Winning English - Mastering Idioms, Slang, and References
Chill out • Take it easy • Guilty pleasure • Times flies when you're having fun • It was fun while it lasted
The weekend is coming up, and most of us are looking forward to taking some time to chill out. Maybe you’ll take a walk or get some other form of some exercise. Maybe you’ll just take it easy and watch some TV. Weekends are also a perfect time to indulge in a guilty pleasure. Personally, I don’t like sweet treats that much, but maybe I’ll have some ice cream this weekend.
As you might have guessed, today’s idioms and slang words are all about relaxation.
“To chill out” means to relax. We often use cold words, like chill and cool, to mean to relax or calm down.
“To take it easy” can also mean to relax.
But note that sometimes it can also mean to forgive other people and be understanding of their problems. For example, you might say at work, “We really should take it easy on our shipping company. It’s not their fault that a typhoon caused deliveries to be delayed.”
A “guilty pleasure” is something we enjoy, even though we know most people think it’s low quality, or sometimes it’s bad for our health. For example, there might be a TV comedy that you enjoy a lot, even though you might be embarrassed to tell your friends about it because many people regard it as silly or dumb. We feel “guilty” - like we are doing something wrong - for liking it. As for food, with my example above, ice cream is generally full of sugar, fat, and calories, but every once in a while I like to eat it, anyway.
One sad fact about weekends is that they often end more quickly than we would like. Just when we start to relax, it’s over. Oh, well. Time flies when you’re having fun. It sure was fun while it lasted!
“Time flies when you’re having fun” is an idiom that means we often lose track of how time is passing when doing something fun. When time is “flying”, it is passing by quickly without our realizing it.
“It was fun while it lasted” is a saying we use after something fun or good has ended.
Note that sometimes it is said ironically to indicate that something was not fun or good. For example, imagine you finally come to the end of a four-hour Zoom call at work in which you were bored and frustrated. You might text a colleague, “Well, that was fun while it lasted!”
Thanks for reading Winning English! Make sure to listen to the podcast, as well, to reinforce your learning. And remember, if you like what you read or hear, please tell a friend. Talk soon!