Let Them Talk

today i'm at the cafe i've decided toescape the school for a while. it's not students - they're fantastic it's ratherthe red tape is not my cup of tea and yes i like mixing my metaphors anywayi've got my coffee that's a no-brainer and my croissant which in french they call a "croissant". you'veprobably guessed that this video is all about english expressions i hope youlike it anyway i've got a note go now. where am i going? i've got to see a man about a dog. see you later hello and welcome to letthemtalk thechannel that goes deeper into everything about the english language and todayi've got ten expressions for you and

these are my personal favourites or atleast ones that i use all the time. all of them are useful and are suitable in anumber of situations and where i know the history of the expression i'llexplain that too. so let's get started and the first expression is "to have awhale of a time" yes "a whale of a time" you know a whale? the big fish in theocean except it's not fish it's a mammal anyway all this means is to have a greattime. to enjoy oneself very much so for example "my holiday in vietnam wasamazing i had a whale of a time" or "the party was great we had a whale of a time" why "awhale of a time" i'm not sure i think it's something to do with whalers in the19th century enjoying themselves too much

anyway i like to use it because it makesme think of whales splashing and jumping around in the ocean enjoying themselvesrather than being killed by a whaling harpoon which is much less funny anyway also connected to having a good time isthe next expression "to paint the town red" which means to go out and have anextravagant and crazy time let's look at an example "hey john what you want to dothis evening?" "well i thought i might stay in and defrost thefreezer maybe watch the documentary on channel 8 about mountain goat"" " no idon't do that i want to do something crazy i want to go out i want to party iwanna dance or to stay up all night i

want to paint the town red". "okay pleaseyourself" and the next expression is "wakey-wakey smell the coffee" and you canuse this expression to someone who doesn't realize what's happening especiallywhen it's obvious to everyone else of course coffee makes you wake up and fastand helps you see what's happening so let's look at some examples. "the light'sgreen the light's green wakey-wakey smell the coffee" "this thing they call theinternet do you think that one day it will be important in people's lives". " italready is wakey-wakey smell the coffee"

and the next expression is "mumbo-jumbo"and it simply means nonsense for example "it's a full moon tonight andyou're a sagittarius you shouldn't go out". ""what is this astrology mumbo-jumbo?" "ok this is my legal contract 'the partyin the first part shall be known in this contract as a party in the first partthe party in the second part shall be known in this contract as the party inthe second part' what does it mean? this is just mumbo jumbo" and i did someresearch and apparently it comes from the mandingan language and it's been inthe english language for about 200 years and the next expression is "it's ano-brainer" that's right "it's a

no-brainer"and this means that the answer to the question is so obvious that it doesn'trequire any thought that is that you hardly need to use your brain okay. sofor example "the train takes eight hours and cost 400 euros and the plane takesone hour and costs 75 euros which one shall we take?". "it's a no-brainer we'lltake the plane". "i've just been offered a new job double the salary and i get to travel around the world will i take it? yeah it's a no-brainer? and thenext expression is "the world is my oyster "or the world is your oyster orsomebody's oyster anyway an oyster is a

sea creature you know which is inside arocky shell and some people open it up and put a lemon juice and eat it but notmy thing anyway what this means is that you have endlesspossibilities you can do whatever you want so for example "you're youngyou're beautiful you're qualified go out there the world is your oyster you cando anything" and the expression comes from shakespeare actually the merrywives of windsor and by the way if you know london you know that if you travelon public transport in london you need an oyster card and i think that it mightbe related to this expression because with the oyster card you can go whereveryou want and do whatever you want or it

may be because it just looksa bit like an oyster and the next expression is "it's better than a kick inthe teeth" that's right "it's better than a kick in the teeth" and all this meansis it's better than nothing so for example "if i had one more number right iwould have won ten million pounds in the lotteryinstead i've just won one hundred pounds well it's better than a kick in theteeth". "this year i have to work most of the summer i won't have a longsummer holiday i've only got one week oh

well! better than a the kick in the teeth " the next expression is "i've got to see a man about a dog" and you use expression whenyou have to leave a place and you don't want to tell people where you are goingeither it's a secret or it's just not very interesting to explain. so forexample "it's only 9:00 p.m. where are you going?" "well i've got see man about a dog" "you're two hours late where have you been?" "yeah i had to see a man about dog" the next expression is "to go dolally" which just means to go crazy so

for example "you're giving up your job tobecome a monk have you gone dolally?" "what you want to swim across theatlantic ocean have you gone dolally?" anyway theexpression comes from when the british were in india and the soldiers who wentcrazy were sent to a sanatorium in the town of deolali and the next expression is "red tape" lookat all these forms i have to fill in all these rules and regulations that seemunnecessary and that's exactly what red tape means unnecessary administrationand believe me there is a lot of that in france all these forms that you have tofill in that we don't really need is it

the same in your country?anyway the expression comes from charles v of spain at the beginning of thesixteenth century where they started tying important court documents with redtape that's it and if you have any favourite expressions in english or inyour own language then let us know in the comments and thank your watchingstay mellow don't go doolally and i'll see you in the next video

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