How To Use English Idioms FOOD IDIOMS

Hello I’m Emma from mmmEnglish and in this video I’m going to show you how to use

my favorite English food idioms.

English idioms are a piece of cake!

Now if you don’t know what English
idioms are, they’re expressions in

English that are really commonly used or
lots of them are really commonly used

but the individual meaning of each word,
each word on their own is different to

the meaning of the expression when all
of these words are together. So this

expression means that something is easy
or simple to do.

I’m confident I passed the exam, it was a piece of cake!

Now there are hundreds and hundreds of
English idioms

so trying to learn them all is a pretty
overwhelming task, isn’t it?

Even just knowing which ones to focus on, which ones to try and learn and which ones to use!

Some idioms are commonly used and
others are not, so my advice to you when

you’re learning idioms is not to use a
huge long list of hundreds and hundreds

of idioms. In this lesson I’m going to
share with you a few idioms that I use

all the time, almost every day! And all of
these idioms are to do with food.

Ready? Let’s try them out!

To put all of your eggs in one basket.

Now this idiom is used to describe when
you risk everything at once and it

usually relates to money or opportunity
or hopes for the future and it’s based

on the idea that if you drop the basket
that’s full of eggs,

you’ll lose everything.

Perhaps it’s a better idea to put your eggs in a few

different baskets, so that if you drop
one, you’ll still have some others.

For example, while my brother trained to be a professional footballer, he also studied

a degree in engineering because my dad
told him not to put all of his eggs in one basket.

Or, my uncle invested all of
his savings into a company that went

bankrupt. I don’t know why he put all of
his eggs in one basket.

To be in a pickle.

We use this idiom when we’re in a
difficult situation or we have a problem!

And it’s often said to be in a bit of a
pickle, especially when it’s not a

serious problem and you want to make it
seem less serious than it really is.

I’m in a bit of a pickle.

For example,

We’re in a pickle.. We’ve just locked the keys in the car!

Or, I promised to pick up my
sister from the airport, but I’m still at

work and I can’t leave yet! I’m in a bit
of a pickle,

can you help?

To bite off more than one can chew.

This is one of my favourite ones!

It’s when you try to do something
that is too difficult for you and you’re

not able to do it. Maybe you don’t have
the skills or you don’t have the time to

make sure that you can do it.

For example,

He’s been working back late every night

this week trying to finish the project.
I think he’s bitten off more than he can chew.

Or, I’m so sorry! I haven’t got time
to meet you for lunch today.

I’m organising my sister’s surprise
party and I’ve bitten off more than I can chew!

There’s so much to do!

Another good one! To butter someone up.

Now this idiom means that you be really nice or
friendly to someone

so that you can get something from them,
you want them to do something for you

so you’re very nice to them, you’re
buttering them up.

Have you ever cooked

your mum a really nice meal or maybe
taken her out for dinner and then asked

her if you could borrow some money?

Then, you’ve buttered her up!

Here are some more examples,

I know that Paul has a spare
ticket to the concert

perhaps if we butter him up, he might
offer it to us!

Or, he’ll have to butter

his boss up if he wants to take extra
leave at Christmas.

In a nutshell.

Now this idiom is used to show that
you’re talking about something or

describing something in a really simple
way. You’re not using many words, you’re

trying to be as clear and as simple as
possible.

For example, your friend asked

you about a movie that you saw on the
weekend and you answer:

Well… it’s a complicated story, but in a nutshell, it’s about three astronauts who disappear for

about 30 years before returning to Earth
with no memory of anything that had happened!

Another example, I don’t want to
explain their whole history but in a

nutshell, they just wanted different
things out of life. She wanted travel and

adventure, he wanted to focus on his
career. So in the end they broke up.

It’s really sad.

So they are my favourite English food idioms!

I hope that you learned a couple of new ones and maybe
you were reminded about some that you

already knew. Do you know any other
English food idioms?

Share them in the comments below, I’d love to hear from you!

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courses and other information.

I hope that you enjoyed this lesson and I will see you next time! Bye for now!