Speak Like An American 4 American Idioms Advanced English Lesson
Hi, I’m Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.
Today we’re going to talk about four American
idioms.
Let’s get started.
You might be wondering what in the world is
an American idiom?
Well, these idioms might be understood by
people in the UK but they are most often used
by Americans.
And if you said one of these to someone from
the US, they would instantly understand what
you meant and they wouldn’t feel weird at
all like you were using an expression that
they hadn’t heard very often.
For each of these idioms I’m going to tell
you a little story and I want you to guess
what you think the idiom means based on the
context.
So for our first idiom I want to tell you
a quick story about last week.
One of my friends who has a small baby, we
were going to get together and in the morning
when we were about to get together she called
me and said, “Hey, Vanessa, I’m sorry, I’ve
got to take a rain check because my baby’s
not feeling too well.
So I want to just relax at home and maybe
we can get together next week.”
What do you think this idiom, “Take a rain
check means?”
Take a rain check, think about it for a moment.
In this context, we were going to get together
but we needed to change some plans because
her baby wasn’t feeling well.
That’s exactly what this idiot means, change
your plans.
We need to delay or just push back our plans
because something happened.
Maybe you just are feeling tired or you’re
feeling sick, so you need to change your plans.
You could say, “I need to take a rain check
or let’s take a rain check and do our event
next week.”
Let’s take a rain check, it’s easy to remember
this expression if you can remember the base
word rain.
Let’s imagine you’re trying to have some kind
of event outside, maybe you’re trying to get
married outside like I was and it rains like
it was on my wedding.
Well, you can’t have the event outside, you
have to go inside so you need to change your
plans because of the weather.
This is kind of the origin of the expression,
but we can use it in any situation where you’re
changing plans.
The second American idiom is to shoot the
breeze, let me tell you a quick story so you
can guess the meaning.
In a couple of days I’m getting together with
a childhood friend who I haven’t seen for
a while and when I told my husband that I
was going to get together with her he said,
“What are you going to do?
You haven’t seen her for a long time.”
And I said, “I don’t know, shoot the breeze,
just sit together, you know, we’ll figure
out something.”
What do you think from this quick story that
shoot the breeze means?
Well, we can imagine the word breeze means
like a small wind, we can imagine a breeze
coming out of your mouth when you’re talking.
So shooting the breeze means just to chit-chat
together, to talk about daily life.
Nothing too deep or important, just to chat.
I said, “I’m going to just shoot the breeze
with her.”
I’m not going to take a gun and shoot the
wind.
That would be a pretty crazy activity together
but instead we just talked.
So there was wind coming out of our mouths,
breeze, and this means we didn’t really talk
about anything serious or substantial, just
chit-chat, just chatting.
The third American idiom is to plead the Fifth.
Let me tell you a quick story so you can guess
what it means.
Let’s imagine that your friend comes over
to your house and he says, “Oh, man, I just
went on a date with Sara yesterday, it was
so great.”
And then you say, “Did you kiss her?”
He might say, “I plead the Fifth.”
What does this mean?
Why did he say I plead the Fifth?
Well, the word plead means I beg, please,
please, I’m begging.
And the Fifth, what in the world is the Fifth?
Why not the fourth, the tenth?
Why is there a number here?
Well, this is referencing the Constitution
of the United States.
In the Constitution, the Fifth Amendment says,
“You don’t need to say anything that is going
to incriminate you in court.”
But when your friend was talking to you about
kissing a girl on a date, was he worried about
going to court or going to jail?
No.
So let’s talk about the original meaning of
this expression, the political meaning, and
then we’ll talk about how it got interpreted
in daily conversation.
Well, let’s imagine that you’re driving really
fast and a policeman pulls you over and you
roll down your window and he says, “Excuse
me, have you been drinking alcohol?
Have you been smoking weed?
Have you been doing drugs?”
You could say, “I plead the Fifth.”
This means you know that it’s the law, you
don’t have to say anything to him that could
make you get in trouble with the court later.
If he’s going to take you to court, you’re
going to say it in the court.
You’re not going to say it in this informal
area in your car, you want to make sure that
there’s a lawyer, you want to make sure that
it is done the right way.
So you could say I plead the Fifth because
that Fifth Amendment of the Constitution says
you don’t need to answer his questions, you
don’t need to say that.
In daily life we often use this when we don’t
want to answer a question.
So you asked your friend, “Did you kiss her?”
He said, “I plead the Fifth.”
This means he doesn’t want to answer your
question.
He doesn’t say, “Legally, I don’t have to
answer your question.”
No, this is just colloquially he’s saying,
“I don’t want to answer your question.”
But there is a subtle meaning here.
When you use this in daily conversation, it
means, “I don’t want to tell you but your
answer is correct.”
He said, “Did you kiss her?”
And he said, “I plead the Fifth.”
Really it means, “Yes, but I don’t want to
tell you.”
If you use this expression, you’re not really
hiding the truth, you’re telling them what
they already know but you just don’t want
to say it.
So let me give you one other quick situation.
The other day I was sneakily eating a piece
of chocolate in the kitchen and Dan, my husband,
walked into the kitchen and said, “Did you
eat the last piece of chocolate?”
Well, I had eaten the last piece of chocolate
and I said, “I plead the Fifth.”
This means, “I don’t want to tell you but
it’s true, I did eat the last piece of chocolate.”
So even though I didn’t say I ate the last
piece, yes, you are correct.
It is implied when you use this expression.
If you use it with a police officer, he’s
going to be suspicious because you’re not
answering his question but this is the legal
situation so it’s okay to use it.
It doesn’t mean, “Yes, I was drinking alcohol.
Yes, I was smoking.
Yes, I was doing drugs.”
No, it doesn’t imply that in the legal situation
but in the colloquial situation it does.
It implies, “Yes, I did that thing that you
were accusing me of but I don’t want to say
it.”
The fourth American idiom is to give props
to someone.
Let me tell you a quick story, let’s imagine
that you want to study abroad in the US and
you’d like to get your master’s degree at
Harvard.
Well, your goal is to get your master’s degree
but you think, “Why not, I’m going to try
to apply to Harvard because they have a great
reputation.”
So you try to get into Harvard and you don’t
make it.
Then your friend asks you, “Hey, how did it
go?
Did you get a reply?
Did you make it into Harvard?”
You probably say, “No, I didn’t make it.”
They would say to you, “Well, I give you props
for trying.”
What does this mean?
I give you props for trying.
This expression props means proper respect,
but it’s just been shortened over time and
if you asked most Americans, “What does props
mean?”
They probably wouldn’t be able to tell you.
I just looked it up online because I was curious,
but we can imagine from this full expression,
“I’m giving you my proper respect for trying
to get into Harvard.
Even though you didn’t make it, you tried
hard, I give you my respect.”
Well, we can shorten this expression to say,
“I give you props for trying to get into Harvard.
I give you props for something that you did.”
When you want to show that, “Oh, someone didn’t
succeed but you still are respecting them
because they tried.”
This is a great expression to use, and you
know what, you can even give yourself props.
So let’s imagine that you see a lost foreign
traveler in your city and you want to try
to speak English with them but you feel a
little nervous but you do it anyway.
You go to them, they ask you some questions,
you didn’t understand everything but you tried
your best, you can say, “Well, I give myself
props for trying.
I give myself props for approaching them and
trying to speak English.”
You did it, maybe it wasn’t perfect but you
tried.
So you can use this as encouragement for yourself.
Now it’s your turn, I want to know have you
ever needed to plead the Fifth?
Did you ever need to take a rain check or
maybe give props to someone?
Who do you like to shoot the breeze with?
Let me know in the comments below.
Try to use these expressions and expand your
vocabulary.
Thanks so much for learning with me and I’ll
see the next time.
Bye.
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Thanks so much, bye.