the pot calling the kettle black

Hi there, students. Have you ever heard the phrase 'That sounds like the 'the pot calling the kettle black'? Ok, the pot, use a pot to cook with, and you use a kettle to boil water. In the old days, both of those were heated with fire. So the pot is black because it had soot all round it. And the kettle is black as well because it has soot on it as well. So what does this mean if you say 'that's the pot calling the kettle black'? This means somebody is criticising someone,  for something that they themslves are guilty of, for example, if I called somebody fat, I am pretty fat, that would be a case of a pot, me, fat person, calling the kettle black, I am calling another person fat, ok. That's the idea 'the pot calling the kettle black'. Perhaps there are two thieves, one of them says to another 'you are a thief', this is a case of 'the pot calling the kettle black', yeah. Because the person who is saying this has the same characteristic,  share the same characteristic as the person they are saying to. Ok, if I criticise somebody for having too much hair on their face, too much beard, again, that would be the pot calling the kettle black. I've got lots of facial hair, lots of beard. So I would be criticising somebody for something that it's wrong with me as well to. I (am not going to say it's wrong that you have facial hair?), because that's another question. Ok, so, the pot calling the kettle black, someone criticising something, for soemthing the first person, the pot, is guilty of, Ok. So, yeah, if you enjoy the video, give it a ratting; subscribe to my channel and I will see you soon. Bye for now.


各位！大家有沒有聽過這句短語：這聽起來像是the pot calling the kettle black。pot, 鍋，我們用鍋來烹調。kettle, 壺，我們用壺來燒水。過去，這兩樣東西都是用火來加熱的。鍋由於被煙熏火燎而變成黑色，壺由於同樣的原因也是黑色的。那麼the pot calling the kettle black 是什麼意思呢？它的意思是某人因為某事而責備另一個人，但是他同樣對此犯有過錯。比如，我說某人很胖，其實我自己就很胖，這就是一個‘the pot calling the kettle black’的例子，因為我自己很胖，卻笑別人很胖。這就是該短句的意思。比如有兩個賊，其中一個對另一個說：“你是一個賊”。這就是一個‘the pot calling the kettle black’的情況。因為說這話的人剛好同他所說的對像具有同樣的特征。如果我批評某人臉上有太多的毛發，即胡須，這也是一個例子，因為我同樣也有很多胡須，而我批評別人的缺點卻同樣出現在我自己身上。我並不是說有胡須是錯的，那是另外一個問題。the pot calling the kettle black, 就是某人批評另一個人的缺點，但是他自己卻同樣有該缺點。好了，如果你喜歡這個錄像，留下一個‘喜歡’評級；訂閱我的頻道，我將很快和你又見面。

as nutty as a fruitcake

Hi there, students. As nutty as a fruitcake, crazy, mad, ok, we have two phrases here, nutty, he is nutty, he is mad, he is loco, he is crazy. And a fruitcake, he is mad, he is nutty, he is lunatic, ok. So they have the phrase in English 'as nutty as a fruitcake', yeah. Ok, so next time, you see, you are talking about someone, one of your friends who is totally crazy, maybe like me, you say 'this guy or this girl is as nutty as a fruitcake'. Ok, a nice idiom for you to remember. As nutty as a fruitcake, as mad as a mad person. Ok, anyway, if you enjoy this video, give it a rating; subscribe to my channel and I will see you soon. Bye for now.


各位！as nutty as a fruitcake, 意思是瘋狂、發瘋，精神錯亂。這裡有兩個短語，nutty, 他很nutty,他很古怪，他很瘋狂；furitcake, 也是發瘋、癲狂、精神錯亂的意思。所以英語裡才有'as nutty as a fruitcake'這個常用句。下次如果你談到你其中的一個朋­友，他非常瘋狂、古怪，也許和我很相似，你可以說，這個男人或女­孩簡直‘as nutty as a fruitcake’，完全精神錯亂。這是一個非常好的短語，你­應該記住，瘋得就像一個瘋子一樣。好了，如果你喜歡這個錄像，留­下一個‘喜歡’的評級；訂閱我的頻道，我將很快和你又見面。

it serves you right

Hi there, students. Have you ever heard the phrase 'it serves you right, it serves im right, it serves them right'? Ok, this is when something bad happens to you, and you deserve it happened to you, because you have behaved unreasonably or negligently or stupidly. Let me give you an example. If you get really drunk, and then you get in to your car and drive it, and you have a crash, it serves you right. You shouldn't have got in to your car, drunk and drive it.  The results of the accident is your stupidity at driving when you were drunk. Ok, so it serves you right, it serves Michael right, he deserves this bad thing to happen, or he deserves this punishment. Ok, let me try another example. If you go out when there are lots of grey clouds in winter, and you don't take a coat, and you get really cold, it serves you right. You should have taken a coat. So if you are irresponible, if your actions lack resonsibility, and then something bad happens as a result, in English we say 'it serves me right, it's my fault, because I didn't do soemthing logical' . Something that I should have done. Yeah, so it serves you right to receive punishment or something bad happens because you have behaved irrsponsibly or negligently. Ok notice we nearly always use this in a negative sense, we don't use it in a positive sense. So it is only when something bad happens to you that it serves you right. Yeah, if we use the verb 'to deserve',  you deserve this, it could be bad, it could be good. If you study hard, you deserve to do well. But if you don't study and you failed your exam, you deserve it, it serves you right for not studying, ok. So there you go, anyway, it serves you right, it serves me right, yeah, another idiom for you. So anyway if you enjoy the video, give it a rating; subscribe to my channel and I will see you soon. Bye for now.

各位！你有沒有聽說過這個短語：it serves you right? it serves him right? it serves them right? 這句短語是說當某件不好的事情發生在你身上，而你是自討苦吃，因為你表現得非常不理性、粗心大意、愚不可及。我舉個例子，如果你醉得很厲害，卻鑽進汽車去開車，然後撞車了，那麼你就是活該。你不應該在醉醺醺的時候鑽進汽車去開車。後果是由於你在喝醉的時候仍要開車造成的。it serves you right, 你活該，你自討苦吃，麥克自討苦吃，這件壞事發生在他身上，他是自找的，他活該受罰。我再舉一個例子。如果你在彤雲密布的冬天外出卻不穿外套，你凍得要死，你活該！你應該一早穿上外套才出去。如果你缺乏責任感，如果你的行為缺少責任性，惡果顯現，在英語裡，我們說：it serves me right, 我活該！這是我的錯，因為我沒有按常理做本該做的事情。所以，it serves you right就是說你因非理性的、粗心大意的行為而受到懲罰或不好的事情降臨在你身上。主意，我們幾乎總是在否定意思中使用這個短句，而不會在肯定意思中使用。所以僅當不好的事情發生在某人身上時，我們才說：it serves you right。如果我們用deserve這個詞，它可以表達正面的意思，也可以是負面的。如果你學習很用功，你應得獎賞。如果你不用心學習，考試失敗了，你活該！你自找的！好了，這就是我給你們的一個常用語：it serves you right. 如果你喜歡這個錄像，留下一個‘喜歡’評級；訂閱我的頻道，我將很快和你又見面。

take something lightly

. Hi there, students. To take something lightly, the opposite of this is to take somthing seriously. So to take something lightly, to take it in a joking manner, to take without being serious about it. Ok, your question I am sure :what do I mean by take it or take something? This is talking about your attitude to something. So for example, the French take food very seriously. The British take it more llightly, for them it is a less serious subject. Maybe, maybe not, but these are examples.  Ok, so you can take something too lightly, be too jokey about it, not take it seriously enough. Or you can take things too seriously. When your friend plays a joke on you, you should take it lightly, you should laugh at it. You shouldn't take it seriously. Because it's only a joke. Ok, so to take something lightly, to have a light hearted, jocular, happy, funny, laughing attitude to something. As opposed to take it seriously, where you really think that this is really important thing and you worry a lot about it. So I think I have many students out there who take there English very seriously. Ok, they watch a lot of video, they work very hard at that. But sometimes you need to take your English lightly as well. Have fun when you learn, enjoy it, take it lightly, yeah, don't be so serious about it and maybe like that you learn more.  I don't know, anyway. I hope you take this video seriously, but with just a little touch to it. Anyway if you enjoy the video, give it a rating; subscribe to my channel and I will see you soon. Bye for now.

各位！to take something lightly, 這個短句的反義句是to take something seriously。它的意思是以開玩笑的態度對待某件事，不要太認真對待它。我知道你的疑問：你說的take it 或者take something 是什麼意思？其實，這個短句是在說你對待某件事所持的態度。比如，法國人看待食物是非常認真的，英國人則看得比較輕，對他們來說，食物並不是一件值得較真的題目。或許他們對食物也認真，或許不認真，這僅是個例子。所以你可以對某事看得很輕，用開玩笑的態度對待它，無需太過認真。你也可以對某事看得很重。當朋友開你的玩笑時，你應該看得很輕，一笑置之。你不該過於認真，只不過是個玩笑罷了。所以，to take something lightly,是用輕松的、幽默的、開心的、風趣的、開心笑的態度對待某事。to take something lightly的反面是to take something seriously，你可能因為事情太重要而十分看重、擔心它。我相信我有很多學生都對英語學習十分重視。他們觀看很多錄像，他們學得十分用心。但是有時你也需要將英語學習看得輕一些。在學習英語時要充滿樂趣，要享受學習過程，把它看得輕一些，不要太較真。如果那樣的話， 可能你會學得更多一些，當然，我也不太肯定。好了，我希望你認真對待這個錄像，但是也要輕松一點對待它。如果你喜歡這個錄像，留下一個‘喜歡’評級；訂閱我的頻道，我將很快和你又見面。

shut the stable door after the horse has bolted

Hi there, students. Have you ever heard the phrase 'to shut the stable door after the horse has bolted'? Ok, so the door of the stable, a stable is a building where a horse lives. Yeah, it's a building where the horse lives, so the horse lives in a stable. And you shut the stable door after the horse has bolted, has run away. So what does this expression mean? This expression means about a problem after the problem has really been serious. Yeah, for example, to build houses  that are resistent to earthquakes, after the earthquakes, not before, but after. It is to (protect?) preventative meansures against an accident after this accident happened. To shut the stable door after the horse has bolted, so you shut the door of the stable after the horse has run away. So the horse isn't in the stable anymore, you are shutting the door so it doesn't run away, but you are too late. Now let me tell you a little story to help remember this expression.  It's one by Aesop and it is called "The sunbird and the bat". Once upon a time, there was a sunbird hanging in a cage in a window. And one day a bat flew up to the bird and asked the bird why do you only sing at night, why do you never sing during the day? The bird said "I have my reasons. The reason is one day I was singing during the day. And the man caught me. After that I promised to myself that I will never ever sing during the day. And I would only sing at night. "And the bat said to the bird: "but that's no use. You have already been captured. You should have been on guard before the man caught you. " Moral to the story, it's no use shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted. Yeah, the bird stops singing during the day because he was captured during the day. But the bird has already been captured, so it's too late. He is trying to take preventative measures, shut the stable door, after he has been caught, after the horse has bolted. Ok, so anyway, I hope you enjoy this video and the story. If you did, give the video a rating, subscribe to my channel and I will see you soon. Bye for now.


各位!你們有沒有聽過‘shut the stable door after the horse has bolted’這句短語？ the door of the stable,是指馬圈的門，stable是馬住的地方，馬圈的意思。當馬都跑出去以後，你才將馬圈的門關上，這句究竟想表達什麼意思？它想表達一個問題在變得嚴重之後，你才開始采取行動。比如，在地震之後才開始建防震的房屋，這種行動應該是在地震之前就開始，就是說在意外發生之後才去采取防御措施預防意外。你在馬匹跑出馬圈之後才將門關上，但馬匹已經不在馬圈裡面了，馬跑走了，你的行動太遲了。我給你講一個短的故事幫助你記憶這個短句。這是一個伊索寫的語言，叫做“太陽鳥和蝙蝠”。從前，有一只太陽鳥呆在一個掛在窗戶上的鳥籠裡。一天，一只蝙蝠飛過來問太陽鳥：“你為什麼只是在夜晚唱歌，而從不在白天唱呢”？太陽鳥說：“我這樣做是有原因的。因為有一天我正在白天唱歌的時候，有個人把我抓住了。自此之後，我對自己發誓，再也不在白天唱歌了，要唱就在夜晚唱。”蝙蝠說：“但是這已經沒有任何意義了，你已經被抓住了。你應該在那個人抓到你之前提高警惕”。這個故事的寓意是：在馬跑出馬圈之後關門已經沒有意義了。太陽鳥在白天不唱歌僅僅因為它是在白天被抓住了，但它已經被抓住了，現在不唱歌已經太遲了。它試圖在被抓住之後采取預防措施，關上馬圈的門。我希望你喜歡這個錄像和故事。如果你喜歡，留下一個‘喜歡’評級；訂閱我的頻道，我將很快和你又見面。

tacky

Hi there, students. Tacky, tacky, ok, this actually has two meanings. The first meaning is perhaps when you paint something, and the paint starts to dry, and you put your finger on it and it's still sticky. You say 'it is tacky'. It's still a little bit sticky. It's not completely dry. Or maybe glue, it's still tacky, it's still a little bit sticky but not completely dry. That's a slight stick feel to it, your finger sticks to it. But that's not for me the main meaning,  or the most important meaning. Tacky means of poor taste, of poor quality. So many people say the British are really rather tacky dresses. The dress sense of the Brithish is tasteless, old fashioned and not good. Ok, so tacky, shabby in appearance, not fashionable, cheap and flashy, maybe even garish, ok, garish, g-a-r-i-s-h. Cheap and (voga?), even crude. So without fashion, without (cen..?), without decor, yeah. So the decoration of a cheap hotel is very often tacky. Bad quality, cheap, tries to look good, but it's not good. The colour skin is bad and it is not fashionable. So, tacky, a tacky building, a tacky decoration. Maybe you see in some shops lots of tacky cheap jewelry. Jewelry that is cheap and it look really flashy and good but it really not fashionable and not elegant, it's tacky. So notice tacky is quite an insult, yeah. It says you have, if you call a person tacky, you are saying they are not fashionable, they have no sense of fashion, elegance or taste. their sense of taste is just not good, tacky, ok. So what's the origin? I have read but I am not sure. The tacky comes from a horse and tack, a horse and a cart to go with it which implies a farmer, a farmer with no money. Yes, an American farmer with no money maybe in the 19 century has or the early 20 century has a horse and a tack, a horse and a cart or a carriage to go with it instead of a car. So he doesn't have taste, he is tacky. Anyway, so, I hope this video wasn't too tacky,  too flashy, too garish. And if you enjoy it, give it a rating; subscribe to my channel and I will see you soon. Bye for now.


各位！tacky, 這個詞實際上有兩個意思，第一個意思是當你刷油漆的時候，油漆開­始變干。你用手指去按油漆表面，油漆仍然有點粘手，這就是tac­ky，還沒有完全干，還是有點黏。或者拿膠水來說，就是有點ta­cky, 有黏的感覺，你的手指有黏的感覺，手指被膠水粘住了。但是對我來­說，這並不是tacky的主要含義或者最重要的含義。tacky­有品味差、品質差的意思。很多人說英國人在穿著上品味很差。英國­人的穿著意識在某種程度上缺少品味、過時古板，令人不敢恭維。t­acky，有外表品質低劣、不合潮流的、廉價的、俗麗的意思，甚­至可以說是華而不實的、劣質的、（？）甚至是粗劣的意思。 所以，不符潮流，（？）、沒有修飾，廉價酒店的裝修通常是非常低­劣的，質量差、劣質，看上去好，實際很差。外表顏色很差，完全不­合潮流。我們可以說a tacky建築，a tacky裝修，劣質的建築，低劣的裝修。很多店鋪都賣tack­y的珠寶，廉價劣質的珠寶。它們看起來很華麗，但是實際上並不華­美。tacky其實是一種侮辱，如果你稱一個人tacky，你是­說他不時尚、沒有潮流感、不高雅、沒有品味，他們品味非常之差。­tacky這個詞的起源是什麼呢？我曾經閱讀過它的起源但是並不­能肯定。tacky這個詞來自於horse and tack,馬匹及馬具意思，馬和馬拉的車廂，一並行走。這個詞暗­示農民，農民是沒有錢的。在19世紀或20世紀初，貧窮的美國農­民擁有horse and tack, 馬和馬具，指的是馬匹及馬拉的車廂，用以代替車輛。他沒有品味，­他很tacky。我希望這個錄像不會太tacky，太浮華、華而­不實。如果你喜歡這個錄像，留下一個‘喜歡’評級；訂閱我的頻道­，我將很快和你又見面。

sink in

 Hi there, students. To sink in, this is a nice little phrasal verb. Ok, so firstly to sink, the Titanic sunk, because it hit a iceberg. But to sink in is a phrasal verb so it has a slight different meaning. To sink in, to understand, to comprehend. Let me give you some examples to make it clearer and finally I hope this phrasal verb will sink in and you will understand it better. Ok, he had a serious accident and he could walk but it took a long time for the reality of his situation  to sink in. So it took a long for him to understand the reality. Something sinks in, you understand finally after a long time what the real meaning is. Maybe you spent a lot of time studying a specific subject in English. But it takes time and use practice for that to sink in. For you to understand it completely and be able to remember and use it correctly. He lost his job, but the reality of losing his job took some time to sink in. So he lost his job, but initially he didn't think about  or realize the true implications of losing his job. So it didn't sink in. But then he realized how am I going to pay for the house, how am I going to buy food, how am I going to pay for this and that is when the reality starts to sink in, to be absorbed or understood. Ok, so to sink in, to understand fully the implications of something. Or to understand completely how to use it. Ok, so maybe if you watch this video two or three times, the real meaning of useage of it to sink in, will sink in to your mind. Notice to sink in is normally intransitive, it doesn't take an objective. And then something sinks in to somebody, yeah. But, ok, he didn't understand the true implications and it took time for it to sink in. Notice again, intransitive. It (to? )sink in to his mind. Yeah, but it is normally intransitive. Ok, so to sink in, to understand the true implications, the reality of the situation. At the moment in Spain there is a big crisis. But many people are still spending money like there is no tomorrow. Maybe the reality of the crisis has not sunk in fully yet. So I am going to stop there. If you enjoy this video, give it rating; subscribe to my channel, watch the video again and think about it again for it to sink in, and I will see you soon. Bye for now.


 各位！to sink in, 這個是個有趣的動詞短語。首先，to sink，泰坦尼克號由於撞到冰山沉沒了。這裡的to sink in是個短語動詞，意思上稍有不同。to sink in有明白、理解的意思，讓我給你舉些例子來說得更清楚一些，到­了最後我我希望這個短語動詞能夠被你們所理解，你們會更好地明白­這個詞。他遇到了嚴重的交通意外令到他無法行走。他用了很長時間­才認識到他所面對的現實情況。就是說他花了很長時間才明白他所面­對的現實狀況。某件事sinks in是說經過一段長時間之後，你終於明白了某件事的真正意義。或­許你花了很長時間學習英語中的某個特別內容，但是這需要使用並經­常練習這些內容，以便它們可以被更好地理解，令到你可以完全明白­並能記住和正確使用這些內容。他失去了這份工作，他花了很長時間­才認識到失去工作的這個事實。他沒有了工作，他一開始並沒有思考失去工作這個事實的內在含義，­這件事並沒有sink in。然後他突然意識到怎麼支付房款，怎麼承擔食物開支，怎麼支­付各種開銷，此時，失去工作的現實才真正sink in, 才真正被他體會理解到。to sink in是完全理解、明白某事帶有的暗示、含義的意思。如果你將這個­錄像看上兩三遍，你也許會體會到這個錄像的真正意思和用法，這些­東西會被你的思維所理解。注意，sink in是不及物動詞，後面不接賓語。我們要說某事to sink in to 某人。開始時他並不理解這件事的真正含義，花了很長時間這個事實­才被他所理解。再次注意，這裡的sink in是不及物動詞，sink in通常都是不及物動詞。to sink in就是理解真正現實環境所包含的意義。此刻西班牙正經歷一場嚴­重危機。但是很多人仍在大手大腳地花錢，似乎明天不會到來。也許­這場危機的真正含義還沒有sink in，還沒有真正被人們所理解。我要完成這個錄像了。如果你喜歡­這個錄像，留下一個‘喜歡’的評級；訂閱我的頻道，多看一遍這個­錄像，再思考一次它的意思，它的意思就會被sink in。好了，我將很快和你又見面。