Introduction

In this episode, we’re going to learn about how to express happiness, sadness and anger using commonly used idioms.

Audio Episode

Lesson Highlights

Happiness Idioms

To talk about extreme happiness you can use one of the following idioms:

• I’m thrilled to bits.
• I am/feel on top of the world.
• I’m on cloud nine.
• I’m over the moon.
• I’m in seventh heaven.

Other Happiness Idioms

• get a (real) kick out of something: very much enjoy doing something
• do something for kicks: do something because it is exciting, usually something dangerous
• jump for joy: be very happy and excited about something that has happened
• be floating/walking on air: be very happy about something good that has happened
• something makes your day: something makes you feel very happy

Sadness Idioms

Here is a list of the sad idioms we learned in this lesson:

• out of sorts: slightly unhappy or slightly sick
• down in the dumps: unhappy
• it’s not the end of the world: what has happened won’t cause any serious problems
• just grin and bear it: accept a situation you don’t like because you can’t change it
• a misery guts: someone who complains all the time and is never happy
• sour grapes: being jealous about something you can’t have
• put a damper on: stop an occasion from being enjoyable

Anger Idioms

These are some idioms we can use to express the fact that we are angry:

• I’m fed up with trying to live on such a small wage.
• I’m at my wits’ end trying to keep things in order.
• I’ve had it up to here with this organization.
• Your boss will have/throw a fit when he finds out your forgot to reply to those emails.
• If someone’s blood is up, they are very angry and may react in a violent way.
• If you are after someone’s blood, you want to catch them in order to hurt or punish them.
• If you are out for blood, you are determined to find someone to attack or blame for something bad that has happened.

How about some idioms that describe angry relationships:

• drive someone up the wall: make someone very angry
• rub someone up the wrong way: make someone annoyed
• ruffle someone’s feathers: make someone annoyed
• no be on speaking terms: be so angry with each other that they refuse to speak to each other
• give someone an earful: tell someone how angry you are with them
• give someone a piece of your mind: tell someone how angry you are with them

Let’s Practice

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