Subtitles section Play video
-
Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Verb Phrase 84. The verb phrase today is
-
to wean off or weaned from. So usually you wean somebody off of something or you
-
wean something from someone. All right. Let's , let's look at the first
-
meaning here. If you wean a baby off or from a mother's breast, you gradually stop it
-
from taking its mother's milk and start to eat solid food. Yeah. So this is where
-
this phrase I think originally came from. So eventually you know, if a mother is
-
breastfeeding or mother is nursing her baby. You eventually have to wean the
-
baby off. So the baby stops taking its milk from the mother's breast. Okay, and
-
number two. To make somebody stop using or doing something that is harmful by
-
slowly reducing the amount you have. So we kind of use it in the same sense. It
-
would probably be something that is at least somewhat addictive and it's not
-
really good for you. You've got to wean yourself off of it.
-
All right. So let's look at some examples here. That child is three years old. Isn't
-
it about time she weaned her son off her breast. Yeah. Sometimes you see this. If
-
you see a mother that let the child's breastfeed for a lot longer than usual.
-
Maybe some other mothers might say that. Wow, he's getting to be very big. They
-
should, it's about time they wean him off the breasts. Okay. Well, let's look at
-
number two. My daughter didn't want to give up her pacifier. You know, the little
-
nipple but sometimes the babies hold that kind of helps to keep them calm,
-
especially when they're very young. I had to wean her from it. Yeah. Maybe
-
eventually, you can let them use that for quite a while, but eventually it doesn't
-
look good. It may not be good for their teeth to keep going too long with it . All
-
right. And let's look at number three. I remember there was a scene from an old
-
HBO series in which one character who was a married man said that he had to
-
wean himself off of going to prostitutes. Yeah.
-
I always remember this. I think the name of the show actually was the married man and I
-
think he was actually going for massages, but it was one of those massage places
-
where they did some special service for you and he felt very guilty about it. He
-
wanted to do it because he knew technically that really is cheating on
-
his wife, but he didn't want to stop. So that's what he said he was going to do.
-
He said he was going to wean himself from it. Of course. He should have never done it
-
at all. It's a terrible thing, but I always remember that line from that show.
-
This is one way that we was also used. Anyway, I hope you got it. I hope it's
-
clear thank you for your time. Bye-bye.