Fluent English: Speak Naturally with These Everyday Expressions

Hi there. This is Harry. Welcome back  to Advanced English Lessons with Harry,  

where I try to help you to get a better  understanding of the English language.

Okay. And in this particular lesson's  an advanced lesson. And this advanced  

English lessons about expressions  and expressions relating to eating.

Okay, so we've got a list of 30 teams.

I'll go through them with you one by one  and then I'll give you some examples.

to eat

one's words or to eat your words. When you eat  your words, you effectively have to apologise.  

Yeah, okay. It's because you've made some  big, bold statement and it doesn't come  

true or you're not able to deliver. So you  have to eat your words. Okay? So let's say  

there's somebody put forward a proposal  and it's a real, real strong proposal.

But it's a bit risky. And you stand up  and say this is never going to work.

This is really, really going to cost us  a lot of money. At the end of the day,  

we're not going to make any profit at all.

Unfortunately, three months later, this has  been one of the greatest successes ever.  

And therefore you have to eat your words and  say something like Well, I was wrong. Yeah,  

I thought it wouldn't work,  but in fact it has, so. You

take my hat off to them. It's really,  

really they've really done well.  So you have to eat your words.

So we can make somebody eat their words so  we perform better than they had expected.  

Perhaps your football team, you at  the beginning of the season said, oh,  

they're going to be in relegation trouble  again. You know, the same old same old,  

the win a few games, the lose a few, win  one, lose 4 or 5 and then we'll struggle.

But lo and behold then half with during the  season your team is in the top 3 or 4. You  

have to eat your words, but you're probably be  glad to eat your own words because your team is  

doing much better than you had anticipated  or forecast. Okay, so to eat your words.

Next expression to eat into one's time or money.

Okay, so lots of things can eat  into our time and eat into our  

money. Taxes will eat into our money all the time.

if the government increase the rate of tax on,

the food we buy in the shop, that value added tax,  

or they increase the income tax, then you're  going to have less in your pocket to spend.

So all of these changes, high inflation,  it's into our money. It's into our disposable

income that we have. And we're not able  to buy the same quality or quantity of  

goods that we were able to buy six months  ago, or 12 months ago. So rising inflation  

eats into our money, increased taxes  by the government eats into our money.

So what eats into our time? Well, I  find lots of things eat into my time,

When I have to reply to lots of emails, which I'm  happy to do. But they eat into your time because  

you have to think about the answer for each  of them. Correcting questions and correcting  

exercises that students have done. It's into  my time. So work. It's into all of our time.  

You know, we just wish we had more time to  do things that we want to do, not have to  

spend more time doing things that other people  want us to do because it eats into our time.

Spending long hours on the internet certainly  eats into people's time for kids, in particular  

when they should be studying, perhaps playing  computer games. It's into the time so takes up.  

To eat into something means to take up time,  to take up more time than it actually should.

It's somebody out of house and home.  Well, this is going to happen and it  

does happen on a regular basis when  our sons come back to visit us,  

there's not none of them are living with us  anymore. But when they do come back to visit  

once a month or once every two months, the  first thing they do is head for the fridge.

The second thing they do is they  empty the fridge. And then the  

third thing they do is they ask,  is there anything else to eat?

So when they leave at the end of the  weekend, we say, oh, did they come and go,  

and all they do is they eat us out of  house and home. So it means literally,  

they take everything that's possible  to eat and then they disappear.

So to eat somebody out of house and  home is to eat as much as you can,  

probably without offering to pay for anything.  And certainly not going to restock the fridge

before they go. So to eat  us out of house and home.

To have somebody eating out of your  hand. What does that mean? Well,  

when you have somebody eating out of your hand,  you have them exactly where you want them. Have  

you ever gone into the park and you stand  and you watch people who day after day go  

into the park. They stand very still. They  put some not so breadcrumbs on the hands.

And within no time at all, the  birds are sitting on their arm  

picking the food from the hands, or indeed  the squirrel hops up on the fence, and then  

the really brave squirrel jumps up and takes the  nuts from the hand, so you have them eating out  

of your hand. So when you have somebody eating  out of your hand, that's exactly what happens.

You have them exactly where you want them.  So you could say that about daughters and  

fathers are she's amazing. She knows  exactly what buttons to press. She has  

her father eating out of her hand. So she wants  something. Dad, if she needs something. Dad if  

she really wants something. Dad, please.  So she has dad eating out of her hands.

She knows exactly what buttons to  press to get what she wants. Okay,  

so if you have somebody eating out of your hand,  it means you control them. If you need something,  

you ask them. You don't have to ask twice. Okay?  So to have somebody eating out of your hand.

you do find that you have liked this  lesson, then please like the video and  

if you can subscribe to the channel  because it really, really helps.

To lose your appetite. Well, when we lose our  appetite, really, we just don't feel like eating  

food. And this could be for lots of reasons.  It could be because you're sick. You lose your  

appetite. It could be because you don't like the  look of the food and you lose your appetite. Or  

indeed, if you're stressed under pressure at work,  you might lose your appetite for several days.

You go into a restaurant and you get this very,  very strange smell. And when you look on the  

counter, the food to go, look, I've suddenly  lost my appetite. I couldn't eat that. I think  

I'll try somewhere else, okay? Or if you're  working, you've got a project to complete and  

you really can't sit down and eat something  because it's constantly on your mind, then

You lose your appetite for 1 or 2 days until you  get that project finished. You sign off on it

And then you can sit back and perhaps have a nice  

meal. So to lose your appetite means to  lose your interest in food temporarily.

On the short or medium term basis until  you get back that interest in food.

Next to quench one's thirst. Now be very careful  here with the pronunciation. Quit a quench quench  

to quench your thirst. When you quench your  thirst. You effectively feed your thirst. So  

you've been out running. It's a hot day. You get  back. Your parched, your breathing heavily. You  

need something quick. So you get a bottle of cold  water and that will certainly quench your thirst.

Or you get a bottle of

chilled fruit juice that will quench your  thirst. So something that gives a real tang  

to it and then you'll feel that you've got.

A nice, pleasant taste in your mouth and you can  breathe easily again. So to quench your thirst.

So make sure you understand what it means and  make sure you practice with that pronunciation,  

because it's quite an unusual word and  you got that cue you at the beginning.

So could quit, quench,  quench to quench your thirst.

Another minion is to satisfy your thirst. I  mean, you had you were thirsty and then you drank  

something, so you have satisfied your thirst.  Or as we've said, you can quench your thirst.

The next expression to do something on  a full or an empty stomach. So we've  

got two options here. Yeah. People will  often give you advice when you're about  

to go for a run in the park or to run a  half marathon. You're not going to go out  

for a run now on a full stomach. You'll  be sick within a couple of kilometres.

So they're giving you a warning

That you shouldn't go out. So a quick after a meal  

or what? My parents always used to tell  me when I wanted to go for a swim. Well,  

you can't go and swim on a full stomach. You've  just eaten. So why don't you wait an hour till  

you've digested your food, and then you  can go into the water and have a swim.

So good advice. And then if somebody says  something about an empty stomach. You shouldn't  

give a presentation or you shouldn't go to a  meeting on an empty stomach, because when I say a  

tummy will rumble during the meeting and everybody  will be looking at you, or you might feel a little  

bit nervous, or you may be lacking some energy and  you might need the energy for the presentation.

Indeed, before an exam, some parents might say,  

well, don't go to the exam on an empty  stomach. Have a good breakfast. Don't

eat very little because during the exam  you might get tired. So if you've you've  

got some food inside you, you'll  feel good. You'll think better  

and perhaps perform better in the exam.  So parents will say anything to try and

buck up your spirits and try to get  you through those difficult exams. So  

you can do something on a full stomach,  or not do something on a full stomach,  

or do or don't do something on an empty stomach.

You should never drink on an empty stomach,  because if you go out on a Friday evening and  

you haven't eaten for the day, the chances  are after a couple of glasses of wine,  

a couple of beers, you're going to be  a little bit, unsteady on your feet.

So shouldn't drink on an empty stomach.

To be famished or to be peckish or to  be full up. Okay. So if we are famished,  

it means we really haven't eaten for a long  time. And we're looking forward to a very,  

very big meal. If you're peckish, it  means you're not so hungry at all,  

and you're just going to pick  out a little bit of food.

So somebody might ask you, are you hungry?  Nah, I'm a little peckish. I'll eat something,  

but I don't want anything big, just something  smaller. Snack. Okay. And if you're full up,  

well, then you've no room for any  more food. So famished. You're really,  

really hungry. Peckish? Yeah, you could eat  something, but it's not a lot. And full up.

You've no room for anything. So  different levels of how you might feel.

To feel faint with hunger. When might you feel  faint with hunger? Well, if you haven't eaten  

for a while or you feel like you  haven't eaten for days and days,  

you probably have, but you just feel that way.

You can say, I feel faint with hunger,  meaning if I don't eat something quickly,  

I am literally going to faint or I'm  going to collapse. So somebody might  

be a little bit white in the face,  not looking so well. And you said,  

what's what's wrong with you? I feel faint with  the hunger. I haven't eaten since breakfast and

I was working all through lunchtime.

There was a sandwich sitting on my desk,  

but I just couldn't get to it because I  had so much work to do. So I'm faint with

hunger, so I really need a decent meal.  Otherwise I'm just going to collapse. So  

when you feel faint with hunger, it's  because you haven't eaten for a while.  

You're lacking energy and you really,  really need to get some food inside you.

Something to give you that little  bit of a boost. A little kicker.

Next. Still talk about eating to eat like a  bird. Now, if somebody has a really small, small  

appetite, they take a very, very small amount of  food for breakfast and a cup of tea or coffee, and  

then a small amount of food almost non-existent on  the plate. And then a really, really small meal.

In the evening time, we can say, well,  there's something wrong with mom.

She's got

An appetite like a bird. At the  moment she hardly eats anything.

I think we should encourage her to persuade  her to go to the doctor. There's obviously  

something wrong. So somebody who wants  to watch their weight and make sure they  

don't go up a dress size or go up  a suit size, then they will reduce  

the amount of food they eat and they say,  Oh, I'm on a diet. I'm eating like a bird

these days. Yeah, eating like a bird.

And again, if somebody eats  you... sorry, somebody asks you,  

are you hungry? And you, would you like  something to eat? If you're really,

hungry, you might say, I could eat a horse  right now. You won't actually eat a horse. Well,  

you might in certain countries, but I could  eat a horse is a really old expression. Meaning  

you've got a very, very big appetite at the  moment because perhaps you've been running.

Perhaps you've been doing some workout in the gym,  

or perhaps you've just had one of  those stressful days. And the best  

way to get over it is have a nice big meal.  So yeah, I am hungry. I could eat a horse.

To satisfy your hunger. Yeah. So.

to satisfy your hunger, it could be something like  that pizza with all your favourite toppings. It  

could be a bag of chips or fish and chips from  the local fish and chip shop. Or it could be  

a plate of sushi. Whatever it is that you really  fancy that will satisfy your hunger. Because when  

you're hungry, it's hungry for a particular plate  and not an anything or everything will do that.

So you want a particular meal, a particular plate,  a taste from some particular restaurant, and that  

will do the trick. It will satisfy your hunger.  Yeah. Okay. So to take the edge of your hunger.

And finally to work up an appetite.  Well, when we work up an appetite,  

we usually get ourselves in the situation  that we're going to be really hungry after  

a while. So. Oh yes, I have been playing  tennis all afternoon. I really worked up  

an appetite. I could really murder burger and  chips. I could really murder a pizza. Yeah.

So you work up an appetite, you get yourself into  the situation that you've worked hard, you've been  

running, you've been sweating, you've been working  out. And now you can afford to sit down and eat

a lot of carbs. And

or you send the kids out into the garden, say,  look, don't come back for a couple of hours.

I've got a bit of cooking to do.  When you come back, I'll have

lunch or dinner ready, so that'll give  you guys time to work up an appetite,  

go out there, run around, expend some of that  energy that you got over the summer holidays,  

and when you come back, I'll have your  favourite food ready for you. Yeah.

So to work up an appetite, build it up,  get it ready so that when you get the food,  

you'll eat it not so quickly, but  you'll really, really enjoy it.

Okay, so there we have 13 particular  expressions relating to eating.

try to practice. Try to use them.  See how many of them you can use,  

and take 3 or 4 over a week, and then 3 or 4 more

If you don't understand them then you can  contact me on www.englishlessonviaskype.com

I'll give you some more

examples

As always, I appreciate  you watching and listening.

This is Harry thanking you for watching  me and join me again for the next lesson.