Full video

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hi i'm vanessa from speak english with

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vanessa calm today we're going to talk

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about four American idioms let's get

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started you might be wondering what in

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the world is an American idiom well

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these idioms might be understood by

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people in the UK but they're most often

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used by Americans and if you said one of

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these to someone from the US they would

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instantly understand what you meant and

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they wouldn't feel weird at all like you

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were using an expression that they

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hadn't heard very often for each of

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these idioms I'm gonna tell you a little

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story and I want you to guess what you

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think the idiom means based on the

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context so for our first idiom I want to

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tell you a quick story about last week

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one of my friends who has a small baby

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we were gonna get together and in the

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morning when we were about to get

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together she called me and said hey

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Vanessa I'm sorry I gotta take a rain

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check because my baby is not feeling too

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well so I want to just relax at home and

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maybe we can get together next week what

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do you think this idiom take a rain

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check means take a rain check think

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about it for a moment in this context we

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were going to get together but we needed

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to change some plans because her baby

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wasn't feeling well that's exactly what

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this idiom means change your plans we

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need to delay or just push back our

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plans because something happened maybe

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you just are feeling tired or you're

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feeling sick so you need to change your

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plans you could say I need to take a

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rain check

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or let's take a rain check and do our

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event next week let's take a rain check

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it's easy to remember this expression if

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you can remember the base word rain

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let's imagine you're trying to have some

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kind of event outside maybe you're

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trying to get married outside like I was

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and it rains like it was on my wedding

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well you can't have the event outside

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you have to go inside

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so you need to change your plans because

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of the weather so this is kind of the

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origin of the expression but we can use

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it in any situation where you're

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changing plans the second American idiom

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is to shoot the breeze let me tell you a

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quick story so you can guess the meaning

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in a couple days I'm getting together

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with a childhood friend who I haven't

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seen for a while and when I told my

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husband that I was gonna get together

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with her he said what are you gonna do

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you haven't seen her for a long time and

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I said I don't know shoot the breeze

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just sit together you know we'll figure

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out something what do you think from

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this quick story that shoot the breeze

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means well we can imagine the word

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breeze means like a small wind we can

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imagine a breeze coming out of your

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mouth when you're talking so shooting

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the breeze means just to chitchat

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together to talk about daily life

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nothing too deep are important just to

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chat so I said I'm gonna just shoot the

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breeze with her I'm not gonna take a gun

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and shoot the wind that would be a

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pretty crazy activity together but

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instead we just talked so there was wind

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coming out of our mouths breeze and we

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this means we didn't really talk about

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anything serious or a substantial just

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chitchat just chat it the third American

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idiom is to plead the fifth let me tell

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you a quick story so you can guess what

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it means let's imagine that your friend

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comes over to your house and he says oh

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man I just went on a date with Sarah

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yesterday it was so great and then you

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say did you kiss her and he might say I

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plead the fifth what does this mean why

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did she say I plead the fifth well the

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word plead means I beg please please I'm

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begging and the fifth what in the world

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is the fifth why not the fourth the

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tenth why is there a number here well

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this is

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referencing the Constitution of the

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United States in the Constitution the

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Fifth Amendment says you don't need to

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say anything that is going to

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incriminate you in court but when your

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friend was talking to you about kissing

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a girl on a date was he worried about

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going to court or going to jail no so

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let's talk about the original meaning of

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this expression the political meaning

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and then we'll talk about how it got

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interpreted in daily conversation well

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let's imagine that you're driving really

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fast and a policeman pulls you over and

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you roll down your window and he says

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excuse me have you been drinking alcohol

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have you been smoking weed have you been

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doing drugs you could say I plead the

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fifth and this means you know that it's

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the law you don't have to say anything

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to him that could make you get in

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trouble with the court later if he's

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going to take you to court you're gonna

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say it in the court you're not gonna say

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it in this informal area in your car you

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want to make sure that there's a lawyer

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you want to make sure that it is done

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the right way so you could say I plead

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the fifth because that fifth Amendment

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of the Constitution says you don't need

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to answer his questions you don't need

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to say that in daily life we often use

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this when we don't want to answer a

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question so you asked your friend did

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you kiss her and he said I plead the

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fifth this means he doesn't want to

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answer your question

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he doesn't say legally I don't have to

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answer your question no this is just

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colloquially he's saying I don't want to

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answer your question but there is a

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subtle meaning here when you use this in

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daily conversation it means I don't want

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to tell you but your answer is correct

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so he said did you kiss her and he said

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I plead the fifth really it means yes

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but I don't want to tell you so if you

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use this expression you're not really

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hiding the truth

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you're telling

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them what they already know but you just

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don't want to say it so let me give you

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one other quick situation the other day

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I was sneakily eating a piece of

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chocolate in the kitchen and Dan my

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husband walked into the kitchen and said

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did you eat the last piece of chocolate

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well I had eaten the last piece of

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chocolate and I said I plead the fifth

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and this means I don't want to tell you

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but it's true I did eat the last piece

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of chocolate so even though I didn't say

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I ate the last piece yes you are correct

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it is implied when you use this

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expression if you use it with a police

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officer he's gonna be suspicious because

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you're not answering his question but

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this is the legal situation so it's okay

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to use it it doesn't mean yes I was

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drinking alcohol yes I was smoking yes I

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was doing drugs no it doesn't imply that

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in the legal situation but in the

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colloquial situation it does it implies

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yes I did that thing that you are

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accusing me of but I don't want to say

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it the fourth American idiom is to give

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props to someone let me tell you a quick

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story let's imagine that you want to

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study abroad in the US and you'd like to

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get your master's degree at Harvard well

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your goal is to get your master's degree

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but you think why not I'm going to try

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to apply to Harvard because they have a

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great reputation so you try to get into

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Harvard and you don't make it then your

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friend asks you hey how did it go did

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you get a reply did you make it into

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Harvard and you probably say mmm no I

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didn't make it they would say to you

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well I give you props for trying what

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does this mean I give you props for

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trying this expression props means

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proper respect but it's just been

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shortened over time and if you ask most

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Americans what does props mean they

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probably wouldn't be able to tell you I

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just looked it up online because I was

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curious but we can imagine from this

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full expression I'm giving you my prop

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respect for trying to get into Harvard

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even though you didn't make it you tried

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hard I give you my respect well we can

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shorten this expression to say I give

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you props for trying to get into Harvard

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I give you props for something that you

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did so when you want to show that

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someone didn't succeed but you still are

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respecting them because they tried this

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is a great expression to use and you

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know what you can even give yourself

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props so let's imagine that you see a

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lost foreign traveler in your city and

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you want to try to speak English with

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them but you feel a little nervous but

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you do it anyway you go to them they ask

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you some questions you didn't understand

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everything but you tried your best

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you could say well I give myself props

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for trying I give myself props for

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approaching them and trying to speak

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English you did it maybe it wasn't

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perfect but you tried so you can use

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this as encouragement for yourself so

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now it's your turn I want to know have

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you ever needed to plead the fifth

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did you ever need to take a rain check

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or maybe give props to someone who do

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you like to shoot the breeze with let me

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know in the comments below try to use

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these expressions and expand your

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vocabulary thanks so much for learning

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with me and I'll see you the next time

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bye the next step is to download my free

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ebook 5 steps to becoming a confident

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youtube channel for more free lessons

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thanks so much

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bye