ShmoopTube

Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.

Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos

Idioms 9136 Views


Share It!


Description:

This video defines idioms and explains how to use these nonsense phrases to communicate a point—even though they mean something totally different from how they sound. With this video, understanding idioms is a piece of cake.

Language:
English Language
Common Core Standards:

Transcript

00:00

Thank you We sneak in idioms Allah shmoop you may

00:07

have been asking yourself when will i finally outgrow the

00:10

need for shmoop Uh the answer when the cows come

00:14

home on a bunch of flying pigs Yeah we said

00:17

that an idiom like a lifetime of painless homework is

00:20

a whole load of nonsense It's never going to actually

00:24

happen An idiom is a phrase that means something completely

00:27

different from how it sounds If idioms were taken literally

00:31

well we'd all be very confused and disappointed Idioms are

00:35

kind of like slang in that they usually have some

00:38

historical origin So maybe one time someone said this phrase

00:42

and in that precise instants it made some sense So

00:45

more people started saying it And now it makes zero

00:48

sense and sound sort of weird but we still say

00:51

it anyway So if somebody says something that seems totally

00:54

dumb it might actually have an excuse They might just

00:57

be using an idiom like one of these common ones

01:00

A piece of cake is something that's really easy to

01:03

do like eat a piece of cake and another and

01:06

another even when we're sort of feel like puke on

01:08

Bring it on Letting the cat out of the bag

01:11

is when someone spills a really big secret which really

01:14

sounds a little more dramatic than a cat that's in

01:16

the bag A cat in a bag just sounds like

01:19

a great youtube video there's also the elephant in the

01:22

room as in that huge thing that everybody's thinking but

01:26

nobody's saying like that awkward thanksgiving dinner when everyone knew

01:29

aunt judy and uncle bob we're getting a divorce biting

01:32

off more than you can chew is getting a little

01:34

overexcited and committing to too many things and ending up

01:37

crying and boring I'm doing a group project all alone

01:41

Oh and still having brand practice in three hours to

01:44

kick the bucket means to die so maybe the bucket

01:46

was filled with scalding acid er's can that be bad

01:50

Keeping an eye on somebody let's just watching over him

01:53

Maybe they're an unruly child or a shifty poker player

01:57

no eyeball removal necessary although that would definitely keep anyone

02:00

from trying anything fishy and plenty of fish in the

02:03

sea is what we tell our friends when they go

02:06

through a nasty romantic dumping There are plenty of other

02:09

eligible bachelors are bachelorettes without literal and there's Plenty more

02:13

Where that came from Break a leg hit the books

02:15

missed the boat on the fence pulling wool over someone's

02:18

eyes and the list goes on We suggest warning people

02:22

before you invent any new ones Send him to us 00:02:27.048 --> [endTime] anyway And well lush him up for you

Up Next

Affect vs. Effect
10818 Views

This video explains the difference between affect and effect and provide tips for remembering which is which and when to use each one. If you suffe...

Related Videos

Question Marks
3733 Views

Want even more deets on Question Marks? Click here to review. Or take a look at our entire grammar section for all the goods.

Long vs. Short Sentences
2882 Views

Want even more deets on grammar? Click here for all the goods.

Your vs. You're
4158 Views

Want even more deets on Your vs. You're? Click here to review. Or take a look at our entire grammar section for all the goods.

Its vs. It's
5830 Views

What’s the difference between its and it’s (spoiler alert: it’s more than just an apostrophe). This video covers the use of both of these wor...