Would you ever guess that to kill something could mean to do it well? In English it can mean exactly that! In this episode, we’re looking at expressions that mean to do something very well. They’re casual expressions that can be used to talk about a big performance or a small school project. Check out this episode if you want to give someone a high compliment in a natural way!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Expressions included in the Learning Materials:
- To reach peak something
- To kill it
- Gruesome
- A hit
- Harsh
- Ultra
- To nail it
- An antique
- To be down someone’s alley
- To go easy on someone
- A prodigy
- To rock it
- To pull off a look
- To cross someone’s mind
Sample transcript:
Maura: OK. So let’s get to our episode today. So today we’re going to do a Catch Word episode, and that is where we look at different expressions, three related expressions, and we explain them for you, we give you examples, and let you know how you can use them.
Andrew: Exactly. And today we’re gonna look at three expressions that you can use to describe a situation where somebody performs really, really well.
Maura: Right. We use these expressions when someone does something very well. They succeed in some way.
Andrew: And the way that we define these expressions is going to be different from what you’ll see in a dictionary if you look them up, because these are very slang expressions, slang ways of using these terms.
Maura: Yup. That’s right. So when you look up these verbs in the dictionary, you’re not going to see these definitions right away.
Andrew: Mmhmm. So, should we start the episode, Maura?
Maura: Yeah. Let’s get to it.
Andrew: All right. So our first expression is to kill it.
Maura: Mmhmm. It sounds so violent. To kill it.
Andrew: Yeah. It’s very violent, I guess, when you think about it. But in reality, this just means that you performed well when you were doing something.
Maura: Right. So, when a person does something really well, you can say that that person killed it.
Andrew: Mmhmm. And it does sound gruesome, I agree. But this just means that this person did an excellent job on a certain task.
Podcast/Learning Materials: Culips English Podcast,