you. We often.

So this Is your elbow, so there's

lots of room for your elbows.

We often use this phrase in the negative, though.

We say, oh, I was on the train

and there, there wasn't very much elbow room.

It was really crowded on the subway.

I didn't have any elbow room.

But certainly someday, if I'm ever able to afford it,

fly business class or first class, I would be excited

because there would be lots of elbow room.

I would be very comfortable.

I wouldn't have my shoulder

against the person beside me.

By the way, I went to a Raptors game a few months

ago and the person beside me was big, let's just say that.

And I.

I had no elbow room.

I couldn't put my arm on the armrest because.

Because the person beside me was

quite, to put it nicely, quite.

Quite large. Yes.

Eye catching.

So when something is eye catching,

it means that it is beautiful.

Sometimes when you go to a museum

and you see paintings, they're eye catching.

Like, you see the colours and how they're put together.

Sometimes when you see a bouquet

of flowers, it's eye catching.

You really enjoy the flowers that are in that bouquet.

By the way, that is not Jen's bouquet.

But we do grow all those types of flowers.

So, yes, when something is eye catching, it means

it is beautiful and you enjoy looking at it.

So we have keep an eye out and keep an eye on.

When you keep an eye out, it

means you're watching for something to happen.

I would imagine this person is waiting to

get picked up by someone, so they're going

to keep an eye out person.

When I order something from Amazon, I keep

an eye out for the Amazon truck.

I'm waiting for the Amazon truck to arrive.

So when you keep an eye out for

something, it means you're expecting something to happen

and you're waiting for it to happen.

When you keep an eye on someone

or something, it means you're watching it.

When I boil the kettle, I might keep an

eye on the kettle so I see when it's

done boiling or when it starts boiling.

When you watch children, you will keep an

eye on the children because you don't want

them to leave the house or run away

or whatever kids do when they're that little.

If you go to the park and you take your dog off

the leash and let your dog run free, you will want to

keep an eye on your dog so you can keep an eye

out for someone if they are picking you up.

If you are watching kids or if you have a

pet, you might keep an Eye on them so that

you know what they're doing at all times.

To pull someone's leg.

When you pull someone's leg, it means you are usually.

This says lie.

Kind of you're lying or joking with them.

You're telling them something that isn't

true because you think it's funny.

Okay, so this is maybe not quite the best

picture, but if Brent said to me, hey, I'm.

I'm in Niagara Falls, I'm going to stop by in an

hour, I'd be like, you must be pulling my leg.

I know you're not in Niagara Falls. So when you.

It's when you tell someone something that isn't

true simply because you think it's funny to

tell them that to pull someone's leg.

Pay through the nose.

So again, we had the phrase.

Which phrase did we do?

I'm looking back here. Why can't I.

Oh, to cost an arm and a leg.

Yeah, that was the other one.

And then to pay through the nose.

When you pay through the nose, it

means you pay a lot for something.

In the US in some places, people

are paying through the nose for eggs.

Right now, I think it's almost

$10 a dozen or something. Crazy.

I still feel like gas is too expensive.

I feel like I'm paying through the nose.

I don't know why we have this expression. You don't.

I don't know what it comes from,

where it comes from at all.

But when I buy gas, I feel

like I'm paying through the nose. It's so. It's so.

It's so expensive.

So when you pay through the nose, it means

you are buying something that's very, very expensive, and

you're paying a lot of money for it.