Top 11 Weird Phrasal Verbs for Daily English Conversation
Hi, I’m Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.
Are you ready to learn something
weird? Let’s talk about it.
Do you love phrasal verbs? A phrasal verb is a
two-part verb, like try out or give up. And a
lot of English learners feel a little bit stressed
about phrasal verbs. Today, I would like to help
relieve some of the stress by having some fun
and slightly weird phrasal verbs that we use
in daily conversation in English, and that you
can use too, and hopefully have a little laugh.
I chose these phrasal verbs because I felt like
they’re a little bit unusual, and the base verb,
like to give up or try out, give or try, is a
little bit different than what you would normally
guess it should mean. So make sure that you
pay attention to these weird phrasal verbs,
because at the end of this lesson, there’s a test.
Let’s get started with the first one. To squirrel
away. I’m not going to tell you immediately what
this means. Instead, I’m going to tell you a
sample sentence and I’d like you to guess what
you think it means. Well, I bought some Christmas
presents in October and I squirreled them away
until December. Hmm. Do you know what a squirrel
is? It’s this animal, and a squirrel is known for
hiding its food until the winter. So during the
warm months, during the summer, it finds acorns
and walnuts and any kind of nut, and it buries
it in the ground. It hides it for the winter time.
So, we can take this same concept and imagine what
this phrasal verb means. You are hiding something
until you need to use it. You could say, “He
squirrels away his money in a hole in the ground.”
This is kind of more literally like a squirrel,
right? But it’s that same concept, that
you are hiding it until you need it.
Weird phrasal verb number two is to scarf
down. Hmm, a scarf is usually something that
you wear on your neck to keep you warm in
the winter, but what if I said this to you,
“I was so hungry that I just scarfed down
my food.” Hmm? Are you eating a scarf?
Are you cooking a scarf? No. Instead, this
means that you’re eating something quickly.
You are scarfing it down. This is similar to
another phrasal verb, to gobble up your food.
So, you could say, “I woke up so late
that I had to scarf down my breakfast
while I brushed my hair,” or, “I woke up so late
that I had to gobble up my breakfast while I was
brushing my hair.” This idea of eating quickly
because you’re so hungry or out of necessity.
Our next weird phrasal verb is to beef up. Hmm?
Beef is a type of meat from a cow. What if I
said this, “I wanted to beef up my waffles,
so I added some dark chocolate and berries.”
Beef on waffles sounds awful, but the good news
is that this phrasal verb has nothing to do with
meat. Instead, it means that you’re increasing or
you’re improving something. I wanted to improve my
waffles, so I added some dark chocolate and
berries and mixed it up, and then I made my
waffles. This is definitely improving my waffles.
Or we could say, “The security was beefed up
during the presidential speech.” So whenever
there is an important public figure who is
giving a speech and there’s common people around,
well, there’s probably more security than normal,
so we could say, “The security was beefed up
during the presidential speech.” So it was
increased during the presidential speech.
Our next weird phrasal verb is to butt in.
Do you know what a butt is? It’s your backside.
We can imagine here, butt in. Hmm. Look at this
sentence. The annoying guy at the party kept
butting in and talking about himself. So annoying.
He kept butting in. Is he pushing people with
his butt? I hope not. This is the literal sense,
but figuratively, we can imagine that
he is interrupting with his words.
Sometimes this is okay or necessary, but if you do
it too much, it can be really annoying. We can use
this as an informal way to apologize or interrupt
someone in a more polite way. If you say,
“Sorry for butting in, but can you tell me where
the bathroom is?” So if you’re at someone’s house
and some people are talking and you’re not part
of that conversation, well, if you need to ask
them a question, you’re going to need to interrupt
them. So how can you interrupt them in a polite,
but kind of casual way? You could say this phrase.
You could say, “Sorry to butt in, but where’s your
restroom? Where’s your bathroom?” Sorry to butt
in. Sorry to interrupt, and that’s very polite.
Just don’t butt in too much or you’ll be like
that first annoying guy who butted in too much.
The next weird phrasal verb is to chicken out.
Are you taking a chicken and throwing it out of
the house? No. Instead, look at this sentence.
I wanted to go skydiving, but I chickened out
at the last second. Hmm. This means that I was
at the skydiving place, I was all hooked up,
and then I saw the airplane and
I looked up in the sky and said,
“No way. I can’t do it. I chickened out.” Hmm.
That means that I was too scared to do something.
Usually this phrase is used in a negative
way when we’re talking about someone else.
If you said this sentence, maybe your sister
would feel a little bit embarrassed. “My sister
said that she would sing at karaoke, but when it
came to be her turn, she chickened out.” Hmm. This
kind of implies that you think her fear is
irrational. It’s kind of like a stupid fear.
“Why did you chicken out? I wouldn’t chicken out
if I sang karaoke. Why did you?” So if you say
this about someone else, make sure that you say
it lightly with a light heart. But of course, you
could say it about yourself, “Yeah, I chickened
out before I went skydiving,” and it’s much
softer because you’re just talking about yourself.
Our next weird phrasal verb is to clam up.
Do you know what a clam is? It’s this thing. It’s
got two sides of a shell, and what happens if it
clams up? Take a look at this sentence. The robber
clammed up when the detective asked him where he
hid the money. So someone, the robber, has stolen
money and the detective is trying to figure out
where it is. Well, do you think that the robber
is telling him where he hid the money or is he
clamming up? He is keeping the information
inside him. He is hiding that information.
So we’re using the phrasal verb clam up to mean
that your mouth is closed. You are not telling
some information. Or in a more lighthearted way,
we could say, “My sister clammed up when I asked
her where my favorite dress was.” Hmm. Maybe
I suspect that she took my favorite dress and
either it got ripped, something happened to it, it
got a big stain and she’s embarrassed to tell me
about it, or she’s scared to tell me about it. So
when I ask her, “Hey, what happened to my favorite
dress? It’s not in my closet,” maybe my sister
closes her mouth and says nothing. She clams up.
The next weird phrasal verb is to flip out. You
might say, “My mom is going to flip out when she
realizes what happened to her dishes.” Maybe we
threw a ball in the house and all of her dishes
crashed and broke. Oh no. Do you think my mom is
going to say, “Oh, that’s okay. We’ll just buy
some new dishes.” No, she’s going to flip out.
That means that she is going to get very angry.
Now, we can use this in a positive sense to say
really excited and it all depends on the context.
Let’s take a look at another sentence. I
flipped out when I realized that my team won the
championship. Am I really angry that my team won?
No, of course, I’m really excited. So here, we’re
talking about that loss of control of your
emotions. You’re not in control of your emotions
anymore. You’re either really angry, “Oh, you
broke my dishes. My mom is going to freak out,” or
flip out. We use both of these interchangeably,
or I’m losing control of my emotions in a
positive way. “I flipped out when my team won.”
We can, like I said, exchange the phrasal verb,
freak out. This is a little bit stronger. “I
freaked out,” and it’s maybe a little bit more
crass. This means a little bit more rude than
flip out. I would say that, first, flip out is
more normal in daily conversation and freak out is
a little bit more rude. Not really rude, but just
a little bit more, but they both have a similar
meaning. You’re losing control of your emotions.
Our next weird phrasal verb is to gross out.
Make sure that you pronounce this word correctly,
gross, gross. You could say, “I was grossed
out when my cat threw up on my shoe.”
This is disgusting. It’s not a good
situation. I was grossed out. I went,
“Oh, that’s not good.” I was grossed out. Or if
you have a younger or older brother, you might
say, “My brother is always trying to find new
ways to gross me out. He thinks it’s so funny,
but I don’t.” He’s trying to make me feel
disgusted, maybe showing me different worms
that he finds or different strange things that
he’s doing. He thinks it’s entertaining, but I
don’t think it is. He’s trying to gross me out.
Our next weird phrasal verb is to lighten up,
to lighten up. Notice the pronunciation of this
word, lighten, lighten. A lot of English learners
ask me about T-E-N at the end of words. This
might be a word like threaten, button, lighten.
I have a whole English lesson about these really
difficult T words in English. You can check out
that lesson up here. I think it’s called,
106 Difficult English Words to Pronounce,
and it includes these words. So we’re
going to kind of swallow the last sound,
lighten, lighten, to lighten up. Hmm.
Take a look at this sentence. The
conversation was getting too serious, so I
tried to lighten it up with a joke. Hmm. Here
we have a conversation that’s very serious and
I want the conversation to become less serious.
Well, the opposite of serious is light. So we’re
going to use this phrasal verb. I tried to lighten
the conversation up, lighten it up with a joke.
We can also use this phrasal verb to provide some
kind of encouragement to someone else, especially
for situations where they’re feeling a little bit
sad, but it’s not too serious. So you could
say, “Hey, lighten up. Things could be worse.”
So let’s imagine that your cat threw
up on your shoe. Pretty gross, right?
Well, maybe your friend says, “Hey,
lighten up. Things could be worse.
Your shoe could be in the middle of a cow pasture
and a cow could have pooped on your shoe.” Oh,
that’s worse. Oh, that’s awful. So your friend
is trying to give some encouragement for this
light, not too serious situation.
I definitely do not recommend using this
in a serious situation. So let’s imagine that your
friend’s dog dies and your friend is really sad.
They’re having a really difficult time with this,
understandably. Dogs can be like family members,
right? Well, if you’re trying to comfort
your friend, you should not say, “Hey,
lighten up. Maybe you can find another
dog,” or, “Oh, lighten up. Let’s go
kick around a soccer ball.” This is too serious
of a situation, so I recommend only using it to
comfort someone in a very non-serious, sad moment,
like a cat puked on your shoe. You’re trying to
make the situation funny because it’s not so
serious. So if you are trying to comfort in
a serious situation, you can avoid lighten up.
Our next weird phrasal verb is to screw up. Do
you know what a screw is? It’s this, something
that you use when you’re building something. But
is this phrasal verb related to building,
to screw up? If I say, “Ah, I screwed up,”
does it mean I’m building something? No. Instead,
take a look at this sentence. I screwed up the
recipe and added too much salt. Oh no. This means
that I ruined the recipe. I did something awful
that destroyed my meal. I screwed up the recipe.
Or we could simply say, “I screwed it up. Sorry
guys, we’re going to have to order pizza, because
the meal I was making is ruined.” Or you might
say, “If you screw up, it’s best to admit your
mistakes and try to make it better.” If you
screw up. Just a little note, this phrasal verb is
very casual, so I do not recommend using this in a
business situation. If you forgot about a project
that you were supposed to have finished at work,
do not say, “Sorry, boss. I screwed up.” It’s a
little too casual. Maybe if your work atmosphere
is very, very laid back, very casual and relaxed,
maybe you could say that, but overall, I recommend
using this only for daily conversations.
“Oh, I screwed up. How can I make it better?”
Our final strange phrasal verb is to space
out. Hmm, space is air or space is outer space,
something beyond the Earth’s atmosphere. The
moon, the sun, Mars are in outer space. All of
the stars are in outer space. Hmm, to space
out. Does this mean you are an astronaut?
No. Instead, take a look at this sentence.
I spaced out in class and when the teacher
called on me, I didn’t know the answer.
You can imagine you’re sitting in class.
You’re not paying attention. You’re just
staring off into space, that’s what we say.
Staring off into space and then the teacher
says, “Vanessa, what’s the answer?” Oh, oh,
I don’t know. You spaced out and you’re not
present. Your attention is not in that moment. Or
we could say, “The politician’s speech was so long
and boring that almost all of the audience stopped
paying attention and just spaced out.” Maybe they
looked into space, so they closed their eyes. Hmm.
I hope that this lesson was not too boring and
you didn’t space out. I hope it was interesting.
If you spaced out, well, now it’s time for a test.
Hmm. So I hope that you’ll be able to at least
guess some of the correct answers. I’m going to
be telling you three sentences and there will be
a blank in the sentence. You need to guess,
what is the best phrasal verb to go in the
sentence? Let’s take a look at the first one.
Number one, I’m totally, I just saw a bear walk
close to me in the dark. I’m totally flipping out
or I’m totally clamming up. Hmm. What do you think
is the best phrasal verb for this sentence? This
actually happened to me. I was staining our deck
outside. This is like a paint, like an oil paint
that you put on wood. And it was late at night,
nine or 10:00 PM. I was just trying to finish it.
And I heard a sound like that, very deep sound.
And I looked up and there, right in
front of the deck, was a huge, huge bear.
And where I live, bears are black,
they’re black bears. So in the dark,
it’s almost impossible to see them. Thankfully, I
was on the deck, but it was a little too close to
me. And I ran inside and said, “Dan.” That’s my
husband. “Dan, there’s a bear outside. Go look.”
And we looked outside, the
bear crossed our driveway,
crossed through our front yard, and it just
walked into someone else’s yard. There are
many bears around where I live, but it’s not
common to see them because usually they’re shy.
They don’t come out in public much, except to
dig through your trash and stuff like this.
But the original sentence is I,
Hmm. What do you think I did? I
am totally flipping out. “There’s a bear! Oh my
goodness, let’s go see it! Oh, it was so close to
me!” This is a very shocking situation.
All right, test sentence number two. I
should, this essay because it’s only one
paragraph. I should scarf down this essay or
I should beef up this essay. What is the
best weird phrasal verb for the sentence?
I should beef up this essay, because it’s only one
paragraph. If you gave your teacher an essay that
was only one paragraph, they’d probably look at
it and say, “Did you forget to write this? Why is
it so short?” So you need to improve it. You need
to add more to that essay. You need to beef it up.
Test sentence, number three. To speak confidently
in English, I need to take a deep breath
and, about my mistakes. And screw up about my
mistakes or, and lighten up about my mistakes.
Which weird phrasal verb feels the best? Hmm.
Well, you need to lighten up about your mistakes.
Don’t feel too serious about making
mistakes. It is part of learning.
So I’d like to know, tell me in the comments, what
was your score on this little phrasal verb test?
Let me know in the comments and don’t chicken
out. Tell me. Well, thank you so much for learning
English with me and I’ll see you again next Friday
for a new lesson here on my YouTube channel. Bye.
The next step is to download my free ebook, Five
Steps to Becoming a Confident English Speaker.
You’ll learn what you need to do
to speak confidently and fluently.
Don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel
for more free lessons. Thanks so much. Bye.