Thought that wink would come out better.
I thought I'd have a sexy wink.
It just looks like I have something in my eye.
So let's learn some food idioms.
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Today we are talking about some super-common food idioms.
Now when I was preparing for this lesson, there were
so, so many food idioms to choose from.
But these ones are the ones that I heard again, and again, and again.
And it's fun because who doesn't like to talk about food.
Everyone likes to talk about food.
Now, I'm going to do my disclaimer that I do for every idiom video that I make.
You can use idioms at any time.
You can use these idioms at anytime.
But just keep in mind that idioms are a little bit more informal.
Don't use them on job applications or any kind of formal English context.
So keep that in mind and come on. Let's have some fun with food idioms.
The first one, number one, is bread and butter.
One of my favorite food combinations.
I'm going to say that a lot in this video because
I kind of love all food, especially good food. You know.
Like good bread and good butter.
Well bread and butter means somebody's main source of income.
It just means how somebody makes their money, their main source of income.
For example, for Wes and I teaching is our bread and butter.
Number two...cool as a cucumber.
I love this one because cucumbers are among my favorite vegetables.
And I am always cool as a cucumber.
Because somebody who's cool as a cucumber is calm and relaxed.
And I am known to be a little stressed sometimes.
So I always tell myself, Ioana, be cool as a cucumber.
And it works like half the time.
But that's what it means, very calm and relaxed.
Number three...not my cup of tea.
And this means it's just something that you are not
interested in or something that you just don't like.
Naturally, I love tea. Oh, maybe I should...
Now this is my cup of tea, and it's huge.
As you can see it's as big as my face.
And I love tea, so having tea is my cup of tea.
But...if that makes sense...I'm just going to....
I'm sorry if that's confusing.
I'll give you another example.
Hold on. I need to have my tea.
And in a nutshell means in the fewest possible words.
So if you can imagine a little nutshell. It's very, very small.
I'm imagining like a little pistachio
So in a nutshell just means very little.
Saying something in as few words as you can.
Number five...to put all your eggs in one basket.
This is a piece of advice which means that you shouldn't
concentrate all of your efforts and resources in one area.
Because that means that you could lose everything.
And it could refer to anything from feelings to money to
hopes and dreams, and things like that.
So don't put all of your eggs in one basket.
This one gets me happy because I love spices.
Of course, I told you I live food.
But to spice things up means to change things.
Change a boring routine into something more exciting.
This expression is commonly found when we're talking about relationships.
And I mean romantic relationships.
Maybe sometimes you want to spice things up.
And you want to do something different like go on a vacation or do something crazy with your loved one.
So to spice things up means to make things a little bit
more exciting and different than you normally do.
Number seven...bring home and the bacon.
Now, I'm not a huge fan of bacon and I know a lot of
people are going to be like, "What? Ioana, are you crazy? Why don't you like bacon?"
But I'm a huge fan of this idiom.
To bring home the bacon doesn't refer to actual bacon,
but instead to material success like money.
Bring money. Make money. That is really what it means.
Bring home the money. Make money.
That's what it's about. I don't know why I got so excited.
I don't even really like bacon that much.
And I have a story about this one.
When I was younger, I didn't really know what a lemon was supposed to be.
And I kept hearing car commercials.
And they kept talking about, "You won't get a lemon."
And I just kept wondering what is going on. Why would I want a lemon?"
Why would I buy a lemon at the car dealer?
It was very confusing until I found out later that
a lemon is something that doesn't work very well.
Usually we talk about lemons when we refer to machines or cars.
So a car that just doesn't work very well, it's just called a lemon.
I don't really hear it about people.
Like we don't say, "Oh that person's a lemon."
It's mostly about things that don't work.
You do not want to buy a lemon.
Number nine...spill the beans.
Now this means to reveal secret information.
But you don't just reveal it, you kind of do it in discreetly or by mistake.
That's like when you're spilling something.
So it's not something that you want to do to spill the beans.
It's just like you don't want to spill beans.
You don't want that. You got a mess.
And number ten, our final one for today, is cheesy.
Now you're probably thinking cheesy is good. Right?
Who doesn't love cheese? Cheese is great.
So cheesy must be even better.
But it's not. It actually doesn't have a good connotation.
Something cheesy is usually inferior, or cheap, or of low quality.
Now cheesy can be used to describe many things from feelings to people to objects.
So you can have a cheesy smile, which is not good.
Or you can have a cheesy outfit, which is also not good.
Or maybe you can have or say a cheesy pick-up line, which is really, really not good.
So even though we love cheese, we do not want to be cheesy.
I've said this word so much that now I really, really, really want some cheese.
Okay, so now that you've learned all of these ten
new, beautiful, fabulous food idioms, I want you to use them.
So please, please, please write a sentence
in the comments using one of these wonderful 10 food idioms that we learned today.
And if you want to choose more than one, go crazy.
Choose two or three. You are more likely to remember these words.
In fact, I guarantee that you'll remember them.
And if you want even more practice, join our social media classes.
They are so much fun, and you will learn so much.
Join!
Now I hope you've enjoyed this lesson and that now
you will spice things up and use some of these idioms in your everyday conversations.