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  • Rachel: Hey guys! Jun: Hey guys!

  • So someone suggested that I read Jun some English idioms that he's never heard before and he can guess what they mean.

  • But... you know what?

  • Jun's a really smart guy!

  • He doesn't need to guess what the idioms are.

  • He's going to tell us what the idioms mean in English.

  • Because that's how good his English is.

  • Are you ready?

  • Sure

  • Alright Jun, what does "elephant in the room" mean?

  • Elephant in the room?

  • There's an elephant in the room.

  • It means... it's really crowded.

  • It's very... there's not much space left.

  • Because it's like there's an elephant in the room.

  • Yeah.

  • There's so many people in there.

  • Yeah. There're so many elephants in Japan.

  • Japan is so crowded, there's so many elephants here!

  • Elephant in the room actually means that there is something unspoken.

  • Unspoken?

  • Or there's kind of an issue that everyone in the room that everyone knows about but no-one's talking about it.

  • So there's a big issue but they're ignoring it.

  • Supposedly it came from a dude named Ivan Andreevich Krylov.

  • Sounds Russian.

  • Maybe a Russian dude

  • He wrote a story about a guy who went to a museum and he saw all sorts of tiny things there but he didn't notice there was an actual elephant there.

  • So for example let's say that half of my family voted for Donald Trump and half of my family voted for Hilary Clinton.

  • And then after the election, Donald Trump won.

  • Half of my family is extremely angry at the other half of my family.

  • But no-one's talking about it. So everyone's just sitting at the dinner table...

  • "I got some flowers on sale today" but really, in their mind they're all thinking "you did this to us, this is your fault!"

  • Yeah, but are they doing that so they don't ruin the atmosphere?

  • Yeah, it could be for any reason, but I like the definition that it's crowded better.

  • I'm gonna go with that one from now on.

  • Ok, yeah. This is really fun, and not fun at the same time.

  • Jun-sensei! What does "beat around the bush" mean?

  • Or in British "beat about the bush"

  • Beat around the bush?

  • Beat around the bush.

  • Beat around the bush means... um...

  • Talking to people about rumors. Annoyingly.

  • Annoyingly talking to people about rumors?

  • So like, someone who's gossiping?

  • So, like that girl at work who's always coming up and talking about everyone else and you're like "Carol, stop!"

  • Yeah yeah!

  • "Did you hear about Diana?"

  • "She forgot to pick up her kids at carpool!" That's Carol.

  • Where did this name "Carol" come from anyway?

  • But why, what does "beating around the bush" come from?

  • Household wives wanted to talk about rumors so badly that she would go outside of the house and beat...

  • ...actually physically beat around the bush to go talk to her neighbor.

  • Why can't she just go out to the driveway and just walk over?!

  • The person the housewife wanted to talk to was in the yard.

  • That was surrounded by bush.

  • So like Joanne's just chilling by the pool and Carol pops out from the bushes.

  • "Joanna, did you hear about Diane?"

  • "Beat around the bush" actually means to avoid answering a question.

  • To stall, waste time.

  • So say you had to go to a business meeting and everyone has to solve an issue, but people just start talking about unrelated stuff.

  • So they're beating around the bush.

  • They're not getting to the root of the problem.

  • This came from back in the day; to do bird hunting, if the bird was in a bush, they would actually go beat the bush to get the bird to come out.

  • And that was kind of like the prelude to actually being able to hunt.

  • So before they could actually hunt the bird, they had to beat the bush to get the bird out.

  • So apparently that is how that came about.

  • Ok Jun. Maybe you know this one, Jun-sensei.

  • Well, I mean of course you do.

  • He knows all of these

  • What does "sleep with the fishes" mean?

  • Sleep with the fishes means... you...

  • ...die, because you drowned.

  • And your corpse, your body, sunk to the bottom of the river or sea.

  • You know, people don't want to be direct so they say "oh yeah, my son, he's sleeping with the fishes".

  • So dad says this about his son who drowned?

  • Yeah, specifically that type of death.

  • "My son is sleeping with fishes."

  • "Dave, I'm so sorry to hear about your son. What happened?"

  • "He's sleeping with the fishes."

  • So "sleeping with the fishes" actually refers to someone who was murdered and their body was dumped into water.

  • So there is a death involved.

  • Yeah, they are dead, and their corpse is underwater but usually it's because they were murdered.

  • And it's famous in English because of "The Godfather" movie.

  • It was used in "The Godfather".

  • So I was kind of close.

  • "Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes"

  • So you definitely wouldn't say this about your own son if your son drowned.

  • People usually think of it in reference to the mafia, the mob killing someone.

  • Alright Jun-sensei. Jun-sensei, what does "bite the bullet" mean?

  • The bullet that comes out of a gun?

  • Yes.

  • Bullet. Pew Pew

  • It means do something painful.

  • Or do something painful, patiently.

  • Patiently do something painful?

  • Why? Where does that phrase come from?

  • You know no-one wants to bite bullets. It's really painful.

  • And probably would taste horrible too.

  • So this used to be one of the punishments they would do in the 18th century in America.

  • Ok, 18th century America, people used to bite...

  • So, what kind of punishment?

  • Like if a kid broke their parent's lamp or something, dad's like "alright, go bite this bullet now"?

  • So it looks very very serious. Dad will draw the gun from his drawer, then show the gun, and then open the gun

  • And then open the bullet holder, and get some bullets

  • Jun: And then he's not going to say anything, just... *gesture* Rachel: ...make the kid to bite the bullet.

  • Well it's kind of, kind of close.

  • Oh yeah?

  • So "bite the bullet" means to endure something patiently.

  • Ok.

  • And it can be something painful as well...

  • But these days, it's probably just something you really don't want to do.

  • But you just got to bite the bullet and go do it.

  • So that's how you use it?

  • Yeah. The origin is from back in the day, they didn't have anesthesia for when you had to have surgery.

  • Or something bad had happened, so they gave you a bullet to bite down on so you could clench your teeth while you were being operated on.

  • That's actually pretty close.

  • Jun-sensei!

  • Hai!

  • What does "hit the nail on the head" mean?

  • It means... death penalty.

  • "Hit the nail on the head", so that's like a human head?

  • Hitting a nail into someone's head.

  • Yeah, that means death penalty.

  • "So what happened to Jebediah, how'd his court case go?"

  • "They're going to hit him in the head with a nail"

  • Adjourned!

  • Oh my god! That's horrible!

  • Who dies by nails through the head!?

  • Very very heavy penalty

  • Nooo. The flat part of the nail, that's called the "head" of the nail.

  • So when you hit the head of the nail...

  • ...you're getting something exactly right.

  • So like for one of these idioms you knew what it was, you guessed it correctly, so you hit the nail on the head with that one.

  • This one you did not hit the nail on the head.

  • But you hit the nail into the head... and that's horrible.

  • Ok Jun. Jun-sensei.

  • What does "Elvis has left the building" mean?

  • Rachel: "Elvis has left the building." Jun: What's "Elvis"?

  • Oh my god.

  • Rachel: Ok Jun. Jun: Hai! Rachel: What does "beat a dead horse" mean?

  • Means you're a jerk.

  • Means you're a jerk?

  • Yep. Yep, you're an asshole.

  • Because you're beating a dead horse?

  • Yep, the worst thing you could do.

  • You're the worst, that's what it means.

  • You would really be an asshole if you were beating a dead horse.

  • So the term "dead horse" actually used to mean something of no value.

  • So "beating a dead horse" is a phrase that means you're wasting time doing something that has already been done.

  • Rachel: So let's say... Jun: Ok, I got it.

  • So let's say you have an argument with someone and you try to convince them that you're right.

  • And then you give up, you're done.

  • And then someone comes over and starts having the same argument...

  • ...you'd be like "don't bother, you're beating a dead horse", because you already tried that, it didn't work.

  • "Hear something straight from the horse's mouth".

  • An idiot.

  • 'cause you're listening to a horse?

  • "The horse told me!"

  • To "hear something from the horse's mouth" means you're hearing something from the authoritative source.

  • So the person who is authorized to speak on the subject.

  • Sounds like there are so many idioms about or related to horses.

  • We like our horse idioms

  • I wonder if there are any more horse idioms.

  • Oh I know, I know one. I didn't even have to look it up.

  • "Horsing around"

  • "Stop horsing around!"

  • Like, stop messing around?

  • Yeah, this is what like a mom or teacher would say to their kids.