Something fun to get a good conversation started....

What's your favourite word in English? Can you use it in a sentence?

Now I'm going to use it in a sentence:

Now it's your turn! Let's see how fun this can get.

Also, I'm a new teacher here on Italki, but I have been teaching English for more than 16 years. I can help you with your Business English or Cambridge Exam needs. Why not have a trial lesson with me? For 1 dollar, you have nothing to lose!

If you are accused of PROLXITY should you be offended?

Yes! Prolixity means to be very long winded / to take a long time to explain something to your listener who is probably getting bored or losing interest.

Here are the explantions of the idioms I posted last Friday.

And Bob's your uncle! This simply means that a simple solution can fix a problem.

Just restart your computer and Bob's your uncle!

Donkey's years. A very long time since you have done something.

I haven't been on a boat in donkey's years.

To go pear shaped. When a plan goes very wrong.

Our plans host the underwater board game competition went pear shaped!

A fly in the ointment. A drawback/Disadvantage

Ointment is a type of oily substance (like Vaseline) that you rub onto your skin. This is something that was used in ancient times until the present day. Some ointments were quite smelly and could attract flies which could end up stuck in the liquid. The person who prepared the ointment may not have noticed the fly and the person who bought the ointment for their skin might be surprised/disgusted when they rubbed a dead fly on themselves!

Today I am posting some really unusual English idioms and an example in everyday speech.

Try and guess the meaning and on Monday I will post the explanations:

And Bob's your uncle!

Just add a little salt and Bob's your uncle!

Donkey's years

I haven't been there in donkey's years.

To go pear shaped.

Our plans for the party went pear shaped.

A fly in the ointment

The plan was a good one, but the only fly in the ointment was that he couldn't finance it

What do you do when somebody uses a strange idiom during a conversation?

As someone who lives in different country with a different language, I just smile and try to guess the meaning from context.

As a teacher I recommend this method.

For example when people are discussing having to do a lot of overtime in order to meet a deadline you obviously understand that the new idiom refers to a long night of hard work so you can understand the phrase: 'I`m going to have to BURN THE MIDNIGHT OIL tonight!'

But what do you understand when somebody says,'Spill the beans!'?

'My brother spilled the beans and now I'm getting a divorce!' WHAT!? Where is the connection?

Was his brother a really untidy person and the beans were The Last Straw?

And what is the last straw anyway?

And of course while your mind is trying to make sense of this, the conversation has moved onto a different topic and you feel lost.

e.g My brother was telling his friend about the big poker game where I lost all of the family money and my wife heard him. Now she wants a divorce.

Or you could spill the beans about a surprise birthday party and now everyone knows.

The last straw means that you have had enough of some kind of behaviour or situation and can't tolerate any more.

It comes from the expression about a donkey carrying a heavy load of straw and what happens if you overload the animal.

'It was the last straw that broke the donkey's back' or simpl it was just too much!

Please contact me if you like to do a free(almost) lesson where we can chat and (maybe) spill the beans about your learning objectives!

Please read this short article from The Guardian newspaper and feel free to comment afterwards.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/09/irish-native-american-coronavirus-historic-bond