Food Idioms!┃Learn American English Pronunciation On the Go

Rachel: You're listening to the Rachel's English  

podcast, made especially for non-native speakers,  where we study the way Americans really speak. 

My goal is for you to listen to this podcast  every week and sound more natural when speaking  

English and improve your listening comprehension. Today, we're going to cover something really fun. 

A whole bunch of idioms that are related  to food. I'm here with my husband David.

David: Hey, everybody.  

Rachel: To help me explain these idioms  

and come up with situations in which you may want  to use them. For a free transcript of the episode,  

just visit Rachelsenglish.com/podcast  and search for this episode. 

First of all, I have compiled a list of some  idioms, some food idioms that I thought of, and  

I just want to say right at the beginning, there  is no way this is every food idiom that exists.

David: You just found one this morning.

Rachel: Right. I used one and I thought,  

oh, my gosh. I have to use that one in the  podcast. Do you remember the one I thought of?

David: Shoot. No, I can't remember it.

Rachel: I remember.

David: What is it?

Rachel: We had just gotten back from  

a run, and I was sitting on the kitchen floor,  stretching. Stoney just wanted to be sitting on  

my lap the whole time. I was trying to stretch to  adjust, help my body adjust from the run. He was  

making it hard to do that, because he wanted  to hang on me the whole time. I said something  

like—oh, I know. I was sweaty, and his clothes—I  didn't want him around me, because he was dressed  

for the day. I said, we may have to change  him, because he's on me like white on rice.

David: That's  

right. Yeah. That one’s kind of self-explanatory.

Rachel: Yeah. If  

someone is on someone else or—could you use  it with objects? Or is it always two people?

David: It can be objects, yeah.

Rachel: Like what? What would be an example of something  

being on something like white on rice? David: 

You mean something where  people aren't involved at all?

Rachel: I guess I'm just talking about,  

if I was to explain this idiom, which I'm going to  attempt now, I would say, if someone is extremely  

close to someone else, like physically, then you  would say, God. He's on me like white on rice.  

Maybe your boss or your supervisor is just  constantly looking over your shoulder,  

constantly checking your work. It can be close  physically, but it can also mean—what would be—

David: I don't know if that's how I would use it.

Rachel: Okay.

David: Constantly looking over my shoulder.

Rachel: Oh, really? I think I would. If I felt like  

I was being observed constantly, like everything  I did, someone else was watching and judging,  

I might say, God. He's on me like white on rice.  But you think it's only with physical proximity.

David: Yeah. I think with that example,  

I would say something more like, he's  all over me. Or he's really on my top.

Rachel: Okay.

David: White on rice,  

the thing that keeps popping into my  mind is a sports example. In football,  

American football, one person’s  trying to get open and catch a pass,  

and the defender is right there behind them and  they can't even get open. Say, wow, that guys,  

he's on him like white on rice. I do you  think about it in terms of physical proximity.

Rachel: That's another great  

example, sports. It means to be extremely close to  somebody. Maybe touching them, all over them like  

my son, my 18-month-old son was this morning. He  just didn't want to be far from Mama. The phrase  

is white on rice. That may have been hard for you  to understand the way we were saying it, because  

we were saying it all linked up, one phrase. White on rice. Then, there's a flap T there that's  

connecting white and on, and it becomes white on.  He was on me like white on rice. What does this  

mean? White, the color. Rice. We eat a lot of white rice here in American, more than  

brown. We think of rice as being white. If  you say, he was on me like white on rice,  

then that means he was all over me  like the color white is all over rice.

David: Yeah. The example that came up in your life this morning,   

it was a physical proximity example. It makes me  think that that is maybe more how that's used.

Rachel: I think it is more how it's used,  

but I'm just wondering if it's the only way that  it can be used. Then, my other question that I  

asked was, can it only be used with people? Or  could you be like, my computer is on my desk  

like white on rice? Does it ever make sense  for objects or for things that aren't people?

David: I don’t think so. No, because,  

of course your computer’s on your desk.

Rachel: No. I know  

that was a dumb example, but I just mean, if  I could think of a good example, then I would  

know that it could be used with objects. I'm  just wondering if it can be used with objects,  

or if the phrase white on rice is  really only ever used with people.

David: I really think it's for people.

Rachel: Okay. Can  

you say...I’m getting dumb here  on purpose. Can you say, the  

rising sea level is on the city of Miami Beach  like white on rice? Now, there it's not people.

David: That's  

absolutely something that no one would ever say.

Rachel: Yeah, okay. The moral of the story is, yes, use  

white on rice with people only. Great examples.  A kid sitting on your lap that doesn't want to  

leave you alone. A defender all over somebody  who’s trying to win a game. White on rice. How  

about butter up? Have you ever heard that? Again, it's a flap T in butter, just like  

white on. White on. Flap T in the word butter.  Butter up. Have you heard this before, David?

David: Yeah. That's a common one. I  

would say it means that someone is trying to make  a big impression. Trying to—that's not quite it.  

Rachel: I think it's used a lot with kids and parents.

David: Yeah. The kid is getting ready  

to ask for something. The kid wants some money  to go out to watch a movie. They might be extra  

nice and almost sweetly nice to their parent right  before they ask. They're trying to butter them up.

Rachel: Yeah. More  

nice than normal. They might say, oh,  mom, your hair looks so good today.

David: Then, you might say,  

wait a minute, kid. You're just trying  to butter me up. What are you asking for?

Rachel: Exactly. What  

do you want? I want money for the movie.  Okay, butter up is to compliment someone,  

to be extra, extra nice, because you want to ask  for something. I could also say, I'm going to be  

asking for a raise at my next meeting with my  boss, so I'm trying to butter him up this week.

David: Mm-hmm. Where does this one come from?

Rachel: I really  

don’t know. That's for a whole  other podcast. Origins of—

David: Well,  

it's maybe—a piece of toast is a lot  more attractive if it's got butter on it.

Rachel: That's true. Dry toast.

David: Dry toast.

Rachel: Not that interesting.

David: But you butter up that toast,  

and it starts looking real good. Rachel: 

Okay. Maybe that's it, but definitely, if  you're listening out there, do not start  

retelling that as the definite story, but  David’s just guessing. Tough cookie. Another  

one that everyone uses, everyone knows. Maybe  not everyone uses, but everyone knows this.

David: Can you use that  

example? Give an example where you would say that.

Rachel: Yeah. Let's  

say it's sports. We use a lot of idioms  with sports, but let's say someone’s in a  

bike race or something and they fall. They  wipe out and get back up and start cycling  

again. You might say, you know what? She's  a tough cookie. She got right back in there.

David: Yeah. That's right.

Rachel: You were looking really confused for a minute.

David: I was not sure where  

you were going with that, but yeah.  That's true. She's a tough cookie.

Rachel: She's a tough  

cookie. She fell. She got a little injured,  and she jumped right back on her bike.

David: Yeah. I think it  

means that that person is really difficult  to dissuade from whatever they're doing.

Rachel: I think I means, also, that they're really feisty.  

They're go-getters. They're not going to just—  one little thing is not going to get in their way.

David: They're  

going to persevere. They're a tough cookie.

Rachel: Yeah, exactly. Persevere.  

Can you think of another example sentence or  situation where you might use tough cookie?

David: Let's see. This is another work example. If your  

boss is really difficult to get along with and  hard to get cooperation from, you might say to one  

of your co-workers, yeah, she's a tough cookie. I was trying to talk to her about taking off next  

week and she said no right  away. She's a tough cookie.

Rachel: So,  

not only does she persevere and work  hard, but she wants you to as well.

David: Yeah. Or  

just that she's unmovable. I tried to  say, well, I have this opportunity to  

go do this really fun thing. Can I have the  day off? Nope. Sorry. You've got to be here.

Rachel: Once she’s  

made up her mind about something, she's  going to be a real hardliner about it?

David: Yep.

Rachel: Okay. Here's  

another cookie one. That's the way the cookie  crumbles. This is like saying, sometimes things  

in life don’t go exactly the way you want  them to, but you still have to deal with it.

David: Yeah. That's just the way the cookie crumbles.

Rachel: Right. I should  

say here that I don’t think you would say this  if something really devastating had happened,  

even though devastating things do happen  in life and you can't avoid it. You would  

never say to somebody if their mom died,  well, that's the way the cookie crumbles,  

because it's like saying deal with it. Go with  the flow. Figure it out. It's not showing a  

whole lot of compassion for the other person’s  situation or complaint. It's really only used for  

mild situations where someone is mildly  disappointed or annoyed, would you say, David?

David: Yeah. I think that's  

absolutely right. You want to be careful with this  one. You would come off being pretty insensitive.

Rachel: I feel like as a parent, this is a phrase  

I might use a lot when the kid is complaining  about, something didn't go the way he wanted it  

to. For example, let's say Stoney has a teacher  who’s maybe not that friendly. He doesn't like  

him or her all that much. He liked the teacher  before so much more. I might say, you know Stoney,  

that's the way the cookie crumbles. Sometimes  you're not going to like everybody that you have  

to deal with, but you have to figure it out. David: 

Yeah. I agree. That was coming up for  me too, is a parent talking to a kid,  

where the kid may think that it's a really  big deal. It's the end of the world.

Rachel: Super unfair.

David: The worst thing just  

happened to me, Mom. Well, you know, that's just  the way the cookie crumbles. You can deal with it.

Rachel: Yep. You'll figure it out. The phrase  

no use in crying over spilled milk. Now, this  phrase means if something has already happened,  

even if it's not great, if you can't do anything  to fix it because it's done, then rather than  

crying about it, move on. Find the positive in it,  or even just forget about it. It already happened.

David: Right.  

There's no way to put the spilled  milk back in the milk container.

Rachel: Right. Now, one thing that,  

when I had Stoney, when I first had Stoney and he  was a little baby, I saw in some online groups a  

lot of moms were saying, whoever made up this  phrase did not ever breastfeed their kid.

David: That's right.

Rachel: Because if they dropped a bottle  

of breastmilk and it spilled, sometimes that can  be really devastating if you don’t have that much  

breastmilk. That's probably more than I needed to  mention, the word breastmilk on the podcast. But  

the whole point is, usually milk is not a very  precious thing, and if it spills, no big deal.

David: Yeah. Right.

Rachel: Let me think of an example when I might use this  

phrase. Here's an example. Let's say we're out to  dinner and you know the restaurant, you love the  

restaurant, but you decide to try something  new off the menu you've never had before,  

because you want to experiment, and you don’t like  it very much. You might be complaining about, man,  

I just wish I'd gotten the pizza. I know I love  the pizza. I could maybe say, well, there's no  

use in crying over spilled milk. You have a  meal. We're out to eat. Let's just enjoy it.  

David: Yeah. That's a good example.

Rachel: Again, just like  

that's the way the cookie crumbles, you wouldn't  use this if something serious had gone wrong.

David: Right.

Rachel: What about  

piece of cake? Piece of cake. I'm taking  the word of there, and I'm reducing it to  

just the schwa. You wouldn't have to, but a  lot of people would say that. Piece of cake.

David: It's a piece of cake.

Rachel: It's a piece of cake. What's that mean?

David: Simple. Easy. No problem.

Rachel: Yeah, right.

David: An example of  

that would be, let's say you're in school  and you have a test, and after the test,  

you felt like it went really well. It wasn't that  hard. You say, ah, that test was a piece of cake.

Rachel: And hopefully,  

your friend agrees too, because if someone hears  you saying that and they struggled with it,  

they might be thinking, oh,  man. I'm not good at this.

David: That's right.

Rachel: Okay. I have two more  

cake idioms for you, David. Have your cake and eat  it, too. This is when you want more than one good  

thing for yourself. I think the phrase is often,  you can't. You can't have your cake and eat it,  

too. David: 

Yeah. I think that's right. It  comes in the negative like that.

Rachel: Or you could say,  

I want to have my cake and eat it, too.

David: No.

Rachel: You would never say that?

David: 

Maybe, but that would be much more rare. It's  usually you can't have your cake and eat it, too.

Rachel: Right.  

It's like if you've just gotten something,  don’t necessarily ask for something else.

David: Yeah. Don’t  

get greedy. You've got it.  Don’t try to get even more.

Rachel: 

An example of this would be if your kid wants  to borrow your car and you've decided, okay. I'm  

going to give him the keys. He can borrow my car  for the evening. Then he says, also, can I have 

$50 extra, because we're going to do this  thing? You might say, no way. You can't  

have your cake and eat it, too. You already  got the car. I'm not giving you more money.

David: It's a  

perfect example. The kid’s pushing their luck.

Rachel: Yeah.

David: I guess that's another idiom,  

but yeah. They already got  the yes on the car. It's like,  

leave well enough alone. Is that another  idiom? It's hard to explain idioms without  

other idioms. You got the car for the night.  Don’t try to have your cake and eat it, too.

Rachel: Yeah. Don’t push it. Don’t ask for  

too much once you've already gotten something.  The icing on the cake. Another cake idiom.

David: Who knew? So many cake idioms.  

Rachel: So many cake idioms.  

Icing on the cake is when something is already  great and then something else awesome happens.

David: Yeah.

Rachel: For example,  

let's say we're on vacation. We're visiting  friends in the town where we went to college.  

We're having a great time, and then we run into a  friend we didn't expect to see who’s also in town.  

We say, oh, my God. This was the best evening, and  running into you is just the icing on the cake.

David: Yeah. Or,  

this just happened to us in New York last weekend.  We were having a great afternoon and we reached  

out to a friend last-minute and didn't even know  if they were in town, because they travel a lot.  

She was in town. She came and met us, and we  had that great afternoon. We were having a  

great day and a great weekend anyway, but having  her show up, that was just the icing on the cake.

Rachel: It really was. It was unplanned and—

David: Serendipitous.

Rachel: Very. Yeah.  

It was just wonderful to sit down with  her. It was the icing on the cake. The  

idiom not my cup of tea. Tea here, it's a  drink. It's not food, but it's all related.  

Food and idioms podcast. No. Food and drink  idioms podcast. If it's not my cup of tea,  

that means I understand other people like it. I  get it as a thing, but I don’t personally like it.

David: Right.

Rachel: I could say, sports.  

Not my cup of tea. I don’t like watching them.  I don’t like playing them. It's not my thing.

David: Right. You  

understand that other people get a  lot out of it and really enjoy it,  

but it's not your thing. It's not  for you. It's not your cup of tea.  

Rachel: Yeah.

David: It would maybe come up even more in a more—things  

that are a little bit less commonplace. Maybe a  certain cuisine that's a little bit more abnormal  

for Americans. You and I love to make Ethiopian  food. I have a really good friend who was born  

in Ethiopia, and I've learned to make Ethiopian  food. That's a pretty unique cuisine. Some of  

it's really spicy. If we were having a party  and that was the food that we served, somebody  

after that party might say, yeah, that was okay,  but that food just really isn't my cup of tea.

Rachel: Yeah. Injera isn't my cup of tea.

David: I don't  

know how anybody could think that,  but hypothetically, that's possible.

Rachel: We love Ethiopian food.

David: Mm-hmm.

Rachel: So good. I have a couple egg idioms for you.

David: Okay.

Rachel: How about to egg someone on?

David: That's right.  

You're egging them on. You're antagonizing  them. You're trying to get under their skin.

Rachel: Yeah. Also, it could  

be used if you're trying to get someone to do  something that they probably shouldn't be doing.

David: Yeah. You're trying to provoke  

them. Get some movement going. Rachel: 

Let's come up with an example. Let's say  your kid did something kind of reckless,  

not good. Maybe your kid shoplifted a little  something. You would say, why would you do  

that? Your kid might say, everyone was  egging me on. They all told me to do it.

David: Right. Someone was provoking them,  

was applying some peer pressure. You were  egging them on. That's a weird one. Egg someone  

on. That makes no sense to me as a native  speaker. Why are those words together?

Rachel: We just  

looked up the definition here,  and David, what does it mean?

David: I definitely  

just learned something new. To egg someone  on. Egg in this context is actually not a  

food idiom at all. It is short for the word  exhort, which means to provoke into action,  

to move into action. To egg someone  on is to exhort them to do something.

Rachel: So, it's just short for exhort.

David: Yeah. This is in the wrong podcast.

Rachel: Okay. I'm  

going to move it from the  food idioms podcast to the—

David: Abbreviated—

Rachel: Shortening of words.

David: Words.

Rachel: Podcast.

David: Podcast. That one will be popular.  

Rachel: Okay. I said I had more than one egg  

idiom. Now, this one, I know is related to eggs,  and that is to put all your eggs in one basket.

David: Yeah. That's pretty clear,  

right? If you are carrying around some  eggs and they're all in one basket and  

you drop that basket, there go all your  eggs. They're all going to break. But if  

you use a couple different baskets, you drop  one basket, you've still got some eggs left.

Rachel: Yeah. It's usually used as a warning. Don’t do  

this. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. For  example, if you're investing for your retirement,  

you want to diversify. You don’t want everything  in one kind of stock, in one kind of market,  

because if that one market tanks, which means  fails, then you would lose all your money. You  

don’t want to put all your eggs in one basket. You  might also do this if you, let's say you hate your  

job and you want to get a new job, and you found  this one job that you love and it's a really long  

application process, but you're not—you haven’t  applied to anywhere else. Your friend might say,  

don’t put all your eggs in one basket. I  think you should apply to 10 or 12 jobs.

David: Yeah. I was  

thinking a very similar example of,  in the American University system,  

students will place a lot of applications with  a lot of different schools, because they're not  

sure where they're going to get in. It would not  be a good idea to put all your eggs in one basket,  

meaning to only apply to one school. Even if  that's your top choice and clearly the one  

that you want to go to, it would be a bad idea  to only apply to that place, because what if you  

don’t get in there? Then, all your eggs in one  basket, and you haven’t gotten into university.

Rachel: Yeah. Then,  

you don’t have options. David,  am I the apple of your eye?

David: You are.

Rachel: Okay. This is usually used with  

kids or partners, right? If someone’s the apple of  your eye, it just means the center of your world.

David: Right. Right. I have no idea what that means.

Rachel: Who knows?  

David: Apple of your eye?

Rachel: I don't know where it came from, either.

David: It makes no sense.  

It's so interesting to be going through  this list, because as a native speaker,  

these just roll off my tongue. I know exactly  what they mean because of the context around them,  

but I have no idea where that  comes from. The apple of my eye.

Rachel: This is how almost  

all idioms are. When I was doing research for a  video that I published this summer, I was talking  

about the idiom it's raining cats and dogs. I was  looking up where that comes from. I think there  

were two different ideas, but one of them was the  idea of thatched rooves, and when it would rain,  

animals used to like to hang out up there, but  when it would rain, it would get damp. Then,  

they would come out of the rooves and go into  the house or something. When it would rain hard,  

then the cats and dogs or whatever little animals  might be up there, it doesn't seem like a dog  

would be up there, but the animals would leave  their little dry spot in the thatched rooves.

David: Interesting.

Rachel: Anyway,  

all of these idioms came about because most  idioms that we're using are somewhat old at  

this point. They all came about for some specific  reason, but have taken on just their own little  

idiomatic meaning, and most people don’t  think about where the phrase comes from.

David: Yeah.

Rachel: David, do you have a bun in the oven?

David: No,  

I don’t. If I did, that  would be a medical miracle.

Rachel: That really  

would be. The phrase bun in the oven means  to be pregnant. I had a bun in the oven,  

and I did a video about it when  I said the cat’s out of the bag.

David: That's right.  

Rachel: Another idiom saying, oh, spill the beans.

David: Yeah.

Rachel: When I revealed to my audience  

that I was pregnant with Stoney, I don’t think I  said I have a bun in the oven, but I could have.

David: You could have, because you did.

Rachel: Because I did. What about the big cheese?

David: Yeah.  

What about that? I'm not sure I  know how to use that quite right.

Rachel: I just always think of it as meaning the boss.

David: The big cheese. The person that's in charge.

Rachel: Yeah.

David: Okay.

Rachel: I know exactly what  

this means, and I know I've head it used  before, but I don’t think I would use it.

David: This one, I think, is a little bit less common.

Rachel: Yeah, maybe. He's the big cheese. For example,  

let's say someone’s talking to David and he's  like, oh, what's up with Rachel these days? David  

might be like, she's the big cheese. She's running  this YouTube channel. Just launched a new podcast.  

Would you ever say that? David: 

That's a leading question. No. I don’t think  so. That one’s a little bit less common.

Rachel: Okay,  

but do you think that I used it the right way when  I was pretending to be you talking about me? Like  

if someone’s running their own business. She's  running her own business. She's the big cheese.

David: Yeah. I suppose that's  

right. I don’t think I use it. Maybe that's just  it. I don’t use it, so it's sounding funny to me.

Rachel: Mm-hmm. Well,  

if anyone out there ever hears it,  then they'll know what it means.

David: That's true,  

and you are the big cheese. Don’t  worry. I know you're the big cheese.

Rachel: Thank you. I was just waiting for you to say that.

David: So, you were  

fishing for that. That's okay. There  you go. You are the big cheese.

Rachel: Thank you, David.

David: You're welcome.

Rachel: You know,  

part of the reason why I'm the big  cheese is because I bring home the bacon.

David: There you  

go. That's the next one. Bringing home the bacon.

Rachel: Bring home the bacon. This  

is what it means to make money for your family,  basically. To make the money that supports your  

family. In some households, two people bring  home the bacon. In some households, it's just  

one person who brings home the bacon. Why are you  working so hard? I've got to bring home the bacon.

David: Yep.  

Rachel: Have another  

baby on the way. I've got to bring home the bacon.

David: Right. I  

have a bun in the oven. I've  got to bring home the bacon.

Rachel: There you go. Oh, goodness. Cool as a cucumber.

David: Cool as a cucumber.

Rachel: Now,  

this means really calm and collected. Maybe  in a situation where there's some pressure.

David: Yeah. Calm under pressure. Sports analogy comes to  

mind right away. At the end of a basketball game,  somebody needs to make an important free throw,  

and the pressure is really high, but you look  at their face and they look calm and they just  

make the free throw, no problem. Man, he is  cool as a cucumber at the end of the game.

Rachel: David, I have noticed that you tend to default  

towards basketball. What do you have against  baseball? Same thing could be said of baseball.

David: That's true.

Rachel: Bottom of the ninth.

David: Part of it is, as a long-time Philadelphia sports  

fan, the Philadelphia Phillies, our local baseball  team, has been abominable. They've been awful.

Rachel: Horrible.

David: I'm trying to think  

of a food analogy. They're just terrible. So, I  tend to look to other sports. They were good for  

a little while. Rachel: 

Okay, but isn't the basketball team  horrible? Hasn’t the basketball team  

been horrible for a long time? First of all,  what is the basketball team in Philadelphia?

David: Philadelphia  

76ers historically have been less bad,  and they are currently on the way up.

Rachel: Because I  

feel like the other day, we were talking about  sports. What we were saying? You said something—

David: I said Stoney wasn’t allowed to play baseball.

Rachel: Oh, yeah,  

and I wasn't sure why, because  I think baseball’s fun.

David: Yeah. Kind of boring.

Rachel: So, what is Stoney allowed to play?

David: He's definitely allowed to  

play soccer. Football, to the international  audience, because that's my favorite sport  

that I played in college. And I think it's a great  game. It's a team game. There's a lot of exercise.

Rachel: How come you don’t ever use it when  

you're giving sports analogies for idioms? Because  it could be like, penalty shot. Sudden death.

David: Yeah. You know what? That's  

a good point. I think because soccer is  dramatically less popular in the States,  

I think that I tend to not use  that sport when describing things.

David: Yet,  

internationally, basketball, kind  of no big deal compared to soccer.

David: That's  

true. I should be using soccer on the podcast.

Rachel: Okay. From now on—  

David: But, basketball is getting huge.

Rachel: Is it?

David: Internationally. Mm-hmm. Absolutely.  

I would guess that it's the fastest-growing  sport internationally in the world.

Rachel: Oh, that's going  

to be fun to look up later. What about  the phrase take it with a grain of salt?

David: That's another one where I just, I use that  

and now I'm so curious. Where does that come from?  Take it with a grain of salt means, have a little  

bit of skepticism about what you're hearing. Listen. Hear the person out, but take what  

they say with a grain of salt.  Have a critical ear as you listen.

Rachel: Yeah. Or,  

it's like if what I'm saying, maybe I'm suggesting  something to you. Maybe I'm saying, you know,  

David, I really think you should think about a  new hairstyle. I think this would look so good  

on you. That would look so good on you. If I can  tell that you're not totally agreeing with me,  

I might say, you know what? Take it with  a grain of salt. It's just my opinion.

David: It's just a suggestion.

Rachel: Just a suggestion.

David: So, it's a way of tempering  

something that you yourself have said, too. You  realize that you've come on too strong, and so  

you add at the end, you know what? Take it with  a grain of salt. I didn't mean to be overbearing.

Rachel: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Great description. There's one  

other one that I want—I want to do a couple nut  ones, because the other day, we were talking about  

something, and I used the idiom small peanuts.  Do you remember what we were talking about?

David: Mm-mmm.  

Rachel: I think we were on a run,  

and I was saying how I hadn’t head back from  the people about the wall partition. We have  

this weird situation in our house where  there's a basement with a finished room,  

but an open stairway, and there's no door at the  stairway. So, it's connected to the living room,  

dining room at the top of the stairs with no door.  If we have guests down there in our basement,  

because that's where our guest room is,  and there's no sound barrier. I've been  

talking to this company trying to order a  moveable wall type thing to go down there,  

because there's not room for a wall. I was saying,  I still haven’t heard back from Rich. I said,  

I think we're just small peanuts to them. What  I meant by that was, we're not a very big sale. 

We're not a very big account. I think they work  mostly with schools, companies, universities,  

people who have really big projects. Not  just a little house project. If you're just  

small peanuts, that means compared to the  group, you're small. You're not a big deal.

David: Yeah. When you said that, I was surprised. I just  

assumed that this was a company that specialized  in residential walls. I had been really confused  

over the last couple months. It's taken them  a long time to get back to you at points, and  

they've been sort of slow to respond on things.  I didn't realize that they do a lot of huge jobs  

on which I'm sure their profit margin is  better than our little tiny basement wall.

Rachel: Yeah. Our  

little basement wall, it's just  small peanuts to them. I think  

small potatoes is used the exact same  way. Does that sound familiar to you?

David: Yeah. I think you're right.  

They're small potatoes. Mm-hmm.

Rachel: Okay. What if you're doing something for peanuts?

David: It means you're barely getting paid.

Rachel: Right.  

Don’t work for peanuts, David.  You're worth more than that.

David: That's  

right. I appreciate that. I'm not the big  cheese, but I shouldn't work for peanuts.

Rachel: No, you should work for peanuts. Do you  

think you can use it with spending, too? Like, oh,  man. Now, you can get a new computer for peanuts.  

David: Yeah. Mm-hmm. That's right.

Rachel: Okay. If  

you work for peanuts, that means you work for  very little money. If you say something as, oh,  

you can just get that for peanuts now, that  means you can get it. You can buy it for—

David: Yeah. You got a great deal.

Rachel: Mm-hmm. In a nutshell.

David: Good one.

Rachel: This is something  

that we use sort of to introduce a concluding  sentence or thought, right? Or a summary.

David: A summary, yep. Mm-hmm.

Rachel: If you're going to say,  

in a nutshell, that means you're summarizing  what you just said, more concisely saying it  

in one phrase. Or, I think it can also  be the conclusion. Like, in a nutshell,  

you should buy this stock. If I've just given a  presentation about, 10 minutes about why I think  

this stock is good, I might say at the end, well,  folks, in a nutshell, now’s the right time to buy.

David: In a nutshell,  

today’s podcast has been about food idioms.

Rachel: There you go.

David: And that Rachel is the big cheese.

Rachel: Right, and that I don’t  

work for peanuts, because I'm bringing home the  bacon, even though I don’t have a bun in the oven.

David: That's  

right. Rachel: 

Okay, wait. Really quickly, a couple other  nuts idioms. To be nuts. That's to be crazy.

David: Yeah. To be unhinged.

Rachel: Don’t you  

think that it can mean legitimately  mentally ill? Like if someone has a—

David: Oh, my God. Yes, but please don’t ever say that.

Rachel: Yeah. If someone  

has a diagnosable disease, someone  might call them nuts. Oh, he's nuts.

David: But that  

is totally rude, and you would only  say that among very close friends,  

where you knew the context. In other words, if  somebody was not well in their mental health and  

you said in a public place, oh, I think that  they're nuts, that would be very, very rude.

Rachel: It's sort of writing the person off, isn't it?

David: Yeah. It's derogatory.

Rachel: The other way  

you can use nuts is if someone does something  that's kind of crazy or silly or extreme. Let's  

say at Lake Michigan this summer, depending  on how cold the water is, I might not go pier  

jumping with you guys. If it's freezing and  you still go, I might say, you guys are nuts.

David: Yeah. When  

we're jumping off the pier into the water, if the  water’s really cold. Right. You guys are nuts.

Rachel: You guys are nuts.

David: That's a safer  

way to use it. That's playful,  and yeah. More appropriate.

Rachel: Yeah. Okay, what about a tough nut to crack?  

David: Great one.

Rachel: Yeah. This  

is not like tough cookie. It's sort  of similar, but we're using tough,  

but if you're a tough nut to crack, then it  means you're hard to get to know, to figure out.

David: Mm-hmm. You keep sort of your true self hidden.

Rachel: Mm-hmm.

David: You're a tough  

nut to crack. It can also be used just in  general for, I think—you tell me if I'm wrong,  

but a really difficult problem that you're having.

Rachel: Yeah. I think you could say that.

David: I'm trying to think of an example.

Rachel: Like with  

math? If there was a really  complex problem, maybe not.

David: Probably not.

Rachel: No. Definitely with people.

David: Mm-hmm.

Rachel: Let's say that you  

guys got a new boss, you and your co-worker  got a boss. She's been working for a couple  

months. Everyone’s trying to understand her,  get to know her. No one feels like they are.  

You might be talking to your co-worker  and say, man, she's a tough nut to crack.

David: Yeah.  

Rachel: I just can't figure her out.

David: Yeah. That's a great example.

Rachel: Yeah.

David: I take back what I said a problem.

Rachel: Okay. So,  

we're really only saying you  would use this with people.

David: Yeah. I think so.

Rachel: Okay, guys. Well, that's  

some of the many food and drink idioms that exist  in American English. If you hear any idioms that  

you would like us to cover in the podcast, please  email [email protected], and put Podcast  

Question in the subject. And guys, if we're  talking a little fast for you here, if you'd like  

the transcript, there is a free transcript. Just  visit Rachelsenglish.com/podcast. Search for this  

episode, and there you will find the show notes,  which might have links to some related topics,  

and then also, the free transcript to download. If  you like the podcast, please think about sharing  

it with your friends and family and leaving us a  review in iTunes. It does help other people find  

the podcast. Thanks, everybody, for listening. See you next time.

David: See you, guys.