50 Important English Expressions for daily conversation

Hi, I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.  

Are you ready to expand your  vocabulary? Let's do it. 

A few months ago I made this video, 50 Important  English Phrases, and you loved it. Unfortunately  

there were a lot of phrases that I didn't include  in that lesson. Of course there are more than 50  

phrases that are important in English, so good  news. Today I'm going to help you to grow your  

knowledge, expand your vocabulary, and learn  50 more important phrases in English. These  

phrases are divided into different categories  like animals, body, work, transportation,  

wisdom. This will just help you to categorize  them in your mind and help you to remember them,  

I hope. You are definitely going to hear these  when you watch English movies and TV shows and  

have conversations. We use them all the time.  Let's get started with our first category. 

Our first category are idioms that have to  do with animals or animal characteristics.  

For each of these idioms, I'm going to be  telling you the idiom, then giving you a  

sample sentence. I want you to think about  what might this idiom mean in that context,  

and then I'm going to tell you what the  definition is. This is going to test your  

context skills. Of course, it's just one  sentence, it's not a whole conversation,  

but I hope that this will help you be able  to understand these when you hear them in  

conversation so that you can get the full picture. All right, let's start with the first one.  

A little bird told me. "A little bird told me  it was your birthday. Here's a present." Mmm,  

this is when you know a secret but you don't  want to reveal who told you. So, if you're giving  

a little present to your friend and your friend  thinks that you don't know that it's his birthday,  

you might say this sentence, "A little bird told  me it was your birthday today. Here you go." 

As the crow flies. "As the crow flies I'm  pretty close to the school, but because of  

lots of one-way streets it takes me a long time  to get there." What do you think this means? As  

the crow flies. A crow is a kind of bird. It's  really big and black. There's a lot of crows  

in my yard and they always make loud caw sounds.  Caw, caw, caw. They're always really loud. I'm not  

sure why they chose this for this idiom, but this  means that if you take the straightest distance,  

not accounting for one-way streets, just  a straight distance, as the crow flies,  

"I'm not that far from my school, but because of  one-way streets it takes me forever to get there." 

To kill two birds with one stone. "I wanted to  bake cookies with my son and I needed to make  

another English lesson for you here on YouTube,  so I decided to kill two birds with one stone,  

and I did both." Have you seen the lesson  where I baked cookies, chocolate chip cookies,  

with my three-year-old son? You can watch this up  here. It is a delight. It was delightful to film  

that with him and to eat cookies together. What  do you think this idiom means? Hmm. It means that  

you're getting two things done at the same time.  You're saving time and you're being efficient. 

Curiosity killed the cat. Well, it's getting  close to Christmas time here in the US,  

and if a package arrives at our door and  my son says, "Hey, I see we got a package,"  

I might say, "Hey, curiosity killed the cat.  Don't ask questions around Christmas time."  

And that's kind of hinting that probably  this is a Christmas present for him  

and I don't want him to open that package. I'm  kind of warning him about being too curious.  

So this is the meaning of the idiom that being  curious can sometimes get you into trouble. 

Cat got your tongue. "What's the matter?  Why are you so quiet? Cat got your tongue?"  

Imagine if a cat got your tongue. Mmm. This is  talking about being speechless or not talking,  

being quiet, and usually it's probably because  you can't think of something to say. "Oh. Oh,  

wow, she just told me something really  shocking. Uh, I can't say anything."  

And the other person might say, "What? Cat got  your tongue? Why aren't you saying anything?" 

To bark up the wrong tree. The word bark is the  sound that a dog makes. Woof, woof. Bark, bark.  

Or we might say in the sample sentence,  "My sister was barking up the wrong tree  

when she accused me of taking her favorite shirt.  It was in the dirty laundry the whole time.  

I didn't do it." What do you think this means?  It's when you believe or pursue something that's  

wrong. So she was accusing me of taking her  favorite shirt, but I wasn't the one who did it,  

it was just in the dirty laundry basket. I want  to let you know that we often use this idiom to  

talk about sexuality. For example, the famous TV  host Ellen DeGeneres is married to a woman. So,  

if a man flirts with Ellen DeGeneres, she might  say, "Sorry, you're barking up the wrong tree."  

That means, you believe that I'm going  to be interested in you? But that's not  

true. You are believing something that's not  true. So we often use it in those situations. 

Our final idiom for the animal section is to  be packed like sardines. Have you ever eaten  

sardines? They're the little fish that are  often packaged in a little tin or in a can,  

and there are often a lot in that can. So what do  you think about this sentence? "When everyone got  

in the train, we were packed like sardines."  This is something that hasn't happened much  

in the year 2020 but we can remember back to  the good old days when we were all together,  

lots of people together. Well, when you are  packed like sardines, you feel like that  

little fish that's smashed into a tin or into  a jar or a can. You are packed like sardines. 

In our next category, there are a lot of idioms  that have to do with the farm, or farm-related  

vocabulary. But don't worry, you don't have to  be a farmer to use these or understand them. I  

hope that they will be useful to you. The first  one in this category is, when pigs fly. "I told  

my husband that I would stop eating chocolate when  pigs fly." This is something impossible, something  

that will never happen and you can use it in those  situations. "I will never stop eating chocolate.  

I will stop eating chocolate when pigs fly." To put all of your eggs in one basket. Hmm.  

When you're applying for a job, don't put  all your eggs in one basket. You should apply  

to multiple companies. Mmm, to put all your eggs  in a basket. Are you applying to become a farmer?  

No. In this situation we're talking about  diversifying. Don't put all of your hope,  

all of your dreams, in just one option.  Instead, you should apply to multiple companies.  

It's not a good idea to put all of your  efforts and resources in just one place. 

Don't count your chickens before they hatch. "I  wanted to buy a car with my end of year bonus that  

I was expecting from my job, but my friend told me  not to count my chickens before they hatch." Hmm,  

not to count my chickens before they hatch? This  means that you shouldn't assume something is going  

to happen. You should wait until you are certain.  You're not sure if you're going to get that end  

of year bonus from your company, so don't buy  a car in advance. Instead, wait until you have  

the money and then you can buy the car. Don't put the cart before the horse.  

"Don't put the cart before the horse by  quitting your job before you have another  

one." Hmm. Can you imagine the same idea,  counting your chickens before they hatch,  

putting the cart before the horse. Mmm,  this is the same idea, talking about doing  

something in the wrong order. Before you  quit your job you probably should secure  

another job so that you're not jobless while  you're searching for a job. So don't do things  

in the wrong order. Don't put the cart before the  horse. Make sure the cart is behind the horse. 

Straight from the horse's mouth. "If you don't  believe me, ask him and hear it straight from  

the horse's mouth." Mmm, if your friend  tells you that he just quit his job because  

he got a job as an advisor to the entire  company, wow, this is a big promotion, you  

might not believe it. So you might say, "Hey, ask  him and get it straight from the horse's mouth."  

Is that guy a horse? No, it just means hear  it directly from the source. Instead of  

hearing it from someone else, hear something  directly from the source, the horse's mouth. 

A needle in a haystack. "Trying to find my  friend in a crowd was like trying to find  

a needle in a haystack." Do you imagine  that this is an easy task or a tough task?  

Very tough task. Maybe impossible. If there is  a needle in the middle of a haystack, good luck  

trying to find it. In fact, this happened to me,  literally, last year. My two-year-old son, Theo,  

dropped a basketball pump needle in our grass.  We were pumping a basketball in the grass. We  

should not have done this in the grass, we should  have done it on the sidewalk. But he dropped the  

needle and I knew almost exactly where it fell,  but do you know what? It took almost one hour,  

it took me, my husband, two neighbors and my son  trying to find that needle in the grass. It was  

almost impossible. Thankfully we found it, but  this is a really tough task to find a needle in  

a haystack, or in my case, a needle in the grass. To hit the hay. "Are you hitting the hay?"  

No, when we say, "Hoo, after learning these 50  idioms, you are probably going to be ready to hit  

the hay." That means, you're so tired you want to  just go to sleep. Maybe at the end of a long day  

you say, "All right, I'm going to go hit the hay.  I'm so tired, I'm going to go hit the hay." You're  

not sleeping in a barn, you're just going to bed. Our next section of idioms have to do with  

the body or different body parts. They might seem  a little bit strange when you first hear them,  

but stick with them and you'll be able  to use it. Our first one is, break a leg.  

This sounds kind of like a mean thing to  say, right? "Hey, I hope you break your leg."  

No, if you say, "Break a leg," to someone, think  about this situation. "Before I went onstage for  

the performance, my fellow actors told me to  break a leg." Are they evil, terrible people,  

trying to make me get hurt? No, this simply means  good luck, and it's something that you can use  

usually in a performing or competing situation. If you're performing or competing, you can say to  

other people, "Break a leg." In fact, sometimes  it's seen as bad luck if you say, "Good luck,"  

to someone who's giving a performance. So if  you are a singer and you're going to sing in  

front of other people, if someone says to you,  "Good luck, you can do it," you might think,  

"Oh, no, I'm going to fail." Because in some  situations, depending on how superstitious your  

theater group is or your singing group is, saying  good luck can be considered bad luck. So instead,  

this expression, break a leg, is used for these  professional, competing or performing situations. 

Pulling my leg. "I thought my dad was telling  me a serious story, but it turns out he was  

just pulling my leg." Is my dad pulling my leg?  No. In this situation it just means that he's  

teasing me or telling me a joke. I want to tell  you a little story. I live in the mountains,  

and as I've mentioned before, there's black  bears everywhere. Sometimes there's a black bear  

walking down my street, really. But one time  I was at the store and my hands were full of  

grocery bags. I had just bought some  food and I was walking towards my car  

when I saw a black bear in the parking lot,  and the black bear started to chase after me,  

maybe he wanted my food, and I started to run. You should not run when you see a black bear.  

But that was just my instincts. I ran and I got  my bags and I started running and the black bear  

caught my shoe and he started pulling my  leg, just like I'm pulling yours. Ha ha.  

Do you get it? Do you understand this joke? If  you don't, first of all, don't worry, this story  

is not true at all. Well, it is true that there  are black bears in my neighborhood, but a black  

bear has never chased me at the grocery store.  Instead, black bears are really shy and timid,  

and usually if you just go, "Roar," and make  a loud noise, they run away. They're very shy. 

But I wanted to tell you this story. When  I was little I loved to tell this joke  

because usually people are listening like, "Oh,  really? Oh, really? Oh, really?" And then you say,  

"The black bear was pulling my leg."  This is literally, he's pulling my leg,  

and then we say, "Just like I'm pulling your  leg," or, "Just like I'm pulling yours."  

And this is called a punch line. That means it's  the end of the joke, it's something funny that  

was said, and it means, "Ha ha, I'm just teasing  you. I'm just telling a joke." So, if you have any  

English friends or English-speaking friends who  know this idiom, you can tell this little story,  

this little joke, and maybe they'll get a good  laugh. If they don't understand this idiom,  

maybe it's a good time to teach them. Keep an eye out. Take your eye out?  

No. Keep an eye out. "Keep an eye  out for snakes when you're hiking,  

they're everywhere." A couple of years ago, my  husband Dan and I saw a huge, thick rattlesnake  

right beside the trail where we were hiking,  and it was a little reality shock for me because  

when I hike I'm just looking at the trail, I'm not  really thinking about every possibility. But now,  

because of that experience, I try to keep an eye  out for snakes and always just remember that they  

could be there and to keep an eye out for them.  Can you imagine what this means? It means to be  

on the lookout for something. This is like active  searching, so now, whenever I step off the path  

or if I step over a log or especially for my kids,  if they're running ahead of me, I need to make  

sure that they're safe because snakes are much  more dangerous for children, so I want to keep  

an eye out for snakes. This is actively looking. Keep your eyes peeled. That sounds awful. Usually,  

for a banana, you peel a banana. But to keep your  eyes peeled? What about this sentence? "When I  

go hiking I keep my eyes peeled for snakes. I  keep my eyes peeled for snakes." We can imagine  

your eyelids are kind of like a banana peel, so  you're keeping your eyes open, you're peeling  

your eyes so that you can be on the lookout  for snakes. This is the exact same meaning,  

to keep an eye out, to keep your eyes peeled  for something, this is the exact same thing. 

See eye to eye. "We may not see eye to eye on all  issues, but we both love cats." Mmm. This means  

that you agree, or don't agree, with someone  else. We see eye to eye on something. It's  

very important when you have children that you  and your spouse, this is your husband or wife,  

need to see eye to eye on parenting. How are  you going to teach your children, discipline  

your children, you need to agree on how you're  going to do that. You need to see eye to eye. 

My eyes were bigger than my stomach. "When I  put all this food on my plate for Thanksgiving,  

my eyes were bigger than my stomach." Mmm.  This means that I thought I was hungrier  

than I really was, so I put lots of food on my  plate. Oh, my eyes were getting big and excited,  

and then when I ate, oh, my stomach  couldn't actually eat all of that food. 

Bite off more than you can chew. "Right now I'm  creating two new English courses but I think I  

might have bitten off more than I can chew. I'm  going to need to delay one of them." Mmm. This  

means that I overcommitted. I'm doing too much.  I bit... more than I can chew. It's just too  

much food, or figuratively, too much work. Keep your chin up. "I know that learning 50  

idioms is tough, but keep your chin up. You can  do it." This is talking about having courage or  

strength during a difficult time. Keep your  chin up, it's a great word of encouragement. 

A chip on your shoulder. "When he missed the  game-winning shot because the other player  

hit the ball out of his hands, he left  the game with a chip on his shoulder."  

Does that mean that there's actually like  a potato chip on his shoulder? No. Instead,  

this means that you have some kind of grudge  or grievance or this kind of hard feeling  

because of something else. When you feel like  someone did something wrong to you that wasn't  

fair, maybe you have a chip on your shoulder.  He missed the basket at the end of the game,  

but it's maybe because someone hit it, maybe  it's because it was his fault. We don't know,  

but in any case, he had a chip on his shoulder.  He had this angry feeling inside of him because  

of how he was wronged. Bend over backwards. Mmm,  

can you bend over backwards? We might say that  car companies are bending over backwards to sell  

cars nowadays. Because of the difficult economic  situation people aren't buying new cars, so car  

salesmen have to bend over backwards to sell cars.  Mmm. This means they have to make a great effort  

in order to do something. They have to  put in a lot of effort to sell cars. 

Add insult to injury. So, the injury is when you  get hurt and an insult is a mean word. If you  

get hurt, if you fall on the ground, and someone  says, "You're so dumb, you fell on the ground,"  

that's awful. You're hurt and then someone says  something mean to you, how terrible. Look at  

this situation. I accidentally locked my keys  in my car, and then, to add insult to injury,  

my phone battery died so I couldn't even call a  locksmith. Mmm. You see, one bad thing happened,  

I locked my keys in my car, and then  another bad happened, my phone battery  

died so I couldn't call anyone for help. To  add insult to injury. This is about making a  

bad situation ever worse, to add insult to injury. Rub salt in the wound. A wound is if you get a cut  

or it could be a lot worse, and you put  salt in that wound. Ouch, that sounds awful.  

Let's look at this situation. My kids woke up  really early and grumpy. They were not happy,  

and then seeing my friend's pictures  of her kids happily playing together  

just rubbed salt in the wound. Mmm. My friend  wasn't doing something bad, she was just sharing  

about her day, that's no problem. We love to  share pictures, especially of our families,  

but, for me, I was already having a tough  situation. My kids woke up early, I was tired,  

they were grumpy, they were not happy, and then,  that was not good, but then it got even worse  

when my friend showed me, "Look, we're playing  together. We're having a happy time." Oh, it makes  

me feel not too good. So, it is rubbing salt in my  wound. Does that sound familiar? Mmm. It's making  

a bad situation worse. Yep, this is exactly the  same as our previous idiom. It's making something  

that was already bad even worse. Go behind someone's back. Mmm.  

"When I told my teenage daughter that she couldn't  go on a date, she went behind my back and climbed  

out her bedroom window to go on a date with him."  Hmm. Do you get a sense that this is a good thing?  

No, this means that you're doing something  bad secretively. She snuck out the window,  

not exactly a good thing to do if you  want to build trust in a relationship,  

but here she is going behind my back. Our next category are idioms that have  

to do with work and productivity. So, if you are a  student, if you are working at a job and you have  

a lot of projects to do, I'm sure you'll be able  to use these idioms to describe your daily life. 

Burn the candle at both ends. Hmm. Usually we  burn a candle just on one end, right? But if you  

burn a candle on the other end, what happens?  Look at this sentence. "I've been burning the  

candle at both ends by working a morning job and a  nighttime job." Hmm. Do you think that you can do  

both of those jobs effectively and keep up your  energy and motivation? Ah, not really. This means  

that you're working so hard that you're not  really being effective, that you are working  

too hard. You're burning the candle at both ends,  so this might be some kind of warning that your  

friend gives you. If you are studying during the  day, studying in the afternoon, in the evening,  

and staying up all night to study, your friend or  your family might say, "Hey, you're burning the  

candle at both ends. You can't do that. You need  to get some sleep. You need to get some exercise.  

You need to eat well. You can't burn the  candle at both ends. It's not a good idea." 

Burn the midnight oil. Even though we don't  use oil lamps anymore, at least I don't,  

we can still use this idiom. We might say, "I've  been burning the midnight oil to finish my project  

on time," just means that you're working really  hard, usually late at night. If you need oil, a  

little oil lamp, to work hard, then it's probably  at night, you probably don't need that during the  

day with sunlight, so we might say, "Yeah, I just  burned the midnight oil last night and finished my  

project. I got it all done, but I didn't sleep." Running on fumes. "Making holiday preparations has  

left me so tired I feel like I'm running  on fumes." What are fumes? Mmm. This is  

gas, so when you are driving a car and your  gas meter says low, you might say, "Oh, no,  

I'm running on fumes. I need to go to a gas  station to fill up my car." That means that  

there's not much gasoline left, it's just  air, just some fumes, not a good idea,  

and this is how we're using it but in a figurative  sense, that my body has no energy left, I am just  

running on fumes. I have no real energy, it's  just like air and gas that's keeping me going. 

Cut corners. "I tried to cut corners when I  was making the meal but I just ruined the whole  

thing." Mmm. This means that you're doing  something in the easiest, cheapest or fastest way,  

and usually that means it's not the best way, so  you are cutting corners. Not always a good idea. 

Get the ball rolling. "You want to get  the ball rolling on your English skills,  

so you're watching this lesson. Great." It means  that you're getting started doing something.  

There is a ball rolling down the hill,  that's great, that's progress. Imagine now  

that's your English skills. You're pushing your  English skills ahead by watching this lesson. 

Back to the drawing board. Mmm. I'm not an artist  and you don't have to be an artist or an architect  

to use this expression. Look at this situation.  "My dream of having a beautiful flower garden was  

ruined when my neighbor's dog dug up all of my  flowers. Well, back to the drawing board." Hmm,  

what do you think that means? I have to start  over, completely start over. We often use this  

idiom at the end of a little situation, just  like I did, and we often use it by itself,  

kind of to say, "Well, there is nothing else I  can do right now, so, back to the drawing board." 

Hit the books. Is this a new study method?  Like some aggressive study method so that  

you can really learn something? No. Look at  this situation. "If I want to get good grades,  

I need to hit the books." Yeah, if you're  just sleeping all day, taking a nap,  

your mom might say, "Hey, you need to hit  the books if you're going to pass your exam."  

This means you need to study hard. I don't  recommend hitting your books. Be nice to your  

books, but this means that you are studying hard. Our next couple of idioms are about  

transportation. The first one is, to miss the  boat. "Don't miss the boat on practicing these  

idioms. Keep watching this lesson. You're  almost there." Don't miss the boat means  

don't miss an opportunity. Don't miss  the boat, keep watching this lesson.  

You're going to learn a couple of idioms that  have a similar meaning in this transportation  

section. Listen up, don't miss the boat. That ship has sailed. "I wanted to buy  

some shoes at 50% off but when I went back to the  store, I realized, 'Oh, no, that ship has sailed,'  

the sale was over." Hmm. Can you guess what this  means? There is an opportunity that I missed.  

That ship has sailed, or, I missed the boat.  The sale was over. These have a similar meaning. 

The train has left the station. Mmm. If someone  just told you, "Nope, that train has left the  

station." Hmm, would you think that they're about  to go on a trip and they missed the boat? Missed  

the train? Hmm. Look at this situation. "My  husband said he didn't want to go to the party,  

but that train had already left the station  because I told the host that we would be there."  

I don't recommend this situation. I've been  there and done that. If you're going to go  

somewhere and it is also involving your  spouse, make sure you consult with them first  

before you commit them to go into a party. What do you think this is? There is some  

process that is already happening and there  is, in a way, a missed opportunity to say,  

"Yeah, you don't need to go," because you already  said yes, you can go. So I already told the host,  

"Yep, we'll be there. We'll be at your party." And  when my husband says, "I don't want to go," well,  

sorry, that ship has sailed. Sorry. We missed  the boat. Sorry. That train has left the station,  

because I already made the decision that  we were going to be there. Not a good idea. 

Drive someone up a wall. Mmm. Sounds  kind of impossible, huh? We might say,  

"When my neighbor's dog was barking all night,  it was driving me up the wall." Mmm, the dog  

was driving me up the wall? Well, in this  situation we're talking about being extremely  

annoyed or angry because of a situation. You could  also say, "It drove me crazy. It was driving me  

crazy." Or, "It was driving me up the wall." Our next category of idioms didn't neatly fit  

into one of the other categories, but I wanted  to make sure I included them because they're  

really useful and commonly used. Our first  one is, on the fence. "I'm on the fence about  

hiring a professional cleaner to help clean my  house. Maybe I should just do it myself. I'm on  

the fence." Hmm. Well, you're not completely on  one side or completely on the other side, you're  

in the middle. This means you're unable to make  a decision, or you haven't made a decision yet.  

Well, are you going to hire a professional  cleaner? "I don't know, I'm on the fence." 

I heard it through the grapevine. Mmm, to  hear something through the grapevine. What  

if your friend says to you, "How did you find  out that she was pregnant?" You might say,  

"I heard it through the grapevine." Hmm. Did  a grape tell you this? Did the grapevine send  

you a little message? Well, in a figurative way,  yes. This means that you learned a secret from,  

usually, an anonymous or a secret source. You  don't want to reveal who told you. This is kind  

of similar to a little birdie told me. "A little  bird told me that she was pregnant." How did  

you hear about it? "I heard about it through the  grapevine." There's a classic oldie song from the  

'60s called, "I heard it through the grapevine."  I'm sure if you write this idiom into YouTube,  

you'll probably be able to listen to this song.  It's a classic and a lot of people love it. 

A short fuse. A fuse, you can imagine when you  have dynamite, behind the dynamite there's a  

little string and you use a lighter or some  kind of match and you light the fuse...  

And then the dynamite explodes. What if there  is a short fuse? Look at this situation. "My  

geometry teacher had a short fuse. He would often  throw chalk if a student was late to class." Hmm.  

Can kind of imagine that he's easily angry? If you  have a long fuse, no, we don't use this in a...  

this kind of positive sense. He has a long fuse,  that means it's difficult for him to get angry.  

But a short fuse... It's very easy for  him to get angry. He has a short fuse.  

So if you are the kind of  person who has a short fuse,  

try to take a couple of deep breaths, try to  count to five, count to three, count to 10,  

whatever it takes, because having a  short fuse is usually not a good thing. 

A stone's throw away. Hmm, a stone is a rock.  "I'm so happy that the closest grocery store is  

just a stone's throw away." Well, if you have  a little rock and you throw it, you probably  

can't throw it that far. It's not too far away,  and that's the same idea here that the grocery  

store is close to my house. Well, how close is  the grocery stone? It's a stone's throw away. 

At the drop of a hat. "I know that my friend  will help me at the drop of a hat." Hmm.  

This means that she's going to pick up my hat?  No, this means that she'll help me immediately.  

Whenever I need it, she will help me at the drop  of a hat. This is something that my mother-in-law  

said to me when my second son was born. We needed  someone to watch my oldest son when we went  

to give birth, so she said, "Don't worry. I will  come to your house at the drop of a hat. You can  

call me at 3:00 a.m. and I will be there and I  will watch your oldest son so that you can go,  

have a wonderful time giving birth to your second  son without worrying about your first son. So,  

I will help you at the drop of a hat." Very kind. Cut to the chase. When my best friend was telling  

me about some cute guy that she met, I told her to  cut to the chase. Are they going on a date or not?  

Well, maybe she was telling me a lot of details,  and I say, "No. Cut to the chase. Are you going on  

a date or not?" This means to be direct and to not  tell too many details, just to get it over with,  

tell me what I really want to hear, "Are you  going on a date or not?" Cut to the chase. 

Our final idiom from this category of... Not  really any category, is, once in a blue moon.  

"When I was a kid I flossed my teeth once in a  blue moon, but now, as an adult, I floss them  

every day." Do you see this comparison? Once  in a blue moon, and every day? Mmm. This means,  

not often. I didn't floss my teeth often,  and surprisingly, I never got any cavities.  

Maybe it's because I didn't eat much sugar. I  don't know, I was very lucky. But now as an adult  

I floss my teeth every day. I don't floss them  once in a blue moon. Now I floss them every day. 

Our final category has idioms that give words  of wisdom. Don't judge a book by its cover.  

Maybe there's a similar idiom to this in your  native language. If there is, let me know in  

the comments. Look at this situation. "I walked  into the restaurant. It was small, it didn't have  

many decorations, but the food was amazing.  I guess you can't judge a book by its cover."  

This story has nothing to do with  books. I'm not going to a library,  

I'm not reading a book, nothing like this,  but we can still use it to talk about  

forming an opinion based on only appearances.  "Well, the restaurant didn't look that great but  

really the quality was still there." You might  say this about someone else, if someone doesn't  

have amazing clothes and their hair is a mess, you  might say, "Yeah, don't judge a book by its cover.  

He's still an amazing person." Cross that bridge when you come to it. Mmm,  

a bridge. Cross that bridge. "Well, I  think it might rain next week and ruin  

our picnic plans, but let's cross that bridge  when we come to it." Mmm. Weather often changes,  

especially a week before, and it could change  a lot. It might not rain, it might rain, so  

here we're talking about dealing with maybe  a difficult situation when it happens. Don't  

worry about it in advance. Not before it happens,  especially if you think it might not happen. So,  

in this situation, it might not rain, so we don't  need to make second plans, third plans, fourth  

plans. "What if it rains? What else are we going  to do?" No, worry about that closer to the event.  

We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. I personally use this expression a lot because  

sometimes when I'm thinking about  different things happening in life,  

we ask, "Well, what if this happens? What if  this happens? What if this happens?" So I need  

to remind myself, "Okay, I'll cross that bridge  when I come to it. If that situation happens,  

then I will deal with it." Of course, it's good to  have some plans in life, but for some situations  

that we can absolutely not predict or it's so far  away that it's not worth stressing yourself about,  

you can use this expression. "Okay, I'll  cross that bridge when I come to it.  

Right now I'm not going to worry about it." No use crying over spilled milk. "Ah, I forgot  

about my diet and had pizza for breakfast, lunch  and dinner. Oh, well, no use crying over spilled  

milk. I'll do better tomorrow." If something has  already happened in the past, don't feel upset  

about it because that is over, that situation  or the decision you made is finished,  

so don't cry because the milk spilled. That has  already happened, that situation is already there,  

so instead we need to move forward. And our final idiom today is, actions speak  

louder than words. I think that this is almost  a universal idiom because it's so true. A lot  

of English learners say that they want to practice  their English, they want to improve their English,  

but actions speak louder than words. You are  actually doing it. A lot of people are just  

sitting there thinking, "Oh, I wish I had time to  do this. I wish I could improve my English." But  

no, you are the one who's taking action, and your  actions show that you are really serious about  

learning English. Actions speak louder than words.  What you do is more important than what you say.  

This is very true in relationships. Make sure that  you show love to the people around you instead of  

just saying, "Yeah, I care about you. Yeah, you're  my friend." Okay. Well, put some action behind  

that and do something special or show  that you care about the people around you. 

Well, congratulations on flooding your  mind with 50 important English idioms.  

You did it. I'm on the fence about  which of these idioms is my favorite,  

but I hope that you will keep an eye out for these  as you're watching English movies and TV shows and  

having conversations. Break a leg. You can do it. And now I have a question for you. Use one of  

these idioms in the comments. Try to use what  you've learned, and thank you so much for learning  

English with me. I'll see you again next Friday  for a new lesson here on my YouTube channel. Bye. 

The next step is to download my free eBook, Five  Steps to Becoming a Confident English Speaker.  

You'll learn what you need to do  to speak confidently and fluently.  

Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel  for more free lessons. Thanks so much. Bye.