6 more useful American baseball idioms and a song (Part 4)

4,640 views ・ 2015-08-11

Simple English Videos


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

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This is our final video on baseball idioms. You'll learn some great new expressions.
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And you'll learn a song. Come on. Let's get going.
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The wonderful thing about baseball is you never know what will happen.
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Every game is different. It's a new game with new possibilities.
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We need an idea for a sales promotion. Let's have a competition.
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We had one last year. And nobody entered. Forget last year. It'll be very different this time
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. We do have a lot of new products this year.
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Exactly. It'll be a whole new ball game. Hmmm. A whole new ball game? Yes, it means a completely
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different situation - totally new. Now we'd better tell everyone about home plate.
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It's a piece of white rubber and it has five sides.
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It marks the place where the batter stands. Yes, home plate is where a lot of the action
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starts. When a batter steps up to the plate...Hang on
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There's another idiom. We've got a problem. The website went down
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three times last week. Yes, I'm afraid the webmaster quit. There
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are problems with the code, but we have no control over that.
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Well, who's responsible then? Somebody's gotta fix it.
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Yes, fix the code. It's quite a challenge. Well, who's going to do it?
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What? Me? Don't worry Christina. Jay will fix it.
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It's a wonderful challenge for him. He can't wait to start.
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Excellent. Thanks for stepping up to the plate, Jay. Bye now everyone.
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But I don't know anything about website code. So to step up to the plate means to take on
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the responsibility for something. Yes, when the batter steps up to the plate,
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they rise to a challenge. Now how many chances does the batter get to
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hit the ball, Jay. Well, it depends. They can only get three
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strikes. Now I'm the batter. The strike zone is from
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my chest to my knees. If the pitcher throws a ball and it's in the
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strike zone and I don't swing, that's a strike. If I swing and miss, that's a strike too.
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Three strikes and you're out. That's another idiom!
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You were two hours late this morning. Yeah. And you were two hours late last Wednesday.
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Yeah, sorry. That's two strikes. If you're late again,
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you're out. You'd fire me? Yes. Three strikes and you're out.
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So a strike is a kind of failure. That's right,
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and you're only allowed to fail three times. After that, you're out.
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Now tell us about left field and right field. Left field is a long way from first base.
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It's hard to throw the ball to first base from left field.
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So it's surprising when balls come out of left field. Yeah.
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We have big plans for you, Graham. We're going to give you a promotion.
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You're going to be our sales manager for all of Asia.
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Gee, I'm sorry guys, but I quit. You're resigning? Yeah, I got a better job.
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But we had everything planned! Wow! That came out of left field.
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So something out of left field is surprising. Yep. It's odd or strange. It's often something
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bad too. We don't expect balls to come from left field.
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They're unconventional. Yep. When ideas are crazy or eccentric, we
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might say they came out of left field. So is it the same with right field? No, that's
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a little different. Right field is a quiet place. Nothing much happens there.
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How long have you been working here, Jay? Twenty seven years.
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And you've always had the same job? Yep. You've never had a promotion? No.
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Sounds like you're stuck out in right field. Yep.
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So if you're stuck in right field, nothing much happens. Yeah, if you're in right field,
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you're disconnected from the action. I've heard a lot of these basball idioms used
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in British business conversations as well. And some of them are similar to cricket. But
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some of them were a whole new ball game for me too.
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We hope you find them useful. Yeah, we hope they help you hit it out of the park.
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We'll be batting for you. Batting for you? Yes, we'll be on your side, rooting for you.
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Rooting for you? Yeah, you root for your favorite team. You mean you support them.
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Yeah, like I root for the Phillies. Root, root, root for the home team, if they
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don't win it's a shame. And it's one, two, three strikes you're out
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at the old ball game.
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