You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear

My very thoughtful Polish, English students have been asking me (very nice present continuous!) what I think about England's performance.

I could write a book on the subject but I will spare you the details, basically, you just can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

This idiom means you can't produce something high quality with poor quality materials. A sow, if you are wondering, is a female pig.

To find out if it's true, watch this video about make overs - you know, when women go to a beautician or Trinny and Suzannah for a new look.

All in the same boat

You don't have to be a sailor to be in the same boat as someone else!

Oh no. It's a metaphor to say you are in the same situation as other people. Very often, it's not a good situation.

Possibly, in communist times in Poland when commodities were hard to get, you could say you were all in the same boat - excluding those who worked the system of course!

Now, back to boats - the most famous boat race in England is the Oxford, Cambridge University boat race which takes place every year on the River Thames (pronounced Temz)in London.

Here's a very old film clip with an accent that is called received English or sometimes BBC English. I don't know if a non native can tell the difference but to a native it sounds rather strange and twisted.

OK, here's the race - do you ever get that sinking feeling? These guys really are all in the same boat!

Smarter than the average bear

Are you smarter than the average bear?

I guess you must be because you're reading this blog!

This is not an every day phrase but it's used from time to time to show that you are a bit cleverer and more cunning than your peers.

So which bear is smarter than average; Pooh, Rupert or Paddington?

No, none of these; they're all quite average. The one that's smarter than average is....

Book worm

Are you a book worm?

Well, you know what a book is but what about a worm?

They're those pink, thin, snake light animals that birds like to eat - yum yum!

But a book worm? It's someone who loves reading books.

If you really like reading, you find there are always more books than time.

Maybe a bit of speed reading might be the answer; even in English!

Try this.

Hit the jackpot

What would you do if you hit the jackpot?

Would you be pleased?

You should be - it's the big prize, in gambling or a game show.

Ever wondered what it feels like to win a million dollars?

You're about to find out buddy! That's what I call hitting the jackpot!

The last straw

That's the last straw!

I'm never going to see him again!

Straw is dried grass in strips. The full idiom is the last straw that broke the camel's back. Rather a cruel idea but the concept is that the weight builds up until one small piece does the damage - the last straw!

So when you've been tolerating something for a while but you reach the point where you can't any longer, that's the last straw.

I googled camels and came up with this. Camel is also a famous brand of cigarette, you know, the brand smoked by doctors?

A plum in your mouth

This is a plum.



If you spoke with a plum in your mouth it would be quite difficult and make a strange sound. In Britain, there are lots of different accents that define not only a person's region but their social class. The upper class, and above all, the aristocracy, speak with a plum in their mouth. No more so than the Queen.

Here is a remarkable film of the Queen's annual Christmas speech from 1957, interesting not only for the accent but for the content.

Notice the pronuciation of the word often, pronounced orftn. The Royal family is also know for using archaic forms such as the pronoun 'one' instead of you.

'When one goes abroad, one orftn struggles to get a corpy of the Times.'

It's true marm, one does.

So here goes - is one ready? It's the first one, televised from Sandringham in Norfolk, one of the Royal family's many homes. Well, one's awfully rich marm.

Head over heels

It's summer and the time for love.

They say she's fallen head over heels in love.

Ah, that's nice!

So she's crazy about him.

But what is head over heels as a physical movement? You know where your head is; your heels are the part of your foot at the back.

Seeing as it's the football world cup at the moment, even if you don't like football, you can enjoy the Brazilian, lady footballer and her spectacular flip throw in. Don't try this at home!

Go through the roof!

So, you probably know that the roof is the top part of a house but what if you went through the roof?

As a person, it would mean you were very angry. You could also hit the roof. You'd be just as angry and probably hurt yourself too!

If prices go through the roof, they have risen very quickly and by a large amount.

Today's story is all about roofs. Do you know what a thatched roof is?

If not, you are about to find out.

Just think Margaret Thatcher's ancestors would have been thatchers - people who make thatched roofs.

Here's a video that explains it with some traditional English folk music - sorry about that!

Bright eyed and bushy tailed

Are you feeling bright eyed and bushy tailed?

The sun is shining again so there's no excuse not to be.

This idiom means you are feeling wide awake, healthy and happy.

Just like a squirrel with a bushy tail off to get his breakfast.

Here's one from a BBC nature programme.

Barking up the wrong tree

Yesterday I posted a blog wishing everybody a Happy Father's Day. It turns out that I was barking up the wrong tree!

I was a week early, it seems.

So barking up the wrong tree is when you are mistaken, usually, if you are trying to find a solution to a problem but in the wrong way or place.

The policeman thought that the brother had committed the murder but he was barking up the wrong tree.

Here's a video clip about raising venture capital and it's all about barking up the wrong tree!

By the way - English dogs say woof woof!

A chip off the old block

Dedicated to Piotr and Jarek who will both be celebrating their first Father's day today.

(Congratulations to Anna and Jarek on your new arrival!)

So, what is a chip off the old block?

A chip, in this sense is not the kind you eat but a small piece of wood. The block is not the kind you live in but a larger piece of wood.

Therefore, we use this to describe someone who is just like his father.

He's a chip off the old block. We can also say, 'like father like son.'

Here's the perfect song for the occasion. Some retro snyth pop from 1972 featuring a Moog synthesiser. As a bonus, it's a kareoke version, so you get to see the words and you can sing along.

Son of my father - by Chicory Tip. do,do,do, doo, doo, dooo!

Itchy feet

Have you got itchy feet?

Maybe you're thinking it's something to do with the hot weather.

In some ways you are right because it means you want to move or change job but mostly, travel.

So the weather's hot - what are you waiting for?

If you are the stop at home sort and you want to scratch your itchy feet, why not try e-tourism. Is this the future? No, it's the present. Scary!

Gone off the rails

This is an idiom about loss of control of life and emotions.

A train runs on rails so when it goes off the rails that's very bad.

We can say, 'she's gone off the rails.'

We could also say, 'she's lost the plot.' The plot, being the story line in a film or play.

Maybe she needs some therapy.

In an interesting conversation recently, a lady explained that her sister was in rehabilitation. Oh dear, I thought - poor lady. Then after further questions it became clear that her sister was a physiotherapist at a physical rehabilitation centre!

Here's someone who's gone off the rails once or twice; one of my favourite mixed up people with a song called Rehab.

Two choices here:

1) The official video. Embedding disabled so you just need to click on the link. Worth watching - it's a great video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LTPRJqt2z4&feature=related

2) No pictures but the song and lyrics - useful.

I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole

Hm, must be something horrible!

This is a phrase used to show a strong objection to a proposal.

My brother's got a new business venture, would you like to be a partner?

No chance, I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole.

So, under no circumstances would I get involved.

But what's that barge pole? A barge is a kind of canal boat. It's long and thin and people used to live on them; some still do. Canals were man made waterways linking towns together before roads. There are still many open in England and it's a popular holiday to hire a barge. The barge pole is a long stick used for pushing the boat around.

In this old documentary, you see a man with one quite early in the film.

The more, the merrier

Here's a happy summer idiom.

Merry is another word for cheerful or happy. As in Merry Christmas!

Sometimes, people say they are not drunk, just a bit merry.

But in this case, the more the merrier is about happiness increasing in proportion to the number of people.

We are going to our summer house this weekend, would you like to come?

Yes but could Kasia and Arek come too.

Sure, the more, the merrier!

Well, let's see how that principle works in a cabin on a ship with some classic Marx Brothers comedy.

On yer bike!

It's a lovely sunny weekend and you might want to go for a bike ride.

But what if I were to say, go on, on yer bike!

This would be an informal way of saying get lost; go away.

The phrase, on your bike. started off with a controversial politician called Norman Tebbit. He was Margaret Thatcher's right hand man and satirised as a Gestapo Officer.

When unemployement was high and people were complaining, he gave this speech at a Conserative Party Conference and the phrase became absorbed into the language.

'I grew up in the '30s with an unemployed father. He didn't riot. He got on his bike and looked for work, and he kept looking 'til he found it.'

Here he is on one of Britain's most brutal satire programmes of the time, Spitting Image. The phrase spitting image refers to someone who looks identical.

I saw a man in the supermarket who was the spitting image of your brother.

These puppets really are authentic and I don't mean just visually!

Like clockwork

Here's a scientific idiom today.

How did the exhibition go?

Like clockwork! Meaning, perfectly.

Clockwork was the technology used in clocks. Some people might remember (maybe your grandmother had one) an old clock with a key at the back to wind a spring. After about twelve hours, the clock would slow or stop, so you had to wind it up again.

This gives us another clock based idiom -You're winding me up - meaning you are trying to tease or trick me, or I don't believe what you are saying, it's too rediculous.

Back to clockwork, you would assume that it is an outdated technology - not so.
Britain has a history of eccentric inventors and here is a hero in my opinion, Trevor Bayliss, inventor of the clockwork radio.

Cheesed off

Here are some cheesy idioms.

Cheese and off may seem a strange collocation and no, it's not an insult!

I'm really cheesed off, I spent all day writing my assignment and then lost the data!

So, it means annoyed, frustrated, fed up. Well, I guess it's just hard cheese! (Bad luck)

So what do the English do with cheese; eat it? Of course not; that would be far too easy. We roll it down a hill and chase it.

That's what happens every year in a village near Gloucester,(pronounced - Glosta)one of the centres of English rugby, and the race provides some good tackling pratice for the people at the bottom of the hill. (There are 11 races in all and one up hill!)

Check this out - it's something else!

Talking twenty to the dozen

Here's a fun idiom about talking.

She was so excited about winning the holiday she was talking twenty to the dozen.

First, let's look at the word dozen. It's an old word for 12. It's still used when we buy eggs. Unless you buy half a dozen - six, of course.

So what about 20 to the dozen? It's a kind of ratio - like this 20:12 or maybe a fraction 20/12. Either way, it's faster than normal - very fast.

I checked out the world's fastest talkers but the best thing I found was this funny FedEx advert. Now this is what you call a listening exercise - try to keep up!