Introduction
Learn some useful idioms about people you can use in your everyday language in a new English Express episode—a podcast from English Plus Podcast Network.
Interactive Transcript
Transcript
[00:00:00] Danny: You don’t have a lot of time, but you still want to learn a new way to express yourself in English every day. I get it, and that’s why I created English Express. This is your host, Danny, and this is English Express. Every day we’ll have a very short episode in which you will learn a new way to express yourself in English.
[00:00:23] Never stop learning even if you don’t have a lot of time for. Listen to English Express.
[00:00:34] Welcome to a new English Express episode. In this episode, we will talk about some idioms and expressions we use to talk about people. You can find the transcript on my website, englishpluspodcast.com. You can find the links in the description of the episode. And now, without further ado, let’s talk about some idioms and expressions about people.
[00:01:00] Well, first let’s start with three expressions or three idioms. What about no rocket scientist? You might have heard that before. You might not, but I’ll tell you about it in a bit. Or a dark horse or a party pooper. Have you heard of these expressions before? Do you know how we use them? Well, let’s start with rocket scientist.
[00:01:16] Does it matter if someone says you are no rocket scientist? Of course it does. This phrase means not very intelligent. If you are no rocket scientist, that means you’re not very intelligent. If you say that about a person, that means this person is not very intelligent. And what if a newspaper describes a politician as a dark horse?
[00:01:35] What does that mean? Well, this means nobody knows much about this person, and this person seems to be winning. He came out of nowhere, or of course she came out of nowhere and she or he is winning. So a dark horse. We can use a dark horse to talk about that. A secretive person that is winning. What about a party pooper?
[00:01:53] Is that a nice word? Well, not at all. This means a person who spoils enjoyable activities by refusing to join in. Well, the idiom is also useful in apologies. You can say, I’m sorry to be a party pooper, but I have to go home now. Well, you wouldn’t wanna be a party pooper. Nobody wants to be a party pooper, so try not to be.
[00:02:10] But if you have to, well, you have to, you have to. What can we do? But know that you will be a party pooper. You spoil everyone’s fun or the enjoyable activities by refusing to join in because if you don’t join in, you’ll ruin it for them. So that is being a party pooper. That happens a lot between friends.
[00:02:25] Now, what about brains and beauty? Let’s talk about some expressions and idioms. We used to talk about brains and beauty. Let me tell you a little story about a Hollywood actress who once met the British philosopher Bertrand Russell. Whereas he was quite ugly, she turned heads wherever she went. She was rather full of herself and said to Russell, “They say, I’m the most beautiful woman in the world, and I hear you are the smartest man. Imagine if we had a child with your brains and my beauty.” Now, Russell, who was never lost for words, replied,” Imagine if it had my beauty and your brains.” So that was a story. But of course we are not focusing on the story here, but we’re trying to focus on a couple of expressions and idioms here that talk about brains and beauty.
[00:03:08] Let’s start with turn heads. When we say turn heads, when I told you that she turned heads wherever she went, what does that mean? That means attracted a lot of attention. When a person turns heads wherever he or she goes, that means this person is very attractive and they attract a lot of attention. We also said that she was rather full of herself.
[00:03:28] When someone is full of him or herself, that means too pleased with yourself. A little bit arrogant, to be honest. So she was full of herself and that’s when she said to Russell, they say, I’m the most beautiful woman in the world. Of course you didn’t insult him. She said, I hear you are the smartest man. And imagine if we had a child with your brains and my beauty.
[00:03:47] Well, Russell was never lost for words. That is my next expression. What does it mean when you are lost for words or like in this example, never lost for words. Well, when you are lost for words, remember this, it’s not lost in words or lost on words. Lost for words. That means not knowing what to say. Now, sometimes you are in situations when you really don’t know what to say and you are lost for words, but not for Russell.
[00:04:15] Russell was never lost for words, and he replied, imagine if it had my beauty and your brains. Well, that would be something, right? So I hope you like the idioms and the expressions I shared with you in today’s episode because that’s everything I wanted to share with you in today’s English Express episode, don’t forget to visit my website, englishpluspodcast.com, and check the great learning opportunities you can find there.
[00:04:40] Thank you very much for listening to this episode. This is your host, Danny. I will see you next time.
0 Comments