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Comrades, welcome to EngVid. Today, we will be discussing the hat. Hi. James, from EngVid.
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And I do want to talk about hats. I'm wearing a hat that goes with this shirt. Okay. But
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I've got a couple of them because we're going to discuss idioms.
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Now, Mr. E is here, of course. He's wearing a baseball cap. He's got, you know -- we call
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them "granddad caps" in England, but they're "caps". You see people wearing them all the
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time, this kind of a cap. Okay. Cowboy hat, badly drawn, but who cares? In the early 20th
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century, people wore hats a lot, okay? So a lot of hat wearing. People would wear hats
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everywhere -- church, whatever. Men would wear hats, so would ladies. But then, they
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suddenly stopped. If you want to know the truth, it was around the 1960s from a president
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named John F. Kennedy. He was seen often not wearing a hat, and he didn't wear an undershirt.
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And after that, men started changing their style. See? You don't just learn English.
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We're going to teach you some history. He kind of changed fashion a little bit, for
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men, for the next 40 to 50 -- well, 60 years. But now, hats are back. And it's time for
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a hat idiom show, okay? So, because now, you can say things. You'll be wearing your hat, and
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you can say something stylish like, "I take off my hat for you." Okay? So let's go to
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the board.
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You'll see I have a couple of things written here -- well, five, to be exact. Okay? And
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right now, you don't know what they mean, like, "without hesitation", "Be prepared for
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something very physical", "Be prepared to be shocked", "give my respect", "I admire
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them", "keep it a secret", and "have many responsibilities". And I'm sure you're saying,
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"What does this have to do with hats?" Well, why don't I show you?
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Ready? Now, "drop of a hat". When somebody says "at the drop of a hat", they mean "without hesitation.
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At any time." I'm talking to you, and -- oops. It dropped again. You don't know. It means,
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"Move now." If someone says, "You have to move at the drop of a hat", it means, "Don't
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even think. Just go." Or it could happen at any time. "At the drop of a hat, the bus could
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arrive." So you literally drop your hat; you look down; Whoa! The bus is gone. Just like
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that. So "be prepared", okay?
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What about this one? Have you ever been walking in the wind? It's really, really windy. See
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this is flying. It's flying away like Superman's cape now. See, it's flying. Someone will say,
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"Hold on to your hat!" Because it will blow away. Well, if you watch any movies, especially
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Westerns or North American movies, they're always, like, "Hold on to your hat, son. Something's
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going to happen." It's saying, "Be prepared to be shocked, or something's going to be
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bad. Be prepared." Because it's going to be so physical or so amazing that the hat might
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fly away, and you'll lose your hat. Remember, people were in the 20th century, so they wore
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hats all the time everywhere. Now, we don't as much, so they don't say it as much, but
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you're going to see that these idioms are going to come back simply because hats are
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in style. All right? So, "Be ready to be shocked." Something will scare you, and your hat will
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fly off your head. Or you're going to do something physical like run, and, "Hold on to your hat!
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We've got to get going."
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Now, how about this? "I give my respect" or, "I admire that person." If I were to see the
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Queen right now, I would do this. Hat's off. Okay? When we say, "My hat is off" -- "hat's off"
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Remember, this is from a long time ago. So when you say "hat's off to that person",
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it's a sign of admiration. Many people, when they go into a church, if they're wearing
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a hat, they will take their hats off as a sign of respect for the religion. Or, "My
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hat is off for that guy." I take my hat off because I respect him, so I take it off. And
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sometimes, people don't do that. What they do is this. You'll see it -- not as much,
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but they go like this. That's like taking off the hat, so they do it short. And they
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go like this, "Good morning, ma'am. Good morning, sir." They'll be like, "Good morning." Hat's
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off to you. "I respect you" or, "You have my admiration" or, "I admire you."
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And here's something. I know it's funny money -- whatever. But see this? I've got some money.
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Don't tell anybody. Keep it a secret. When we say this, "Shh! Keep it under your hat"
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-- "Keep it a secret." "Keep it a secret. Don't tell anybody." "Shh! Keep it under your
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hat. Shh! Be quiet."
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And here's the final one. You should like this. This will be fun for you. Are you ready?
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"So it goes like this. When we're walking down the street, I saw -- I saw a beautiful woman, an absolutely
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stunning, beautiful woman. I tell you, she was really incredible. I -- Captain, which
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way to the ship?" Okay. I was wearing many hats. When somebody "wears many hats", we
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say that they have many jobs or responsibilities. Each hat changes -- you noticed, as I changed
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my accent for every hat, I changed personality. Well, sometimes, you know, you're a grandfather.
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And it's different from being a pilot in World War II, fighting. Also, being a kid with snowballs
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is not the same as a soldier who must defend his country, right? So when you "wear many
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hats" in your job, it means you have many responsibilities. Maybe I'm the cleaner and
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the computer guy. Maybe I do the editing. Anyway.
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I hope this is been a -- well, an exciting experience for you as it has been for me. I don't
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get to act so much. Anyway. That is hats. My hat off to you. And Mr. E, who's still
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deciding what he should do -- a kingdom for his hat. But will we learn about more idioms
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besides hat idioms for, you know, conversation skills or grammar or vocabulary? I know the
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place. You go to www.engvid.com, "eng" as in "English", "vid" as in "video", where -- I
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mean, don't keep it under your hat. You've got to share this stuff, right? You can go
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and learn these idioms and other idioms. And sharing is caring. Have a good day. I'll talk
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to you soon.