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English Talk

English Expressions

dreamkatch

dreamkatch

Canada

I am an english speaking native, and I have noticed that I use a lot of old expressions that don't make any sense to my ESL friends. 

 

Write down any english expressions you know and what they mean.  Or, if you've heard an english expression that you don't understand, write it here!

 

"Hind site is twenty-twenty"  – Hind is short for behind, or, in this case, the past.  And perfect vision is 20/20.  So, this means, when you are looking back on the past, you can clearly see what you should have done.  People use it when someone is regretting doing something.  You tell them this to comfort them, because we can all see what we should have done after we have made a decision, but it is not so easy at the time when the decision needs to be made!

 

"You catch more flies" – This is short for another old expression, which is "You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar".  This means that you will have more success with people by being nice to them.

 

09:09 PM Aug 28 2008 |

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dreamkatch

dreamkatch

Canada

"A little bird told me" – this would sound pretty crazy if you took this literally!  This is simply a cute way for someone to say that they're not going to tell you where they heard a secret!

 

"One man's trash" = the whole saying is "One mans trash is another mans treasure".  An example of this would be: a man who just wants a car that works wouldn't want an old car that is broken, but someone who loves to restore antique cars would love to have it!  Thus, what is garbage to the first man, would be a treasure to the second.

09:14 PM Aug 28 2008 |

zaw tun

zaw tun

Myanmar

Thanks a lot for your expressions.Indeed,your expressions are valuable for the people who is learning English.Please tell more again and how to use these expressions in English sentence.I mean usage of expressions.

12:34 AM Aug 29 2008 |

latin-lover

Italy

Hi Dreamkatch,

Yulica (Agnolia) suggested meto ask to you int his thread in you couldexplain me the  following phrase's meaning, took from a nice song….

 

"I turned over a new leaf

02:51 PM Aug 29 2008 |

dreamkatch

dreamkatch

Canada

Oh!  Turning over a new leaf means to start something over again.  Usually it's about the way a person lives their life.  Say someone drinks a lot and is very unhappy in their job, and then they decide to quit their job, stop drinking, and move to another city to start all over again.  That would be called "Turning over a new leaf"

05:54 PM Aug 29 2008 |

latin-lover

Italy

Thank you dreamkatch, you're clear with explanations..

 

If  you don't mind I'll ask more help from you…

06:09 PM Aug 29 2008 |

pink angel

pink angel

Saudi Arabia

really nice expression i did not hear about them before i will try to memories them and use them when it is a proper to use them or in their own situation

05:57 AM Aug 30 2008 |

latin-lover

Italy

a nice song says

 

men and dry

 

what does it mean?

11:21 AM Sep 02 2008 |

worldmikel

worldmikel

United States

"men and dry"??

What song is that from?

Sounds like something from a commercial for a deodorant called, "Mennen Dry". 

Cool

12:02 PM Sep 02 2008 |

latin-lover

Italy

ooooops, sorry, I made a mistake, the right expression a meant, which is the title of a "Pet Shop Boys"  's song is

Home and dry

05:04 AM Sep 03 2008 |