Quote
1. Quote - Listen to the quote and guess what the slang means.
“Until you learn to play what you want to hear, you’re barking up the wrong tree.”
Musician Billy Gibbons, talking about the right way to play music (BrainyQuote)
Definition
1. Definition - Study the definition.
try to do something that isn’t right
2. Use - Learn how the slang is used.
Sometimes, people try to do things that will never work. Singers try to become actors, even though they don’t know how to act. Or kids lie to their teachers because they think they are smarter than them. But most of the time, this is a bad idea. This is called barking up the wrong tree.
To bark up the wrong tree means to try to do something that isn’t going to work. For example, let’s say Ben and Katie work in the same office. Ben really wants to impress Katie, so he decides to be mean to the other people they work with. But Katie likes when other people are nice, so Ben is barking up the wrong tree. Ben is trying to impress Katie, but that will never work while he is being mean to people.
Musician Billy Gibbons said that people who play music that they do not like are barking up the wrong tree. He thinks that if you want to be a good artist, you have to play music that you actually like.
When have you ever barked up the wrong tree?
Examples
1. Examples - Hear some example sentences.
“Kate asked Mark out on a date, but she’s barking up the wrong tree. Mark’s married!”
“Mandi is an OK tennis player, but I think she is barking up the wrong tree. She should play basketball.”
“Kyle was barking up the wrong tree when he said I ate his banana. It was actually his dog, Ripper!”