English for Real Life: 10 Expressions That Make You Sound Natural

Hi there. This is Harry. And welcome back  to advanced English Lessons with Harry,  

where I've tried to help you to get a better  understanding of the English language.

And in a previous comment, somebody asked  me to smile a little bit more. So I'll  

try to smile a little bit more through the  lessons because I'm normally a happy chappy,  

particularly when my football team wins.

Okay, so this particular advanced lesson is all to  

do with idioms and idioms about fruit.  And as usual we have ten of them. I'll  

give them to you 1 to 10. And then I'll  explain them and give you an example.

So number one

is going bananas.

So if you catch a glimpse of it, you  won't think you're going bananas.

When we feel we are going a little bit crazy,  

or somebody is, or the kids are running  around and screaming, oh gee, I'm going  

bananas. They are driving me bananas. They're  nice. I wish they could go outside and play,  

but it's been raining cats and dogs so they can  hardly go out there to catch the death of cold.

So unfortunate. I have to put up with the noise,  but I'm really going bananas, so I can't wait for  

the father to come home so he can take over and I  can have a rest. Okay, so to going bananas or some  

project that you're working on could be driving  you bananas. I just can't figure this out. I mean,  

I have all the statistics here and I've  tried, but it just doesn't make sense.

I think I'll leave it until tomorrow because  

otherwise I'm just going to go  mad. It is driving me bananas.

To go pear shaped. Well, when things  go pear shaped, they go really bad.

Last week, everything went pear shaped.

if you stand a pear on the table, it's  thin at the top and wide at the bottom. So

when things go pear shaped, droop,

things collapse or they fall. So somebody could  have set up a small business a year or two ago,  

and then they run into some financial difficulty.

And when you're talking to the  friend and the friend says, oh,  

how is that business you started? I haven't seen  you for ages. Oh, that. It went pear-shaped very  

quickly. We ran into problems with Covid and  of course customers didn't come in. And then  

we had all sorts of issues with the staff.  It was the worst decision I've ever made.

So it went pear shaped very quickly. So  when something goes pear shaped, it goes,

out of control. Just something that you cannot,

get back to a proper working  order. And we often use it  

when we talk about businesses that when  we start them off, they start off okay,  

but then they get into trouble so they  go pear-shaped. Or a relationship.

How is the relationship with that new  girl he met? That went pear shaped very,  

very quickly. Oh, we could just use it when  we're telling somebody, look, I'm always  

helping you out. I'm always getting you out of  trouble. So whenever anything goes pear shaped,  

you come running to me. But that's it.  You know, you never take my advice.

So you could use it when you're talking to a  

friend about the advice that you'd  like to give them. They ask for it,  

but they never take it. So when things go pear  shaped, that's when they come running to you.

When somebody is the apple of your  eye. Well, fathers or grandfathers  

or grandmothers usually say it about the  the kids or the grandkids Ah he's the apple

She is the apple of his eye. So the mother talking  

about the daughter and the father cannot  see anything wrong. Everything she does,  

it's perfect. Everything she does is brilliant.  She never makes any mistakes. But you know what  

her father thinks. She is the apple  of his eye. No matter what she does.

it's going to smell like gold. Okay, so.  Yeah. So if she is the apple of his eye

Apples and oranges. Well, apples and oranges are  different. Very different. You know all about it  

from the skin, the colour and the taste. So we use  apples and oranges when we're comparing things.

Is it? Well, you can't compare living in a  house to live in an apartment because it's  

like comparing apples and oranges. They're  very, very different. Or you can't compare  

living in the country to living in the  city because it's very different. It's  

like comparing apples and oranges. So when  two things are very different and you're  

trying to draw some comparisons, it's really  impossible because they're not alike at all.

Okay. So,

Apples and oranges refers to  making comparisons that are not  

quite accurate or right, because the  two things are very, very different.

A bite at the cherry or a second bite at  the cherry. A second bite of the cherry  

means to have a second chance. Okay, so  perhaps you went for a job interview,  

and maybe it didn't go so well the first time  and you weren't assurance. Maybe the questions  

didn't suit you. But then out of the blue, they  bring you up and said, you know, we didn't offer  

you the job the first time, but we've had a  second thought and we've got another position,  

and perhaps you'd like to have another interview,  and would you come and meet us next Wednesday?

So you put down the phone and you  talk to your partner. You say you  

never believe it. That company, they've  rung me again. I'm getting a second bite  

of the cherry. Meaning a second chance.  I really need to get this job. So I'll  

go and brush up on the areas that I  thought I was weak on the first time.

And hopefully this time I'll be a little  bit more successful to have a bite or a  

second bite at the cherry to give you  another chance, another opportunity. Or  

you could be just simply watching a football  match and your team is losing 1 or 2 nil,  

getting close to the end of the game.  It's a cup game, very important.

And then out of the blue, your team scores  two quick goals and the game goes to extra  

time and you get a second bite of the  cherry. They've got another opportunity,  

another 30 minutes to try and get  that other goal. In which case  

they might continue in the cup.  So a second bite of the cherry.

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And still sticking to the theme of cherries.

The next one, number six, I think it is,  is the cherry on top of the cake. Yeah. So,

when we make a cake or bake a cake, you know,  they usually look and taste very delicious. But  

if we want it to really look perfect, we put  a little cherry on the top. So the cherry on  

top of the cake is that extra little something  that makes something really, really special.

So you could be talking about the  perfect weekend or the perfect holiday,  

and you're explaining to your  friend that you went away

with your wife for a weekend or for

A holiday that was long overdue. The weather  was perfect, the sun was shining, everything was  

wonderful. And what really put the cherry on top  of the cake is when you arrived at the hotel, they  

offered you an upgrade with for no extra charge to  a big suite of rooms. So not only did you have the  

sunshine, not only did you have the perfect  setting, but you also had the perfect room.

Top floor, beautiful view balcony. The  whole works. Yeah. Okay, so that was your

cherry on top of that particular cake. So when you  have a cherry on top of the cake or something is  

the cherry on the cake, it's that little bit  of something that just finishes it off. Yeah.

It could be redecorating your home,  you could be doing some renovations.  

And the cherry on the cake is when  your friends come and tell you, wow,  

that's beautiful. I've never seen anything like  this is really. It made a really great job. And  

they present you with some really nice painting  that you can hang above your bed or on the wall.

So that's the cherry on the cake. Okay, so  something just to finish everything off,  

just to get it absolutely to perfection

to upset the apple cart.

I can assure you it wasn't my  intention to upset the applecart.

You might see some movies from time to time  when there's a a chase, a car chase or a bicycle  

chase or something. People are running through  the streets and inevitably there are stalls,  

market stalls in the street where people are  selling fruit and vegetables and somebody  

trips over, falls into the apple cart,  and everything falls all over the street.

So that's literally what happens to  upset the apple cart. So figuratively,  

when we're talking about

upsetting the apple cart, it means that we cause  some problems that perhaps we didn't mean to. So  

yeah. So we have to quickly apologise. So perhaps  in a business meeting, your colleagues are talking  

about the launch of a new product, and everybody's  getting ready for the launch in a few weeks.

And you say, look, I'm really sorry.  I don't mean to upset the apple cart,  

but the IT is not going to be ready in time. We're  not going to have that programme ready. We're  

going to have to delay or you're going to have  to delay the launch of this product. Otherwise  

we're gonna have huge problems. We're not going  to be able to sell any of these products online

So that's to upset the apple cart.  You'll come along and everybody's

Really delighted that it's making progress  and then looking forward to that launch,  

as I said. But unfortunately you come in and you  upset the applecart by telling them that the I.T.  

project the work needed is not going to be ready.  Okay, so when somebody upsets the applecart,  

they tell somebody that something's not  going to work or something's going to change,  

or something's not going to be as  good as they thought it would be.

And then really, that's it. There's a big,  big problem. So to upset the applecart.

And again, the next one about grapes. Sour grapes.  Well, nobody likes eating sour grapes. Yeah,  

it makes your face twist. Yeah. So it's nice to  have a nice sweet grape to chew and to to eat.

sour grapes is when somebody behaves  badly. Yeah. Okay, so they don't get  

their own way. They don't get what they want  to do. And they refuse then to participate.

And so somebody says some it's only  sour grapes. So perhaps the kids are

playing football at school or netball  or volleyball. And the teacher picks,

Not your son or daughter, but somebody else  to be captain of the team. And then your  

son and daughter come home, swim off. I'm  not going to play with that team anymore.  

And you ask why? What's the problem? Well,  they they picked John for the to be captain,  

and I wanted to be captain,  so I'm not going to play.

So that's only sour grapes. So just go  in tomorrow, congratulate him on being  

selected for the team, and make sure you play  as well as you can when the game comes around.

and the same way in

the office. So

somebody gets promoted and somebody is,

overlooked for the position.  So that person refuses to talk  

or congratulate the person who got the promotion.

And they say, what's what's up with Mary?  Don't worry, it's only a bit of sour grapes  

because she didn't get picked. She's really  happy for you, but she's very disappointed  

herself. So when somebody gets let down  a little bit, didn't get the promotion,  

didn't get picked to be captain of the team,  then. Yeah. There's a bit of sour grapes there.

Just don't feel so good about  congratulating the other person,  

even though. Even though they know  it's nothing to do with them. It

Then we have a bad or rotten apple.

A rotten apple quickly infects its  neighbour and we want no more like thee.

Well, you know what happens when you buy  a bag of apples? That happened to me this  

morning. I picked up a bag of apples in  the supermarket, and I was just at the  

checkout and I was picking up the apples,  and I noticed that one of them was bad.

So I took it back because one bad apple  would make all the other apples bad  

within a couple of days. Okay, so  if we have a bad or rotten apple,

then we have to take it out. Okay. So, you

if you have somebody in the team in the  office who isn't pulling their weight,  

or if you have somebody  among your friends who isn't,

playing ball in the sense that they're  not cooperating or helping other people,  

then that bad or rotten apple can  spoil things for everybody else.

Okay, so if there's somebody who  doesn't fit into a team at work,  

usually they find a way to move them to another  team or suggest to them that they should go and  

work in another company because one  bad apple can spoil everything else.

So a bad or a rotten apple is not  something that we like to see in  

work situation. We don't like to see it  in the classroom. We don't like to see it  

in the family. Yeah. So there's a bad or  a rotten apple. It turns everything else  

sour. It makes everything else go bad, and  it just has a bad influence on everything.

So a bad or a rotten apple.

And then finally number ten is to cherry  pick. Okay. So when we cherry pick we pick  

the best. That's literally what it means  to pick the best. Okay. So if you want to  

pick the best five players or the best ten  players or the best 11 players or whoever,  

you get the choice to pick  the best you cherry pick.

You pick number one, number three, and number  five because they are the best players,  

okay? So you get the chance to cherry pick  to pick the really good ones. Okay. So

If you go into the fruit store  and you're picking apples,  

not buying them in a bag, you  select them, you look them.

Do you check the skin? That there's no  damage. So you cherry pick. You pick  

the ones that are the best, that there's  no likelihood of them going bad. Okay,  

so cherry pick is an expression that we  use to suggest that we always have the  

ability to pick what we want. We don't  just accept what we are given. Okay.

So if you go to a new company  and they're setting up a new

marketing division or sales division  and you ask the the boss, well, you

this team that I have, am I able  to pick my own people? Yeah. Look,  

you have full freedom. You have control to pick  who you wish you can cherry pick whoever you want.

Okay, so that's all. Ten  idioms dealing with fruit.

Number one going bananas or you're driving me  

bananas. Number two the apple of  your eye. The apple of your eye.

Number three. Apples and oranges.  

Apples and oranges. Number four  to go pear shaped, pear shaped.

Number five a bite or second bite of the cherry.  Number six the cherry on top of the cake. The  

cherry on top of the cake. Number seven. To  upset the applecart. To upset the Apple Card.  

Number eight. Sour grapes. Number nine. Bad or  rotten apple. And number ten. The last one to  

cherry pick. Something to cherry pick. Okay,  so ten particular idioms dealing with fruit.

as I said at the beginning of our lesson,  

if you have any difficulties and you need to  practice or you don't understand any of these,

idioms dealing with fruit, or indeed, if  you find a couple of other ones that I  

haven't included and you want to  check and see how you use them,  

just write to me, contact me at  www.englishlessonviaskype.com.

Always happy to hear your contributions, your  ideas and we can include them in future videos  

and lessons. Okay, this is how are you saying  goodbye? Thanks for listening. Join me again soon.