American English Grammar Review
Education:Language Learning
Idioms! Behind The Eightball & Besides The Point! English with Billgreen54
Would you like to help support better English around the world? You can support this podcast and more with a small contribution at https://ko-fi.com/billgreen54 American English grammar review with Bill Green 54 idioms another fun part of English Hey, today let's start out with behind the eight ball. That's when you're in a difficult situation or position. An example might be, hey, Barbara has parents have told her to study medicine, but she really wants to study law. How is she going to explain this to them, she's really behind the eight ball. Here's another example. My wife wants me to hire my brother in law to work in my company. But I don't want to because he's very lazy. I'm behind the eight ball on this one. In other words, it's a challenging situation, I don't want to do it. Here are a few other expressions that are very similar to behind the eight ball back to the wall, in a bind, or in a fix or in a jam behind the devil and deep blue sea. Also between a rock and a hard place, you see these are all synonyms to behind the eight ball. The expression comes from the game of billiards or pool in which the eight ball is always pocketed last. If one accidentally sinks the eight ball before the others, one automatically loses the game. Trying to hit another ball that is too close to the eight ball is seen as a risky situation. A little bit of trivia there about behind the eight ball. Here's another one below the belt to hit someone below the belt, or to act unfairly. Here's an example john told Robert about the job he was planning to apply for and Robert went out and got it himself. Robert doesn't play fair, he hits below the belt. Get it? So john told Robert something in secret as a friend, and Robert took advantage of that. Here's another example, Mary introduced Sally to her boyfriend Mike. And before she knew it, Sally and Mike were dating that was below the belt. This expression originates from the sport of boxing in which it is against the rules to hit one's opponent below his or her belt. to bend someone's ear it means to talk to someone for a long time. Here's an example I dreaded every time that woman calls me on the telephone because she bends my ear about how her children don't appreciate her. In other words, someone who just talks a lot. Another example Hey, don't mention politics to bill. Hey, that's mine him. He loves talking about politics and he'll bend your ear about it for hours. And not true. I don't talk a lot about politics. This expression usually has a negative connotation. Beside oneself. It's when someone might be distraught, very anxious and troubled. When the mother couldn't find her young son in the crowd, she was beside herself with worry. You see, she was beside herself. She was very, very worried. Another example, I was beside myself when I realized a fire had destroyed my house. Here's another very common idiom beside the point. It means that something's very irrelevant. It means little or nothing to what we're talking about possibly. Hey, your excuse for not giving your homework on Monday is beside the point. It was due the Friday before. Thanks for listening! Would you like to help support better English around the world? You can support this podcast with a small contribution at https://ko-fi.com/billgreen54 ESL Teacher Billgreen54 shares American English at its best! Pronunciation, Intonation, Spelling, Grammar Rules! It's all here in this special podcast! Our English lessons are easy to understand! Our podcast is created for Native English speakers as well as ESL students! Whether you are studying English as a second language or as a refresher! Have fun with English! Would you like to help support better English around the world? You can support this podcast and more with a small contribution at https://ko-fi.com/billgreen54 Watch and learn from our channel at https://www.youtube.com/americanenglish2020 More English resources at https://www.larisaenglishclub.com/
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