Winning English - Mastering Idioms, Slang, and References
Sleep in • Get a move on • Step on it • Jump the gun • Drag your feet
Today’s theme for Winning English is phrases for times when we need to go faster or more slowly.
Imagine that it’s a Saturday morning, and you plan to meet a friend for lunch. Since it’s the weekend, you sleep in, then spend some time relaxing. You look at the clock and suddenly realize it’s almost time to leave. “Oh, no!” you say, “I still haven’t showered! I need to get a move on. I had better step on it!”
Most of us have a usual time that we get up each morning. Often we set an alarm. However, when we “sleep in”, we sleep later than usual and often turn off the alarm. If we don’t hear our alarm and sleep too long, we say we “overslept”.
“To get a move on” is a way we tell ourselves or others to hurry, usually to get to an appointment. It can also be way to tell ourselves that we need to start a task. At work, you might say, “This project is due in a couple of weeks. We had better get a move on.”
“To step on it” means to go more quickly or to accelerate. The saying comes from cars. The accelerator pedal is what we push down with our foot to make a car go faster. “To step on” is another way to say “to put your foot on” something. So, when we “step on it”, we go faster in the same sense that a car goes faster when we step on the accelerator with our foot.
You meet your friend for lunch. You tell your friend about a job offer you just got this week from a new company. You say you will take the offer. Your friend says, “Wait, don’t jump the gun. Are you sure this offer is real? You had better double check.”
You reply, “I think so. I don’t want to drag my feet and lose this opportunity. They are offering a very good salary!’
“To jump the gun” means that you are starting something too early and without making sure it’s proper or safe. This comes from the world of competitive running. Races usually start when someone fires a gun into the air. It’s against the rules to jump off the starting line and start running before the gun goes off. If you do, you’ll be removed from the race which, of course, is very bad and something you want to avoid.
“To drag your feet” mean to go slowly, usually on a project or a task. Picture yourself walking, but instead of picking up your feet, you pull them across the ground. You can’t go quickly doing that. Sometimes people “drag their feet” on purpose, usually when they don’t want to work on a project or task. You might find this at work sometimes, when one group does not support a project you’ve proposed.
Thanks for reading Winning English! Make sure to listen to the podcast, as well, to reinforce your learning. And please remember to like, share, and write comments. Talk soon!