Improve Your Conversational English with Pizza | Phrases & Idioms in American English

Hey, I’m Rachel from Rachel’s English and  today we’re studying English conversation  

with my friend Dave who’s going to  make us pizza. Doesn’t this look good?  

We’re going to look at a lot of different  vocabulary words and pronunciations here.

First, this word.

Look at that bubble.

Wow.

You probably know bubble as this:

And you probably know it as bubble gum or bubble  tea. But do you what it means to live in a bubble?  

This is a phrase that I’ve heard  used more and more in recent years  

and it means detached from the world. You  only know what’s happening right around you,  

your friends, your family. You don’t think  about what else is going on in the world.  

You don’t inform yourself. It’s sometimes  applied to people who live a comfortable life  

who don’t really think about what it might  be like for someone who’s less fortunate.  

Or it can be used to describe someone who only  interacts with people that have the same views  

and opinions like in politics as they  do. Let’s use it in a sample sentence.

I really want to travel a lot with my children  

because I don’t want their lives to  only be lived in an American bubble.

Okay, that’s in a bubble.  What about on the bubble?

If something’s on the bubble, that means a  decision is being made and you’re not sure  

what the outcome would be. It could go this  way or that way. For example, let’s say I’m  

taking the top ten students in my Physics class to  form a team for competition. I have eight people,  

I know I’ll use them for sure. Then I have four or  five kind of on the bubble. I’m not sure which of  

those students I’ll choose. Each one of those students is on the bubble. They may get chosen or they may not.

Have you heard this word to describe  something inside you? A feeling can bubble up.

I started to feel panic. Bubble  inside me. An idea can bubble up.

I’m bubbling with ideas!

Or someone can be bubbly. Someone  who’s bubbly is really cheerful.

The idiom “To burst your bubble” means to wreck  an idea or reality that someone’s put together  

that can’t actually work out.

To say or do something that  

show someone his beliefs are false or  what he wants to happen will now happen.

For example, let’s say I ran into my  friend from English class and I say  

“What are you up to this weekend?” She  tells me all the great things she’s  

going to do this weekend, all the fun she’s  going to have. On Monday then, she’ll start  

working on a paper that’s due on Wednesday.  I might say, “I hate to burst your bubble,  

but that paper is due on Monday. You’re going  to have to work on it over the weekend.”

So many uses for this word. And this dough  was bubbly with pockets of air in it.

Look at that bubble.

Wow.

Now I ask my friend Dave how  long he’s been making pizzas.

Little over a year now  since I got this pizza oven.

Uh-uh.

This thing is definitely been a game  changer from my outdoor uh food and  

uhm entertaining capabilities.

Yeah, it’s nice to be able to be outdoors.

It is.

Game changer is an idiom  and it doesn’t necessarily  

have to do with games. It’s anything that  significantly changes the outcome of something.

For example, let’s say my friend  got into the college of her dreams.  

You know, I hate to burst your bubble  but that college is too expensive.  

But wait, she got a major  scholarship. Oh, this is a game changer!

With this scholarship, she will be able  to go to the college of her choice.  

Or, I got my grandma her first iPhone.  

It’s a game-changer. She can keep in touch  with all her grandchildren now. Game changer.

Little over a year now  since I got this pizza oven.

Uh-uh.

This thing is definitely been a game  changer from my outdoor uh food and  

uh entertaining capabilities.

Yeah, it’s nice to be able to be outdoors.

It is.

So, I’m just going to give myself a  little bit of extra assurance by sliding it.

Yeah, because it’s so heavy with all that topping.

Yeah. But as soon as it hits that plate, it’s  already baking. So now, it will be really easy to  

shift around. We want to get that lid back on so it draws the flame up and out.

What’s the temperature in there?

You got me. I’d say somewhere between nine  hundred to a thousand degrees.

No.

Yeah.

No.

Hmmm.

Got me. This phrase means I don’t  know. Have you heard it before?  

It could also be “beats me.” These both mean the  same thing. I don’t know, I have no idea. Got me.

What’s the temperature in there?

You got me. I’d say somewhere between nine  hundred to a thousand degrees.

No.

Yeah.

No.

Hmmm.

I just couldn’t believe it. Well,  Dave made several amazing pizzas.

Mushrooms,  

I did a little uh, grilled Zucchini over here.

Oh I was wondering, did you  had the grill going too?

Yeah I grilled some zucchini.

This has got some garlic, some turmeric.  I’m a big fan or turmeric right now.

It’s supposed to be good to your joints, right?

Good at inflammation uh, anti-inflammatory.

So we're going to make a vegetable, uh, pizza here. Because Rachel, she loves her vegetables.

I do.

Yeah, it got a little extra burned there.

Hmm. Really good though.

How was it?

Amazing.

So the pizza got burned on the bottom.  Let’s go over a few terms to discuss  

how things are cooked or baked.

With red meat, that is meat from a  cow, it can be raw, not cooked at all.  

There’s also rare, just a little cooked. The  internet is full of helpful infographics.  

We passed through medium and go all  the way to well-done. Burned is, well  

beyond well-done. Now, this terminology,  medium, rare applies to red meat.

If you want to say that something  hasn’t been cooked long enough,  

you could say underdone or undercooked.

One time, I got clam chowder  and the potatoes were too hard.  

Not cooked all the way, not  cooked through, undercooked.

So, one pizza on the bottom was  a little burnt. No big deal.

By the way, just last weekend, Dave made us  all pizza again and it was absolutely perfect.  

On point. I said, “Dave, you’ve  really dialed in your pizza.”

Dial it in is one of my favorite idioms and I have  a great video going over that idiom and the idiom  

“Phone it in” which has an opposite meaning,  check out that video in the video description.

I love that zucchini on there.

That zucchini is bomb.

If something is bomb, that means it’s very  good. This is slang that my husband David uses  

a lot. Food can be bomb, a house can be bomb,  a trip, a view and so on. You’ll also hear  

it as “the bomb.” It doesn’t matter if  “the” Infront or not, this pizza is bomb or  

this pizza is the bomb. They mean the same thing.

Who’s that?

Hah. Me!

You’re right! It’s you.

Are you keeping a closer eye Dave?

I am definitely keeping a closer eye on this  one. See, we just get it nice and brown there.

It looks so good.

I said, “Are you keeping a closer eye?”

To keep an eye on something is an idiom  that means to pay attention to something.  

He’s keeping a closer eye on the pizza  than last time so this one won’t burn.

One time, I was at an indoor playground and I  asked another mom to keep an eye on Stoney while  

I went to the bathroom. Sometimes, if David is  simmering a soup but has to leave the house to  

get the kids, he might say, “Can you keep an eye  on the soup and stir it every once in a while?”

Think of a situation where you might  want to keep an eye on something for you.  

To pay attention to it for you. Then make  up a sentence an put it on the comments.

Are you keeping a closer eye Dave?

I am definitely keeping a closer eye on this  one. See, we just get it nice and brown there.

It looks so good.

I will say the texture of that crust is so good.

It is nice. I agree with you.

The texture of a food is important. The  consistency, how it feels in your mouth.  

Pizza crust can be chewy. That’s what this  was, it can be dry, crispy. There’s so many  

different ways to describe different textures  for food, hard, crunchy, soft, pillowy,  

mushy, gooey, runny, spongey and so on. Can you  think of more? Put them in the comments below.

I like a good chewy crust.

I will say the texture of that crust is so good.

It is nice. I agree with you.

This one's blowing up.

Oh, that looks about perfect.

Almost done. That’s pretty good.

I’m going to hit this side

Yeah. See it’s a little lighter?

Dave did a reduction over reduction. I love it  when people do this. The phrase was “I am going to  

hit this side.” You’re probably familiar with the  way Americans reduce "going to" to "gonna." Very common.  

Have you ever notice before that I’m gonna  is sometimes reduced further? It can become  

I’muna or even just muna. This is what Dave did here. He said “I’muna.” Dropping the g of gonna.

I’muna hit this side

Now, hit this side. That just  means he’s going to make sure  

that side is what get closest to the flame. Let’s  listen a bit more. He also uses the contraction  

“should have.” He says “He let the  dough rest more than he should’ve.”

I’muna hit this side. See it’s a little lighter?

I totally agree.

This stuff is making some deep dish. Today.  

I think I’ll let it sit the dough rest  a little bit longer than I shoud’ve  

because the dough is a little less  stretchy, it’s more bubbly, it’s airy.

I just love capturing natural  English and finding the idioms  

and the reductions and sharing them with you here.

Massive thanks to my friend Dave who let me  capture his pizza-making skills on camera.

If you like Dave, give him a  thumbs up and a shout out in the comments.

Keep your learning going right  now and check out this video  

and be sure to subscribe with notifications on.  

I make new videos on the English language every  Tuesday and I’d love to see you back here again.

That’s it and thanks so much  for using Rachel’s English.