Improve Your Conversational English with Pizza Phrases Idioms in American English
Hey, I’m Rachel from Rachel’s English and
today we’re studying English conversation
with my friend Dave who’s going to
make us pizza. Doesn’t this look good?
We’re going to look at a lot of different
vocabulary words and pronunciations here.
First, this word.
Look at that bubble.
Wow.
You probably know bubble as this:
And you probably know it as bubble gum or bubble
tea. But do you what it means to live in a bubble?
This is a phrase that I’ve heard
used more and more in recent years
and it means detached from the world. You
only know what’s happening right around you,
your friends, your family. You don’t think
about what else is going on in the world.
You don’t inform yourself. It’s sometimes
applied to people who live a comfortable life
who don’t really think about what it might
be like for someone who’s less fortunate.
Or it can be used to describe someone who only
interacts with people that have the same views
and opinions like in politics as they
do. Let’s use it in a sample sentence.
I really want to travel a lot with my children
because I don’t want their lives to
only be lived in an American bubble.
Okay, that’s in a bubble.
What about on the bubble?
If something’s on the bubble, that means a
decision is being made and you’re not sure
what the outcome would be. It could go this
way or that way. For example, let’s say I’m
taking the top ten students in my Physics class to
form a team for competition. I have eight people,
I know I’ll use them for sure. Then I have four or
five kind of on the bubble. I’m not sure which of
those students I’ll choose. Each one of those students is on the
bubble. They may get chosen or they may not.
Have you heard this word to describe
something inside you? A feeling can bubble up.
I started to feel panic. Bubble
inside me. An idea can bubble up.
I’m bubbling with ideas!
Or someone can be bubbly. Someone
who’s bubbly is really cheerful.
The idiom “To burst your bubble” means to wreck
an idea or reality that someone’s put together
that can’t actually work out.
To say or do something that
show someone his beliefs are false or
what he wants to happen will now happen.
For example, let’s say I ran into my
friend from English class and I say
“What are you up to this weekend?” She
tells me all the great things she’s
going to do this weekend, all the fun she’s
going to have. On Monday then, she’ll start
working on a paper that’s due on Wednesday.
I might say, “I hate to burst your bubble,
but that paper is due on Monday. You’re going
to have to work on it over the weekend.”
So many uses for this word. And this dough
was bubbly with pockets of air in it.
Look at that bubble.
Wow.
Now I ask my friend Dave how
long he’s been making pizzas.
Little over a year now
since I got this pizza oven.
Uh-uh.
This thing is definitely been a game
changer from my outdoor uh food and
uhm entertaining capabilities.
Yeah, it’s nice to be able to be outdoors.
It is.
Game changer is an idiom
and it doesn’t necessarily
have to do with games. It’s anything that
significantly changes the outcome of something.
For example, let’s say my friend
got into the college of her dreams.
You know, I hate to burst your bubble
but that college is too expensive.
But wait, she got a major
scholarship. Oh, this is a game changer!
With this scholarship, she will be able
to go to the college of her choice.
Or, I got my grandma her first iPhone.
It’s a game-changer. She can keep in touch
with all her grandchildren now. Game changer.
Little over a year now
since I got this pizza oven.
Uh-uh.
This thing is definitely been a game
changer from my outdoor uh food and
uh entertaining capabilities.
Yeah, it’s nice to be able to be outdoors.
It is.
So, I’m just going to give myself a
little bit of extra assurance by sliding it.
Yeah, because it’s so heavy with all that topping.
Yeah. But as soon as it hits that plate, it’s
already baking. So now, it will be really easy to
shift around. We want to get that lid back on so it draws the flame up and out.
What’s the temperature in there?
You got me. I’d say somewhere between nine
hundred to a thousand degrees.
No.
Yeah.
No.
Hmmm.
Got me. This phrase means I don’t
know. Have you heard it before?
It could also be “beats me.” These both mean the
same thing. I don’t know, I have no idea. Got me.
What’s the temperature in there?
You got me. I’d say somewhere between nine
hundred to a thousand degrees.
No.
Yeah.
No.
Hmmm.
I just couldn’t believe it. Well,
Dave made several amazing pizzas.
Mushrooms,
I did a little uh, grilled Zucchini over here.
Oh I was wondering, did you
had the grill going too?
Yeah I grilled some zucchini.
This has got some garlic, some turmeric.
I’m a big fan or turmeric right now.
It’s supposed to be good to your joints, right?
Good at inflammation uh, anti-inflammatory.
So we’re going to make a vegetable, uh, pizza here.
Because Rachel, she loves her vegetables.
I do.
Yeah, it got a little extra burned there.
Hmm. Really good though.
How was it?
Amazing.
So the pizza got burned on the bottom.
Let’s go over a few terms to discuss
how things are cooked or baked.
With red meat, that is meat from a
cow, it can be raw, not cooked at all.
There’s also rare, just a little cooked. The
internet is full of helpful infographics.
We passed through medium and go all
the way to well-done. Burned is, well
beyond well-done. Now, this terminology,
medium, rare applies to red meat.
If you want to say that something
hasn’t been cooked long enough,
you could say underdone or undercooked.
One time, I got clam chowder
and the potatoes were too hard.
Not cooked all the way, not
cooked through, undercooked.
So, one pizza on the bottom was
a little burnt. No big deal.
By the way, just last weekend, Dave made us
all pizza again and it was absolutely perfect.
On point. I said, “Dave, you’ve
really dialed in your pizza.”
Dial it in is one of my favorite idioms and I have
a great video going over that idiom and the idiom
“Phone it in” which has an opposite meaning,
check out that video in the video description.
I love that zucchini on there.
That zucchini is bomb.
If something is bomb, that means it’s very
good. This is slang that my husband David uses
a lot. Food can be bomb, a house can be bomb,
a trip, a view and so on. You’ll also hear
it as “the bomb.” It doesn’t matter if
“the” Infront or not, this pizza is bomb or
this pizza is the bomb. They mean the same thing.
Who’s that?
Hah. Me!
You’re right! It’s you.
Are you keeping a closer eye Dave?
I am definitely keeping a closer eye on this
one. See, we just get it nice and brown there.
It looks so good.
I said, “Are you keeping a closer eye?”
To keep an eye on something is an idiom
that means to pay attention to something.
He’s keeping a closer eye on the pizza
than last time so this one won’t burn.
One time, I was at an indoor playground and I
asked another mom to keep an eye on Stoney while
I went to the bathroom. Sometimes, if David is
simmering a soup but has to leave the house to
get the kids, he might say, “Can you keep an eye
on the soup and stir it every once in a while?”
Think of a situation where you might
want to keep an eye on something for you.
To pay attention to it for you. Then make
up a sentence an put it on the comments.
Are you keeping a closer eye Dave?
I am definitely keeping a closer eye on this
one. See, we just get it nice and brown there.
It looks so good.
I will say the texture of that crust is so good.
It is nice. I agree with you.
The texture of a food is important. The
consistency, how it feels in your mouth.
Pizza crust can be chewy. That’s what this
was, it can be dry, crispy. There’s so many
different ways to describe different textures
for food, hard, crunchy, soft, pillowy,
mushy, gooey, runny, spongey and so on. Can you
think of more? Put them in the comments below.
I like a good chewy crust.
I will say the texture of that crust is so good.
It is nice. I agree with you.
This one’s blowing up.
Oh, that looks about perfect.
Almost done. That’s pretty good.
I’m going to hit this side
Yeah.
See it’s a little lighter?
Dave did a reduction over reduction. I love it
when people do this. The phrase was “I am going to
hit this side.” You’re probably familiar with the
way Americans reduce “going to” to “gonna.” Very common.
Have you ever notice before that I’m gonna
is sometimes reduced further? It can become
I’muna or even just muna. This is what Dave did
here. He said “I’muna.” Dropping the g of gonna.
I’muna hit this side
Now, hit this side. That just
means he’s going to make sure
that side is what get closest to the flame. Let’s
listen a bit more. He also uses the contraction
“should have.” He says “He let the
dough rest more than he should’ve.”
I’muna hit this side. See it’s a little lighter?
I totally agree.
This stuff is making some deep dish. Today.
I think I’ll let it sit the dough rest
a little bit longer than I shoud’ve
because the dough is a little less
stretchy, it’s more bubbly, it’s airy.
I just love capturing natural
English and finding the idioms
and the reductions and sharing them with you here.
Massive thanks to my friend Dave who let me
capture his pizza-making skills on camera.
If you like Dave, give him a
thumbs up and a shout out in the comments.
Keep your learning going right
now and check out this video
and be sure to subscribe with notifications on.
I make new videos on the English language every
Tuesday and I’d love to see you back here again.
That’s it and thanks so much
for using Rachel’s English.