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hi everybody my name is Alisha in this
lesson I'm going to talk about some
common idioms these are common American
English idioms for your reference an
idiom is a set expression that doesn't
mean exactly what the words in the
expression means it actually has a
special meaning these are set phrases
with special meanings so today I'm going
to introduce a few let's get started
okay the first expression the first
idiom is the expression I feel under the
weather
I feel under the weather this means I
don't feel well I don't feel well
so you use this when you feel sick like
I'm feeling under the weather today or
he's feeling under the weather today you
can also change this verb to look if you
want to make a guess about the way
someone else feels you can say you look
under the weather like in this example
sentence you are looking a bit under the
weather a bit means a little and here
you're looking means like it seems that
right now your appearance now suggests
that you don't feel well but this is a
friendly and casual expression you can
use to say are you okay you look a
little sick so feel under the weather to
feel under the weather or to look under
the weather if you're just guessing
based on someone's appearance means that
you don't feel well or someone seems
like they might be sick okay let's move
on to the next idiom the next idiom is
I've put in parentheses here I'm so
hungry
but we dropped this part sometimes I
could eat a horse I could eat a horse so
here you see could suggesting
possibility this part we often drop so
sometimes we just say I could eat a
horse or maybe a different large animal
like I could eat an elephant for example
basically this idiom means I'm very
hungry
that's all so in other words I'm so
hungry it's possible for me to eat a
large animal and
as large as a horse or is an elephant or
something we don't really change the
animal so much you could say elephant I
suppose but typically people say horse
this is a little bit of an old-fashioned
expression now you might just hear I'm
starving but that's kind of an extreme
I'm really really hungry expression but
if you use this it's ok people will
understand it means you're very very
hungry ok let's move on to the third
idiom for this lesson this one is it's
raining cats and dogs it's raining cats
and dogs this one also is a little bit
old-fashioned but you might still hear
it used from time to time it's raining
cats and dogs just means it's raining
heavily it's raining a lot there's a lot
of water coming down so it's raining
cats and dogs this does not mean there
are cats and dogs in the street or
coming down it just means heavy rain
heavy rain ok let's go on to another one
that's a little more commonly used this
expression this idiom is that or it or
these those whatever that costs an arm
and a leg an arm and a leg physically
body parts an arm and a leg that costs
an arm in the leg this expression means
that's very expensive we use this for
something that is extremely expensive or
perhaps more expensive than we expected
so an example of this would be my new
phone cost me an arm and a leg my new
phone cost me an arm and a leg so I paid
a lot of money for my new phone here
cost is actually in past-tense cost here
it's in present tense that costs an arm
and a leg here this is the past tense
expression my new phone cost me an arm
in the leg means I paid a lot of money
for my new phone so an arm in the leg
these are key parts of our body so we
use them in this expression to show that
something was really really expensive we
had to give a lot of ourselves a lot of
our resource
is to pay for this item so something
costs an arm and a leg means something
is really expensive we always use arm
and leg we don't use arm or leg only we
use them together always for this
expression okay let's go along to the
next one also uses leg this expression
this idiom is to pull someone's chain or
to pull someone's leg you also hear the
verb yank used here so pull is this
motion yank is like a quick short pull
so to yank something but to pull is a
little more like smooth but to pull
someone's chain or she yanked someone's
chain or leg these expressions all mean
to be joking it means you're just
telling a joke you are kidding kidding
is a word that means joking so when
you're joking with someone like in a
conversation and you want to show I'm
don't mean anything by it I'm just
joking you can say I'm just pulling your
legs like if you're telling a story if
you're lying to someone for a joke you
can use this expression so here sorry
I'm just pulling your leg sorry I'm just
pulling your leg sorry I'm just yanking
your chain this means I'm just joking
I'm just kidding don't be serious don't
take what I'm saying seriously it's a
joke in other words so sometimes people
like to use this to like finish a
conversation if the other person is
getting angry and then they can say I'm
just joking I'm just pulling your leg
okay let's go on to the next one the
next idiom is to hit the road to hit the
road this does not mean physically hit
the road outside this means to leave to
leave it's as a casual expression which
means to leave your current position and
go somewhere else to hit the road an
example it's late let's hit the road so
in other words it's late let's go let's
leave this place okay onward to the next
expression the next idiom is kill two
birds with one stone so a stone is a
rock small a rock
two birds with one stone this expression
means to accomplish two things with one
action to do so one thing you do one
thing but you accomplish two things of
course you could do multiple things I
suppose three birds with one stone maybe
but we tend to use it two birds one
stone in example met friends and checked
out a new restaurant I killed two birds
with one stone so I wanted to see my
friends and I wanted to visit a new
restaurant I did them both at the same
time I killed two birds with one stone
so I accomplished two things in one
action there this is quite a common
expression two birds one stone it's
always that that pairing okay onward to
the next one the next idiom is piece of
cake piece of cake like that's a piece
of cake or it's a piece of cake or that
was a piece of cake it means very easy
piece of cake means easy also be careful
of your spelling this should mean piece
like one part of something it's not PE a
sieepiess like peace on earth peace
around the world but piece of cake part
of cake it means very easy this is an
expression that means very easy an
example making coffee is a piece of cake
so some activities some action is easy
to do we say piece of cake
so actually we don't always clearly
state the action or the activity that's
easy sometimes we get like a request
like can you make this or can you do
that and the response is just piece of
cake no problem I can do that that's
easy for me so quite a common one - okay
let's go along to the next idiom which
is put all your eggs in one basket to
put all your eggs in one basket this is
an idiom that's usually used for advice
and we usually say don't put all your
eggs in one basket this means to rely on
only one thing for your needs to rely on
one thing so let's look at an example of
this
don't invest in just one company don't
put all your eggs in one basket so the
image here is that we need eggs in this
example we need eggs to eat for
something for breakfast let's say if we
put all of the eggs we need in one
basket and we drop the basket or the
basket is stolen or there's some other
problem the eggs are destroyed or they
disappear or whatever we have nothing we
have no resources so this is a life
advice idiom that suggests if you have
some resources you should spread them to
different places so don't put everything
that you have in one location if
something happens then you're in trouble
so it means spread out your resources
spread out the things that you need in
case something happens so here too don't
invest in just one company try to spread
your investments out is what this really
means so this is quite a common
expression don't put all your eggs in
one basket okay let's go on to the last
one the last one is a special idiom it
is hair of the dog that bit you I have
this in parentheses because we often
remove we often drop this part hair of
the dog that bit you this is an idiom
that we use particularly the day after
we've had alcohol so hair of the dog
this is a suggestion for a hangover cure
so hangover means that sick bad feeling
you have after drinking too much alcohol
so we feel like a headache we have a
headache we have a stomachache we're
slow it's difficult to do things that's
hangover so hair of the dog that bit you
so we're suggesting here that alcohol is
a dog that's what there's kind of a
small story here alcohol is a dog and
the dog bit you so because the alcohol
like harmed you damaged you you feel
sick so the idea here is if you take
like like medicine kind of if you take
part of the dog a hair from the dog that
bit you you
we'll be cured it's like a treatment
kind of or a suggestion for treatment so
example hangover how about a little hair
of the dog in other words this means if
you drink a little bit of alcohol then
maybe you will feel better it's
suggesting not to drink a lot but have a
little bit of alcohol and then your body
will be better it will improve I don't
know if it's true or not maybe for some
people but that's what this expression
means hair of the dog and we often drop
that [ __ ] you there so how about some
hair of the dog that bit you
that could work alright so those are a
few common idioms that we use in
American English there are many many
more if you have questions or if you
have comments or if you know some other
idioms and you'd like to know more about
them please let us know in the comment
section of this video of course if you
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thanks very much for watching this
lesson and I will see you again soon bye
bye
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