FLUENT IN ENGLISH? | NOT Until You Learn THESE 10 Advanced Phrases 🇬🇧

Hi there everybody, this is Harry. And welcome  back to my advanced English lessons with Harry.  

And what are we going to look at today?  Well, today's advanced English lesson  

is relating to idioms. And they're idioms  related to problems and difficulties that  

you might have so advanced English idioms  relating to problems and difficulties.

Okay, let's go through them one by one. The  first one at your wits' end. When you're at  

your wit's end, that means really, you don't  know what to do. You've tried everything,  

nothing seems to work. You're running around  in circles. You're not sure how you're going  

to get out of this problem. How are you going  to deal with this particular difficulty? You  

are literally at your wits’ end. So you're  talking to a friend and isn't like I. I've  

tried everything. I've tried the bank,  but they won't lend me any more money.

I've even asked my parents and I don't really like  asking them, but you know, they're pensioners so  

they don't have a lot of free cash. I'm really at  my wits’ end. I'm not sure what to do. And your  

friend says, Well, look, I'll help you. I'll give  you a bit of money. It'll help you till the end of  

the month and then you get something sorted out.  Oh, that's really, really good. I don't really  

like to... Look, it's not a problem. Just leave  it with me and we'll get it sorted out. So to be  

at your wits' end. Not knowing what to do, who to  turn to, to help you with the particular problem.

To be grasping or clutching at straws, and  her grasping and clutching really mean the  

same thing. To grasp something with your hand to  clutch, something to grab at it. So when you're  

grasping or clutching at straws, you're really  hoping anything, anything that will help you to  

get through a problem. Okay, so, you might have  a particular difficulty in relation to money,  

which usually is the root of all of our  problems. I am not quite sure how you are  

going to resolve the issue. So you you ask your  partner when he or she doesn't have any money.  

You ask your parents and again they don't  want to or they can't lend the money to you.

The bank is a no go because you've already got  a loan there. So the last thing you think of  

is to ask your boss, can he advance you some money  from next month's salary? And that's a real No-No,  

because that's a slippery slope. So if  you're at that particular situation,  

you're really grasping at straws, clutching at  straws, trying to think of something that will  

get you out of that particular problem. It could  be college and you've missed a couple of weeks  

because of illness and you haven't kept up with  your the course. You've got the exam coming in.

You go to the teacher and you say, oh, that  lecture. And he said, look, I'm really sorry.  

I really need a couple of more weeks to get it  done. So you're really clutching at straws. You  

grasping at any particular opportunity to try and  get yourself out of that particular difficulty.

Okay to go south. When something goes south,  we usually point downwards that it is south.  

You know, wherever you happen to be on  the map up there is going to be north  

and down there is going to be south.  And when we say that things go south,  

it usually means that things go from bad  to worse. everything in my life has gone  

south. Yeah, my relationship is on the  rocks. I don't enjoy my job anymore.

The money's terrible. I'm paying more rent than I  really should. it's more difficulties piling up on  

each other, one after another. So it looks like  everything in my life has gone south. So you're  

really feeling depressed. Really feeling a little  bit sorry for yourself and. And that situation,  

you can say, Yeah, everything's gone  south. So it's gone bad or it's going  

from bad to worse and you can foresee the  future not being such a happy place to be.

The performance of your football team could  be going south. They won a couple of games at  

the beginning of the season. Everything  looks good, but as the weeks went by,  

the results got worse and worse. A  couple of draws followed by 5 or 6  

losses. You the star player injured. Yeah.  Everything is going from bad to worse.

In hot water. Well, hot water is  not something you want to stand  

in because you'll burn your feet quite  literally. So when you're in hot water,  

it means you're in some difficulty. And usually  we can be in hot water because let's say we forgot  

our wife or husband's birthday. Now you're  going to be in hot water when you get home,  

and you don't have the flowers, you don't have  the chocolate, or there's no present on the table.

Yeah. You're really going to be in hot  water. It could be in hot water with  

your boss because you forgot to complete  that account that he was looking for,  

and the customer's been on complaining,  and your boss is really on the war path,  

and you're going to be in hot water when  you get into the office on Monday. But what  

can you do about it now? It's Saturday and  you're just going to have to face the music,  

as they say. And when you go in on Monday,  yeah, you know, you're going to be in hot water,

You can be in hot water with your lecturer because  you forgot to put in the the paper on time,  

and you going to ask him for a couple of extra  days in order to complete it. So you're in hot  

water with him. So generally when you're  in hot water, you're in some difficulty  

because something has gone wrong and somebody  is going to be a little bit annoyed with you.

So in hot water with the wife,  because you forgot the birthday,  

in hot water with the boss, because you forgot  to finish that account for the customer,  

and then hot water with your lecture because you  forgot to complete the assignment and you needed  

an extra couple of days. Hot water burns  your feet, so be really, really careful.

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To have your back to the wall. Well, when  you have your back to the wall, there's no  

further place you can go because you're, you're in  retreat and and yet you come up against the wall.  

And when your backs to the wall, what can you do?  Yeah. You got to face the problems that you have.

It's a metaphorical situation. Of course. You  know, you don't literally have your back to the  

world, but it's as if you have no escape. you've  forgotten to do something. You kept putting it on  

the long finger, you've procrastinated.  And now when you look at the calendar  

and see that, well, actually  this is the end of the month.

It's the last day your backs to the wall  because if you don't get it completed now,  

well, then you're not going to be able  to send out the invoice. And of course,  

you're not going to be able to get the fees.  And then, of course, the boss will want to  

know why the account hasn't been completed.  Okay. So yeah, your back is to the wall.

So you ask your colleagues, can they help you and  luckily 1 or 2 of them are able to stay behind,  

help you to finish it. But that's the last  time. So you've got to make sure in future that  

you get everything done on time or in a timely  fashion. So you don't have your back to the wall.

So any time you have your back to the wall,  

it means you're in a difficult situation.  There's no you can't go back any further.  

You have to go forward and to go forward. Then  you have to complete the task that you have.

Catch 22 situation. Well, catch 22 is when you've  got nowhere to turn to. Okay. It's a catch 22.  

If you go this way, it's a problem. If you go  the other way. It's a problem. It's catch 22.

So in a catch 22, it's, really, really  difficult. For example, you can't get a  

job because you don't have experience, okay.  And if you don't have experience, you can't  

get a job. So the people interviewing them  say, okay, well, what experience have you got?

Well, I don't have any experience. I'm just out  of university or where we're looking for somebody  

with a little bit of practical experience. Okay,  well, how can I get practical experience if  

you won't give me the job? Okay, well, we can't  give you the job without some experience. So  

you go round in circles. Okay, so that's  a classic example of a catch 22 situation,

Eventually somebody will take the risk and  somebody will give you the job. Or you have  

to perhaps lower sights a little bit and take  something else and hope that you get experience  

in that particular job. But yeah, it's a really  difficult situation. Catch 22. In fact, “Catch 22”  

is a really, really good book and it was a really  good movie as as far as I remember, goes back a  

long way, but was getting a hold of the book and  reading it because it's a very, very good story.

Catch 22.

Okay. Next, a can of worms.  Well, a can of worms is a real,  

real problem. If you can imagine, tin  can. Okay. Tin can like a can of beans,  

but empty. Okay. And then when you open the  can and the worms and it they get everywhere

. Try putting those back. It's impossible. Okay,

So when something is a can of worms, it's  impossible to work it out. It's impossible  

to put it back. So you have to be really, really  careful when you get involved with the problem.  

That is not a can of worms, because if it is a  can of worms, you're going to have a terrible,  

terrible job trying to figure it out, trying  to make things work out properly and correctly.

A real can of worms. So we could  use this when we're describing  

perhaps it's a family problem. So I  don't want to go there. I don't want  

to get involved. It's a real can of worms.  Once I start talking to one family member,  

somebody has to get involved and before you  know it, I'm going to be in the middle of it.

I'm going to be blamed. I'm going to be expected  to sort it out. So now let them sort their own  

problems out. It's a real can of worms. So Or a  particular job that you've been asked to look.

after in... in work. Your boss gives  it to you and your colleague says, oh,  

he's given that to you. Oh, I wouldn't touch  it. That's a real can of worms. You know,  

that's the most difficult customer we've  had. Nobody's been able to solve that.  

Everybody's had a problem with it. So  I'm not surprised that given it to you,  

they usually give it to the new person  to see what they can make of it.

So yeah, something that's a real can of worms.  Once you take the lid off and the worms come out,  

you can't put them back without  great, great difficulty. Can of worms

A vicious circle. Well, we know  what a circle is. A vicious,  

vicious circle is something that goes round  and round and no end. So one problem after  

another. One problem leads on to the other.  And it just goes round and round in circles.  

And you don't see any end to it, because a  circle has no end. So it's a vicious circle.

The boss wants this done. The customer wants it  done that way. Accounts don't want it done until  

the customer pays the outstanding fee.  The customer won't pay the outstanding  

fee because he wants this work done. The  boss wants you to look after the customer.

Yeah, you guess it. It's a vicious,  vicious circle. It goes round and round.

To think on your feet. Well, when you think  on your feet, it's when you don't really have  

things planned out or you're put on the spot by  somebody and you really have to come up with an  

answer very quickly. So you have to literally  think on your feet while you're sitting,  

while while you're standing there, you  have to come up with some solution.

So in some cases it's easy to say, okay, look,  give me a couple of days to think about it,  

and I'll come back to you with an answer if I  can help you. That would be the sensible thing  

to do. But sometimes somebody’s sitting there and  says, Well, look, we need an answer and we need  

an answer now on yourself. Well. Give me, give  me a minute. And you have to think of something.  

And hopefully something comes to your mind that  would be able to solve the problem out even in  

a short period of time, and buy you some time to  get the problems sorted out over a longer period.

Okay, so to think on your feet is to think very  quickly to come up with an answer very quickly,  

something that you hadn't planned for or  something that you hadn't been prepared  

for because somebody has asked you  something you weren't expecting.

And then finally to have one  of these light bulb moments  

thing. It's almost like a light bulb  goes off on your in your head. Okay,  

so when you're scratching your head trying  to come up with some solution to a problem,  

or you're trying to think of some new strategy  or to come up with some bright idea, you're just  

sitting there and and suddenly thinking,  this little light goes off in your head.

that's actually it, that that would actually  work. so you set it out in a bit of paper,  

you think about it and yeah, you've got to seed  of an idea. So a light bulb moment is something  

that you hadn't thought of before. And it comes to  you while you're either having a shower or having  

a cup of coffee, or you're sitting watching  the TV in the evening, just that it's a ding  

goes off and you have a quiet little smile to  yourself thinking, yeah, that's what we'll do.

Okay, so a light bulb moment.

Okay. So those are all idioms. They are,  you quite difficult idioms relating to  

problems and difficulties in your  life, in work, whatever it might be.

Okay, let me go through them one more time  to be at your wit's end. Grasping at straws.

Everything or something goes  south. To be in hot water.

Have your back to the wall. Catch-22  situation. A can of worms. A vicious circle.

To think on your feet or having to  think on your feet. And finally,  

to have one of those light bulb moments.  Something that we'd all like to have. Think.

Okay. As I said before, if  you want to practice those,  

please do. If you have any difficulties  with them or you need to have more examples,  

then you can contact me and you can do that on  www.englishlessonviaskype.com. Always happy to  

hear from you. If you have any questions or  any issues or concerns where you want to try  

and improve your English, well, just drop  me a line and I'll see how I can help you.

As always, I really, really appreciate  your joining us. And watching all of  

these lessons. And if we can help you,  we will. Okay. Join me again soon.