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Teacher Talk

Understanding American English Phrases

englishteacher24/7

United States

Greetings everyone!  It is my pleasure to return to writing mini lessons on understanding American English phrases.


For those of you who have been following my mini-lessons, I want to apologize to you (especially to those who wrote comments) for my mistake in deleting the posts.  If anyone wants a copy of the last 9 mini-lessons, please send me an email with “Request Mini Lessons” on the subject line and I’ll send you a copy.


We left off on the following phrases:


Hand-over-fist / Between a rock and a hard place / Back in the day


Since I’m starting over, this will be Mini Lesson No. 1, so “on with the show!”


1. Hand-over-fist 


This phrase is used primarily when describing someone/something that is earning money in a fast profitable manner.  Please study the following examples:


1. Henry and his brother Jack had an idea to sell flavored bottle water to people on the island, and they were making money “hand over fist” in their  business endeavor!


2.  Money lenders can make money “hand-over-fist” by charging various transaction fees.


3.  You can make money “hand over fist” if you supply goods to a market with strong demand and no competition.


Background of the phrase:  The origin of this phrase appears to be nautical from sailors who would reel in rope by placing a hand on the rope and pulling and then placing and pulling with the other hand, thereby, using a hand-over-hand motion until the rope was completely in. This phrase is commonly used in everyday American English by someone who wants to quickly convey the message of somebody making money fast, there may be some sarcasm in their tone of voice.  The other person may reply, “yes and they were laughing all the way to the bank!” (phrase for another lesson, try to understand the context)


2.  Between a rock and a hard place


 This phrase indicates that a person is in an unfavorable position of having to make a decision which has choices that are undesirable.  In literal terms, it would express the thought of something caught between a rock and something else hard.  Whatever the hard place is, the result is the same, that is, entrapment.  Consider the examples:


1. Sally says to her mother: “Mom, I have 2 important tests to take for my final examination in school and I only have time to study for 1 of them, I’m really stuck “between a rock and a hard place,” help!”


Mom to Sally: Sally, why did you wait so late to study, you should have allowed yourself enough time!”  Sally to Mom: “Mom, that’s water under the bridge!” (another lesson, understand by the context)


2. The company’s policy was never to eliminate personnel due to financial reasons, however, the economy is so bad that they may have to go out of business unless they can reduce the budget.  Therefore, the company is “between a rock and a hard place” not to eliminate employees.


3. My parents are not in good health and need my help, however, I must work to be able to support them.  I am “between a rock and a hard place” to decide what to do?  


You can understand from the examples above that being “between a rock and a hard place” means having to make a difficult decision with either decision not being desirable.


Background of the phrase:  From Greek mythology of Odyssey.  This phrase is used commonly in everyday English.


3. Back in the day


This is a relatively new phrase that is being used to describe something that happened in the past.


1. “Back in the day” before computers, we relied on writing letters or sending telegrams instead of simply sending an email! 


2. “Back in the day” in high school, chess was a very popular game to play!


3. “Back in the day” during the 1950’s and 1960’s, love song lyrics were very romantic!


You can see from the use of this phrase that it is referring to something that happened during a time in the past that the speaker is causing the listener to refer to.


Background of the phrase:  This is a slang phrase that came from American urban life which has made it’s way into mainstream American English.  It’s used in informal conversation by young and old.


Well, it’s good to be back, thanks for all of the emails and friend requests I’ve received.  Some of you are really serious about learning English and I’ll do my best to help you understand authentic American English. 


Here is my suggestion for you to learn English: Read, Write, Speak and think in English!


Until the next time!

07:11 AM May 15 2010 |

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englishteacher24/7

United States

Yes, this is one of the stories that La Fontaine wrote, however, it was originally credited to Aesop who was probably a slave that lived in ancient Greece between 620-560 BC.  Great job in bringing this to our attention!

06:27 AM Mar 30 2011 |

englishteacher24/7

United States

Thanks Criz Search, if you combine phrase learning with formal English learning, you'll have a complete study of authentic English as spoken by natives.

Mini Lesson No.16 is coming!

01:53 PM Apr 05 2011 |

coolplanet

coolplanet

Sweden

Thank you very much for enjoyable lesson. I'm new here. OMG!..I have 15 lessons left to reach you.. (gigantic homework for me indeed!)

08:08 PM Apr 09 2011 |

englishteacher24/7

United States

Welcome Aboard Coolplanet,

I suggest you start with the current mini lesson and work backwards to mini lesson no. 1.  Don't stress out because this is the no-stress American English Phrases on-line class.

05:56 AM Apr 14 2011 |

englishteacher24/7

United States

Hello Everyone,

I thank you for your patience for Mini Lesson No. 16

Get a Green Light / The Whole Nine Yards / A Case In Point

A. Get a Green Light= To get approval or permission to do something.

Origin/background of the phrase- This phrase comes from the fact that a green light means "Go" on a traffic light. Just for the record, a traffic light has 3 lights:

Red=Stop   Yellow=Caution  Green=Go

Therefore, if someone uses this phrase, they're saying someone has given permission to do something.  Here are some examples:

1. Our department need to "get a green light" to purchase a new printer.

2. I hope to "get a green light" on my student loan.

3. We did not "get a green light" from the customer to perform the repair work on her car.

Thanks RachealXiao for your information request on this phrase.

B. The Whole Nine Yards= This means completely, the whole thing/story, all of it.

Origin/background of the phrase- This is one of those mystery phrases that no one can confirm with certainty it's origin. There is no logic of this phrase wording, although, I'm sure there was one when it started. Nevertheless, it's a phrase that is commonly used in everyday American life. Here are some examples:

1. During the school orientation class, a lot of information was provided and they gave "the whole nine yards" about campus life.

2. My mother gave me "the whole nine yards" about my responsibilities.

3. My friend was telling me about his trip abroad and gave me "the whole nine yards" about daily life there.

C. A Case In Point- An example that is used to relate to a similar type of occurrence that happened during a previous time, or as an example to support your main thought.

Origin/background of the phrase- I was able to locate this phrase being used as far back as 1711 in a publication called: The Speculator, September 14, 1711 No. 181. Seemingly this phrase doesn't make sense, however, let's try to make some sense of it. A case could mean a story or statement defining a situation, a point could mean a certain position. Putting it together could mean relating a statement  to a previous similar situation or for comparison. Here are some examples:

1. When the clouds are dark and low, there's a good chance a storm is coming, "a case in point," last week the clouds were dark and low which resulted in a heavy storm.

2. Whenever sales are low, the company may terminate some workers, "a case in point," last year about this time, some workers were terminated because of low sales.

3. The computer has made communicating information far easier than before, "a case in point," the Internet has increased communication even more.

This phrase is commonly used in formal and informal English.

In your study of English, I would like to draw your attention to: HOMONYMS.  This is when words have the same sound but have different meanings. Here are some examples:

Blew/blue   brake/break   buy/by/bye   fair/fare   feat/feet   grate/great   here/hear   there/their/they're   to/too/two   toe/tow   vain/vane/vein   very/vary   vial/vile   vice/vise 

The W section is dedicated to Lem Bingley:

Wail/wale/whale   waist/waste   wait/weight   ware/wear/where   we'd/weed   we'll/wheel   weak/week   while/wile   whine/wine   write/right   waive/wave

These are just some of the homonyms you may encounter, building your vocabulary and determining context are very important in understanding and speaking English.

Mini Lesson No. 17 phrases are:

On my watch / Thrown under the bus / Pan out

Until next time, if you want to be fluent in English, read, write, speak and think in English!

07:38 AM Apr 14 2011 |

englishteacher24/7

United States

Thanks Foday!

06:28 AM Apr 29 2011 |

cgray610

cgray610

United States

I never really understood the term”hand over fist” until your lesson. Thank you English Teacher for clearing it up for me.

09:26 PM Apr 29 2011 |

Meyra

Meyra

Turkey

Thanks a lot for new phrases!Hope that I understood them correctly..


“I have to get a green light from mom to stay at my friend’s house.”


“She is always telling me the whole nine yard about her boring life in boarding school.”


“I have to stay at home whole week and that’s a good reason to get into depression;a case in point,last year I had to stay at home because of winter and it was outstanding!”


PS:I’m not sure that outstanding can be used for negative expression..

08:17 PM May 01 2011 |

englishteacher24/7

United States

Cgray610,


Thanks for your comments, it was a learning experience for me as well.


Meyra,


Good job in using the phrases, yes you are corrrect, outstanding is used in a positive context only, “boring” would be an appropriate word to use in this context.


Criz,


Good job in your sentences, concerning “the whole nine yards” be sure to add the “s” on yard to make it plural, it’s not one yard but nine yards.


A case in point simply means an example that is used to help explain the main thought. You used it correctly!

02:10 PM May 04 2011 |

englishteacher24/7

United States

Hello Everyone,


Just an update to inform you that I am currently writing Mini Lesson No. 17.


Stay tuned, also, I just posted a new Dialogue No. 6 you may want to read.


You can go to my profile sheet for the link under “Recent Forum Posts.”

10:56 AM May 09 2011 |