Common Idioms in English - Common English Idioms in American English

Hello students. In this lesson,  I will teach you some of the most  

common English idioms. These idioms are very  common in everyday conversation in America.  

You will hear these English idioms in movies  and TV shows and by using these idioms you  

will sound more like a native English speaker. The first common idiom is a blessing in disguise.  

So, let’s think about the words in this idiom. A  blessing is a good thing. A disguise is something  

that changes the appearance of something  or someone to make them look different.  

A costume is a kind of disguise. This idiom  means a good thing that looked bad at first.  

Here’s an example, “losing my job was a blessing  in disguise because I got a much better job.” 

The next common English idiom is “beat around  the bush.” A bush is like a small tree. It looks  

like this. Beat around the bush is an old hunting  term. Hunters would use a stick and hit the ground  

(beat) around the bush to get animals to run out  so they could hunt them. They would avoid hitting  

the actual bush. Beat around the bush idiom  means to avoid saying something that might be  

uncomfortable. Here’s an example, “stop beating  around the bush and just answer the question.” 

Another common idiom is, hit the sack or hit the  hay. This term probably originated from the idea  

that a long time ago mattresses used to be made  by stuffing hay into a sack. This is hay. So,  

before going to bed people would fluff the hay in  the sack to make the mattress more comfortable to  

sleep on. Nowadays, the idiom just means going to  bed. Here’s an example, “I am really tired today,  

I think I’m going to hit the sack.” “I am really  tired today; I think I’m going to hit the hay.” 

The next idiom is it's not rocket science. What  is rocket science? Rocket scientists are people  

who design rocket ships that go into space.  The job of rocket scientist is a difficult  

job. The idiom it’s not rocket science means  something is easy to do. It’s not difficult.  

A similar idiom is it’s not brain surgery. These  two idioms have the same meaning. Sometimes,  

we can use the word exactly. For example, it’s  not exactly rocket science. Here’s an example,  

“I don’t understand why there are so many bad  drivers, driving isn’t exactly rocket science.” 

The next common idiom in English is go back to  the drawing board. Back to the drawing board  

mean to go back to the beginning of some process  and start it again, because it’s not working.  

So maybe you are working on something and it’s  not working out well, you can go back to the  

drawing board and start again. Here’s an example,  “I tried to fix my car, but it still won’t drive.  

I guess I need to go back to the drawing  board and try something different. 

Not you know some of the most common idioms  in English. I’ll see you in the next video.