POINTS TO STUDY
Learn and Practice daily American idioms
VIDEO
SCRIPT, LISTENING TIPS, & GRAMMAR
101 American Idioms.
Understanding and speaking English like an American.
Section 1: It’s a
zoo out there. (오늘 소개되는 숙어들은 모두 동물을 비유해서 만들어진 것을 빗대어 이렇게
제목을 붙였군요….)
Smell a rat; feel that something is wrong
How come the front
door is open? Did you close it before we went to shopping? I’m sure I did. I can’t understand it. Frankly, I smell a rat! Me too, I’m convinced that something is
definitely wrong here. We’d better call
the police.
Go to the dogs: become run down.
Have you seen their
house lately? It’s really gone to the
dogs. It’s true that it has become run
down and I mean it seriously needed repair, and I’m sure that it can be fixed
up to look like new. I guess with a little
carpentry work, and some paint, it could look pretty decent.
- I mean it seriously needed 이 부분이 약간 이상하게 들립니다만, 이 표현이 정확한 표현 입니다.
Fishy: strange and suspicious
When the security
guard’s arrived at the store after closing hours, it seemed to him that there
was something fishy going on. He called
the central office and explained to his superior that he thought something
strange and suspicious was occurring.
Take the bull by the horns: take a decisive action in a difficult
situation.
Julie had always
felt that she was missing out on a lot of fun / because of her clumsiness on a
dance floor. She has been putting off
taking lessons, but she finally took the bull by the horns and went to a
professional dance studio for help. She
was tired that feeling left out and acted decisively to correct the situation.
- putting
off = postpone (e.g. Stop
putting things off for a computer game, and do your homework first before
you regret.)
- clumsiness
= lacking
dexterity, nimbleness or grace (e.g. Your clumsy jokes are not funny at
all!)
Horse of different color: quite a different matter
Eric likes to play
jokes on his friends, but he makes sure that nobody is hurt by any of his
pranks. A prank that hurts someone, it
is a horse of different color. Being playful is one thing, but hurting someone
by one’s pranks is quite a different matter.
- a different ball park. 이 표현도 비슷한 의미를 가지는데, 이 표현이 훨신 더 많이 쓰이는 것 같습니다.
E.g. First mistake is
excusable, but repeating the same mistakes again and again is a totally
different ball park.
Let the cat out of the bag : inform beforehand
Bob was going to retire
from teaching in June and the foreign language department was planning on presenting
him some luggage at his retirement dinner.
He wasn’t supposed to know about it, but someone let the cat out of the bag. At the dinner, Bob acted surprised even
though someone had told him what he was getting before the official
presentation.
- let the cat out of the bag이 부분을 말하는 사람의 톤이 변하는 걸
눈치 채셨나요? 어이 없다는 느낌의 표현
입니다…
- 여기서 파생된 최신 표현이 바로 어느 랩가수가 불러서 빅 히트를 친 “Who let the dogs out?” 이지요. 몇년전에 같이 경기하던 상대 소프트볼팀 이름이 “Who let the dads out?” 이더군요… ㅋㅋ
For the birds: uninteresting and meaningless.
They went to a report
meeting, but they got bored and restless.
As far as they would concern ending was for the birds. They left /
during intermission because they found the meeting totally uninteresting and
meaningless.
Straight from the horse’s mouth: from a reliable source
How did you found
out that Jill was engaged? I got the
information from a very reliable source.
You mean Jill told you so herself?
That’s right. I got it straight from
the horse’s mouth.
Horse around: play around
Did you hear about
Dave’s back injury? No, how did he get hurt? Well, after the coach left the
gym, he decided to stay and horse around on the parallel bars. He somehow lost his grip and fell on his
back. That’s too bad, but he shouldn’t
have been aimlessly playing around on the equipment without proper
supervision.
Cat got your tongue: can’t talk
Come on honey; tell
us what you think about our little ride down the Rapid Jet yesterday. Well, umm.. Wasn’t it exciting? I.. uh.. What’s the matter? Cat got your tongue? If you must know, I’m
keeping quite because I was scare out of my weep.
- 캡션에는 Can’t get your tongue 이라고 나오는데, 틀린 것입니다. 녹음 부분은 Cat got your tongue 이라고 제대로 발음을 합니다.
TODAY’S PRONUNCIATION
입모양을 잘 보세요~~
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