Subtitles section Play video
-
Hello, my name is Emma and in today's lesson, we are going to learn about weather expressions.
-
Okay, weather expressions. So I will teach you 10 new expressions that have to do with
-
wind, rain, storm, thunder, and weather. Okay? So let's get started.
-
The first expression I want to teach you today is: "storm out". So, what is a storm? A storm
-
is when you have heavy rain, lots of lightning, lots of loud "boom" thunder sounds. So that's
-
a storm. So we use it when we talk about weather, but we also can use it when we talk about
-
how people leave. Okay. So when someone leaves a room very angrily, - okay -, they storm
-
out. I don't know if you've ever seen someone storm out, but if maybe you have two friends
-
and they have a fight, when there's a fight, usually one person storms out; they leave
-
the room quickly and angrily. So the key word here: "angry".
-
Our second expression: "under the weather". Okay. And it's important to note which preposition
-
we're using; not: "over the weather". "Under the weather". What does this mean? It actually
-
doesn't have to do with weather. It means you're sick if you are under the weather.
-
It's a common expression; we use it a lot. -"How are you feeling today?" -"Oh, I'm a
-
little under the weather.", "My teacher didn't come to school today; she was feeling a little
-
under the weather." So we can use: "I'm under the weather." Or: "I'm feeling under the weather."
-
Both are okay. Third expression for today: "weather that
-
storm". So again, I showed you what a storm is, lots of rain, thunder, lightning. What
-
does it mean to "weather a storm" or "that storm"? Well, when you weather a storm, it
-
means you have a difficult situation and you get through it. So, for example: maybe you
-
have to do a big English test, maybe you're doing the IELTS or the TOEFL or just a general
-
English test, and you and your classmates are very good friends. And every night you
-
study, you work very hard; you study, study, study and finally the test day comes, and
-
you pass the test. You weathered that storm. So any difficult situation or problem that
-
you get through. Okay. I like this expression a lot. Let me think of another example. Surviving
-
difficult times. If you have a boyfriend or a girlfriend, and maybe you break up, and
-
you're very, very sad but one day you feel happy again - you weathered that storm.
-
Our next expression: "to get wind of something". So what is "wind"? This is our key weather
-
word. "Whish, whish." Wind. If you get wind of something, it's like the wind blows you
-
information. So to get wind of something means you find out information or a secret. So maybe
-
it's somebody's birthday party, maybe you're throwing a big surprise party for your friend.
-
You don't want them to get wind of the party; you want to keep it a secret, you don't want
-
them to know. Maybe someone says something about buying a cake, and they start to think:
-
"Oh, there's going to be a party for me." They get... They got wind of the party. So
-
usually: "Get wind of something."
-
Something. Maybe if you celebrate a holiday, maybe if
-
you celebrate Christmas or Chinese New Year, some sort of holiday and someone bought you
-
a very nice present, maybe you get wind of what is... What the present is. Maybe it's
-
a trip. So if you get wind of something, it means you learn some new information, and
-
usually it's secret information that you've now discovered.
-
So number five on this list: "rain on my parade". You can rain on somebody's parade, not just
-
"my parade". So you can say: "rain on his parade", "rain on Mary's parade", "rain on
-
Abdullah's parade". Okay? So you can change this to "his", "her", "my", "your" or a name.
-
What does it mean to rain on someone's parade? If I rain on someone's parade it means I lessen
-
their happiness. Okay? So this is not a good thing; to rain on somebody's parade is a bad
-
thing. It means somebody's very, very happy about something and you say something that
-
takes a little bit of that happiness away. So what are some examples? Well, maybe I got
-
a new promotion at work. I'm very happy. I have a new job at work, it's a great job,
-
I'm telling my friend about it and they say: "Well, it's great you have a new job, but
-
you're going to be very, very busy now and maybe you'll have a lot more stress." So my
-
friend has now lessened my happiness; I'm less happy now when I think about stress,
-
and pressure, and hard work maybe. What's another example of raining on someone's parade?
-
Well, maybe somebody has just gone shopping and they have a beautiful new purse they bought
-
and they're very, very happy about their purse. And they show their friend and say: "Look
-
at my nice new purse." Maybe their friend will say: "How much did your purse cost? Was
-
it very expensive?" They might respond: "Don't rain on my parade." Meaning: "Don't lessen
-
my happiness, don't ruin my happiness. I want to be happy, I don't want any happiness taken
-
away." So I like this expression, it's a good one.
-
Number six: "take a rain check". This is a very, very common expression. What does it
-
mean to take a rain check? It means you're going to reschedule an event. So, for example:
-
maybe I want to have lunch with you and we plan to have lunch at a restaurant, but you're
-
really busy. You might tell me: "I'm going to take a rain check." Meaning: "I can't come
-
today. I will meet you at the restaurant a different day." So for anything it means when
-
you reschedule. Another example: maybe you want to have a party, but you're very busy
-
with school or busy with work. You tell your friends: "You know, I'll have to take a rain
-
check; I can't party." So it means to reschedule. Number seven: "the calm before the storm".
-
So what does..? You remember what "storm" means, and "calm" is a synonym for quiet.
-
So "calm" means it's very quiet; no loud noise. "The calm before the storm" means the quiet
-
before a bad situation. So, an example: maybe there's a boyfriend and a girlfriend, and
-
they're going to break up. Right before their big break up fight, maybe it's quiet. Everyone
-
feels that there's a bad time coming, but it hasn't arrived yet. So it's that time before
-
there's a fight, before there's a big problem, the time before when it's quiet.
-
I really like this expression: "on cloud nine". So a "cloud" is like this, that's a cloud.
-
"On cloud nine" is an expression that means someone is very, very, very happy. Okay. When
-
I make these videos for you, I'm on cloud nine. I'm very, very happy, very excited.
-
Maybe if you meet your dream husband or your dream wife or your dream girl, you will be
-
on cloud nine; you will be so, so happy. So it's just another way to say very, very happy.
-
"I'm on cloud nine." Number nine: "steal someone's thunder". Okay,
-
what does it mean to steal someone's thunder? If you steal someone's thunder... Thunder
-
is the loud noise you hear during a storm, it's the "boom" sound the sky makes, that's
-
thunder. If you steal someone's thunder, it means you take someone's attention away. So,
-
for example: maybe it's someone's birthday party and they're getting all this attention;
-
everyone's talking to them, everyone is paying attention to them - if I steal their thunder,
-
maybe I'll do something so everyone looks at me. And a really good example is in Western
-
culture, many people wear white wedding dresses; the bride wears a white wedding dress. If
-
you want to steal the bride's thunder, you could wear a wedding dress to someone else's
-
wedding and look even more beautiful, that would steal someone's thunder. It's not a
-
good idea, but that's a good example of stealing attention from someone.
-
Finally, number 10: "take by storm". What does it mean to take something by storm? Well,
-
if you think about a storm, they're very loud, very quick, very dramatic; there's lots of
-
rain, lots of lightning, and thunder. So if you take by storm, it means you do something
-
very quickly and very violently, very dramatically. Okay? Very big. You do something in a very
-
dramatic way. So what's an example of this? Maybe... We often use it when someone moves
-
to a new place. "They took Toronto by storm." Meaning: they moved into Toronto, they started
-
partying in Toronto, they did a lot of fun things in Toronto. When you take something
-
by storm, it means you do something quickly. Another expression would be: "Lady Gaga...
-
Lady Gaga took the music world by storm." Okay? Before Lady Gaga, maybe people weren't
-
so dramatic in the way they dressed. When Lady Gaga became a performer, she started
-
wearing strange outfits, she became very popular very quickly. She took the music world by
-
storm. So I want to thank you for watching this video.
-
If you want to try our test, - maybe you can take our test by storm -, our website is:
-
www.engvid.com. And I will be on cloud nine if you visit our site. Until next time, take care.