Winning English - Mastering Idioms, Slang, and References
Beats me • Dead tired • Take it easy • Give me a break • Go all out • Not my cup of tea • Hang out • Pay an arm and a leg • Shell out • Worth it • You only live once • Carpe diem
Picture yourself and a friend having a cup of coffee at a café a year from now.
You ask, “Are you going to do anything special for the holidays? This year has been better than last year, and it would be nice to do something fun.”
“Beats me”, your friend responds. “I have to admit: I’m dead tired. I might just take it easy.”
You laugh a little and say to your friend, “Give me a break! You never take it easy. You always go all out.”
Your friend laughs a little, too. “That’s true! Okay, let’s do something together. What should it be?”
As you might have already guessed, today I’m featuring a lot of commonly used slang words and expressions from everyday English speech.
“Beats me” has the exact same meaning as “I don’t know,” but it’s very informal.
To be “dead tired” means that you are very, very tired - that is, exhausted.
To “take it easy” means that you are relaxing and not working or playing very hard. Sometimes people will say this phrase when they want someone to be less emotional or angry. They’ll say, “Take it easy!”
“Give me a break” means “Don’t tell me something that isn’t true,” or “Don’t tell me something that you don’t actually believe.”
“To go all out” means to do something in a big way. In this case, you are reminding your friend that he or she usually celebrates in a big way at the end of the year.
Back to the conversation with your friend.
You answer, “I’m not sure what to do. A big party is not my cup of tea. Maybe you should just come to my place, and we’ll hang out.
“Wait!” your friend says. “I have an idea. Let’s rent a boat and watch the fireworks from out on the water.”
“Wow,” you say, “That’s a great idea! But I don’t want to pay an arm and a leg.”
“I know it’s a little bit expensive,” your friend says. “But don’t worry. You won’t have to shell out a lot of money. I know a person who will rent us a boat for a very good price. Believe me, it will be worth it!”
“Okay,” you say, laughing a little. “That sounds good! And hey, you only live once!”
When something is “not your cup of tea”, it means that is is not your preferred thing to do. The comparison is that you might like one flavor - or cup - of tea, but not another flavor.
“To hang out” means to be together with friends without any specific plans for what to do.
“To pay an arm and a leg” means to pay a lot of money for something. The idea is that it’s so expensive that you’ll run out of money and have to trade parts of your body to afford it!
“To shell out” means to pay a lot of money for something, usually more than you should pay. I was surprised to learn recently that this slang word is about 200 years old.
When we say something is “worth it”, we mean that the price we are paying is fair or justified. The “it” in “worth it” is not always money. We can also pay with our time or our emotions, especially if something is annoying or makes us angry.
And finally, “You only live once” might have an obvious meaning. It’s a phrase people use to make themselves remember to do big or fun things because life is short and special.
There are two similar phrases that are often used, as well. One is “You only have one life to live.” (In fact, “One Life to Live” was the name of a long-running TV show in the US.) The other saying is “carpe diem”. That’s actually Latin for “seize the day”. In other words, you might not be here tomorrow, so do something big, exciting, or fun today.
By the way, a few years back, “you only live once” became a popular word in an abbreviated form, “YOLO”. It’s used less now, but just last year “YOLO” was the name of an app that became popular with teenagers.
Thanks for reading Winning English! Remember to listen to the podcast, as well, to reinforce your learning. If you like what you read or hear, please like the post, comment, and tell a friend about it. Talk soon!