Posts tagged expression
Do you usually try to look on the bright side?
Jul 18th
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When you find yourself in a bad situation, do you try to look on the bright side? If your friend gets some bad news, have you ever said: Every cloud has a silver lining? When life gives you lemons, do you make lemonade? In this episode, we are optimistic and trying to find the good in the bad by looking at all these expressions. Check them out of you want to cheer someone up!
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| Robin: | Let’s do a dialogue. |
| Maura: | I don’t know what to do. |
| Robin: | What’s the matter? |
| Maura: | Well, I’ve been looking for a job for months everyday. I send my resume, but I just can’t get a job. I think I’m going to be unemployed all summer. |
| Robin: | Hey, hey, hey, look on the bright side. At least while we’re in the office, we’re working away, you can sit outside and enjoy that beautiful weather. |
| Maura: | You’re right. The weather has been nice lately. |
| Robin: | Yeah, so look on the bright side. At least you can do that. |
| Maura: | OK, great. So that was a great example of someone who is in a bad situation. |
Expression included from this episode in Lipservice:
| To look on the bright side (of something) | What’s the matter? |
| At least | Cheer up |
| Every cloud has a silver lining (and variations) | Cloud |
| Silver lining | When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. |
| Into a million pieces | Shall |
| Novels and other types of books |
Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Photo: Pranav Singh
Harp is a chip off the old block.
Jul 4th
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Are you a chip off the old block? Are you similar to any relatives that came before you? In this episode we are talking about family, and how often family members look alike and act alike. There are many ways to talk about this, and some especially fun expression like to be a chip off the old block, to be the spitting image of, and the old proverb, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.To learn more about this fun — and long – expressions, listen here!
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| Harp: | Yeah, when I visited my grandma the last time, she kept saying that I looked so similar to my aunt, she kept saying that I was a chip off the old block. |
| Maura: | Yeah, OK, good. So really the meaning is that someone, like you in that example Harp, is made as the same thing as another person, in that case your aunt. So if you think about the old block as your aunt and the chip being you, you’re a chip off the old block, you’re made of the same stuff, you act alike, you look alike. |
| Harp: | Yup, that makes sense to me. |
| Maura: | Yeah, it’s actually a really old expression. It’s been around for a long time. I think since the 1600s. |
| Harp: | Yeah, but we still use this expression. |
| Maura: | Yeah, it’s been around for a long time but you still hear it today. |
| Harp: | Yeah, of course, we use this often. |
Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Photo: Anita363
Expression: are you on the ball today?
Jun 13th
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In this episode we look at expressions that describe someone who is intelligent, prepared, capable of doing some work! Do you know someone like this? Do you know someone who always seems on the ball? If you know someone who is alert and knows how to get the job done, then you may need to use expressions like, to be on the ball, to be on top of it, and to have it together.
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| Jessie: | So where does this expression come from? Why do we say that? |
| Maura: | Well, it actually does have an origin in baseball, and there are actually a lot of expressions related to baseball. |
| Jessie: | Yeah, there are tons. |
| Maura: | So this expression, to be on the ball, is also related to baseball. So when a pitcher throws the ball in baseball, really well and has good control, they would say that he was on the ball. |
| Jessie: | OK, so originally to be on the ball meant to be in control of the ball but now we mean it to mean, to be in control of your life, to be in control of the situation. |
Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Photo: Laura Bittner
Expression: To brush up on something
Apr 11th
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You might be checking out this Culips episode because you are brushing up on your English! In this episode we look at three expressions that mean exactly the same thing: to brush up on, to bone up on, to polish up on. These expressions are good to know if you are studying something you already know or refreshing some of your old skills.
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| Robin: | And today we have a Catch Word that is a little bit special because we got an email from Italy. |
| Jessie: | Yeah. |
| Robin: | From a German woman who’s teaching German and English in Italy, in fact. |
| Jessie: | Yeah, she teaches conversation lessons. |
| Robin: | And her name is Bernadette. We’d like to say hi Bernadette. |
| Jessie: | Hello. |
| Robin: | And she wanted us to do an episode about the expression to brush up on something. |
| Jessie: | Yeah, to brush up on something. And I think that is a great phrase for our Catch Word podcast. |
| Robin: | Absolutely. What does it mean? |
| Jessie: | Well, to brush up on something is to refresh your memory or to relearn something, to study something that you already kind of know, but you need to improve on. |
Podcast/ Lipservice, Photo: alicejamieson
To tear a strip off someone
Apr 4th
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As Harp and Robin explain in this episode, to tear a strip off someone, is to get very upset at them and to express that emotion in a very harsh and angry way. This could involve yelling or screaming, or just very angry, mean words.
As you can imagine, literally getting a strip torn off you would be a very painful experience. Getting a strip torn off you in the idiomatic sense is often very painful in an emotional way!
Other related idioms we talk about in this episode are
-To chew someone out
-To give someone a piece of your mind
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| Harp: | Just last week, I was taking the bus and I was waiting at the bus stop, minding my own business, when all of a sudden this couple came to the bus stop, and she was very angry, very, very angry and she just started yelling at him, she was tearing a strip off him. |
| Robin: | So the guy’s girlfriend was yelling at him. What was she yelling at him about? |
| Harp: | Apparently he was cheating on her and she just found out. |
| Robin: | OK. That’s not a conversation that you like to be having in public. |
| Harp: | At all, ever, but in public would make it worse. |
Podcast/ Lipservice, Photo: Culips ESL Podcast
Expression: Two-faced
Mar 28th
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In this episode we talk about a person that you do not want to be friends with. We describe a person who is two-faced! We also give examples of how a person talks behind another’s back and how someone backstabs another. If you ever find yourself in these situations you will know how to talk about it. From Culips to you, we hope you don’t have any people like this in your lives!
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| Robin: | Well, the first expression is to be two-faced or simply just two-faced. |
| Maura: | Right, so two-faced. |
| Robin: | Two-faced. |
| Maura: | So…like, to have two faces? |
| Robin: | Absolutely. And this means that you’re not very honest. So you present yourself in one way around some people and in another way around other people. |
| Maura: | Right. So you might say things in one situation but then in another situation you might say the exact opposite. |
| Robin: | I can give you an example… |
Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Photo: Quinn Dombrowski
Expression: Shrug it off
Feb 14th
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In this episode, Robin and Jessie discuss the expression to shrug something off. Check out the picture here to see an example of someone shrugging. In certain situations a person may want to shrug it off, or have to roll with the punches, and afterwards pick up the pieces. Listen to hear how all these expressions are used differently.
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Robin: Forget about it. It’s not a big deal.
Jessie: So, are there any other expressions that we can use to talk about dealing with problems?
Robin: Absolutely. Another expression that we use to deal with problems is to roll with the punches.
Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Illustration: Asami Takemoto
Slang: Dude!
Jan 24th
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Dude! This word is very popular nowadays, especially with young people. You can often hear this word in movies and television shows, or with your Native English speaker friends. It has been around for awhile but young people are using the word dude, more and more. So…dude, what does it mean?
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Harp: Yeah, so dude is an old word.
Maura: Yeah, and it has had a lot of different meanings that generally refer to a man.
Harp: Yeah exactly. And dude became popular in the 60s and the 70s in surfer culture and then it made its way into mainstream.
Maura: Yeah, so dude was really first used in a popular way by surfers, I guess maybe in California, somewhere where they surf in the USA.
Harp: Exactly, but we’ll talk about dude in the surfer culture in the Lipservice.
Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Video: Dude – Bud Light
Pet Peeves
Jan 10th
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Everyone has personal pet peeves that bother you. Someone’s pet peeves are usually cultural. Pet peeves are usually small, day-to-day things. Are you curious about what pet peeves are now? Listen to this episode to find out what they are. All of the Culips members share their personal pet peeves too!
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Maura: Well, a friend of mine really hates when people chew and eat with their mouth open.
Robin: OK.
Maura: …when they are eating but their mouth is open and you can hear what is going on in there and maybe they are talking at the same time.
Robin: That’s definitely one of my pet peeves too.
Maura: Yeah, so some pet peeves are really common and they bother or annoy a lot of people but pet peeves are kind of individual, like some thing that is my pet peeve that really bothers me, maybe is something that doesn’t bother you Robin, right?
Robin: Absolutely, it all depends on the person.
Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Photo: Rennett Stowe
Expression: Corny
Nov 29th
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Sometimes movies are corny, or music is corny. It is a fun adjective that can describe just about anything. A synonym for corny is cheesy, and it has nothing to do with cheese! Check out this episode to hear our corny examples.
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Jessie: I like it.
Harp: I like it as well.
Jessie: So, does that mean having to do with corn?
Harp: Um, no, not at all.
Jessie: What does it mean?
Harp: Something that is corny is something that is cliché, unoriginal; it’s oldfashioned.
Jessie: OK, so corny is an adjective describing something that’s not very sophisticated, maybe kind of sentimental.
Harp: Yeah, exactly.
Jessie: Not original.
Podcast/ Lipservice: Culips ESL Podcast, Photo: flydime
Of all the podcasts with 'real world' English examples, I like yours the best. Maybe its the fun you put into the lessons. The students can here that in your voices. And they also feel your dedication to what you are doing - it's just not a job you do, but a gift you give to everyone who listens. And while the students like the Lipservice PDFs for all the information it contains, as a teacher I am impressed by the professional effort put into making them. I give the Culips podcast and the Culips crew my highest recommendation, both as a teacher, and a listener. 
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