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  • In this English lesson I wanted to help you learn

  • the English phrase, quit while you're ahead.

  • When we say to someone,

  • "You should quit while you're ahead,"

  • we're basically saying things are going good for you

  • right now, but they might start to go badly.

  • So you should quit while the thing

  • that you're doing is going good.

  • Probably the best example of this

  • is someone who is gambling,

  • someone who is betting money, maybe at a casino.

  • Maybe they've won some money,

  • but you would go up to them and say, "Hey, you know what?

  • Maybe you should quit while you're ahead."

  • Because we all know with gambling,

  • if you win some money eventually,

  • you're probably going to lose it.

  • Generally, the casino has the odds in their favor.

  • That's why I don't go to casinos.

  • So when you tell someone to quit

  • if you say, "You should quit while you're ahead,"

  • basically you're saying things are going good now,

  • maybe it's time to stop.

  • The other phrase I want it to teach you is the phrase,

  • doesn't know when to quit.

  • When someone doesn't know when to quit, it means

  • maybe they're doing something that's bothering someone

  • and the person they're bothering

  • is eventually going to get angry.

  • Or maybe they're just telling little jokes about someone

  • or making fun of someone and that person

  • is starting to get a little bit angrier and angrier.

  • We would say the person who is telling the jokes,

  • the person who is bugging them,

  • maybe doesn't know when to quit.

  • And the risk here is that the person they are bugging

  • might get angry, might get really angry.

  • I see this sometimes with students.

  • I see it sometimes with my own children,

  • where one person is bothering another person

  • or bugging another person and then,

  • they don't know when to quit.

  • If someone doesn't know when to quit, they push it too far

  • and then eventually the other person

  • gets really, really angry.

  • That's not very nice.

  • So to review, when we say that you should quit

  • while you're ahead, it means things are going good,

  • but you should probably stop before they start going badly.

  • And if you know someone who doesn't know when to quit

  • they do kind of little things to bother people

  • or to make fun of people.

  • But they go a little bit too far.

  • They go too far and they make someone really upset.

  • So those are those two phrases.

  • But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video.

  • This comment is from Yaroslaw.

  • and the comment is this.

  • "Hi teacher, Bob.

  • Does this phrase up to also mean that something,

  • often, some decision depends on somebody's choice?

  • For example, I could call for help, but it's up to you."

  • And my response is this.

  • Yes, that is another meaning.

  • If someone said, "Which movie do you want to go see?"

  • I could say, "It's up to you."

  • This means the other person can decide.

  • So thanks Yaroslaw for that comment.

  • That was from yesterday's lesson

  • or the lesson from two days ago, with the phrase up to,

  • where I talked about a different meaning of it.

  • But it also can certainly mean that.

  • Sometimes when Jen and I go to buy groceries,

  • I'll say to Jen, "Which store do you wanna go to?"

  • And she'll say, "Oh, it's up to you,"

  • and that means it doesn't matter to her.

  • And I can simply decide to go to whichever store

  • I want to go to.

  • So sometimes it's up to me, sometimes it's up to Jen.

  • We often make decisions like that.

  • We often let the other person decide

  • 'cause it can be polite.

  • When you always want to get your own way in a relationship,

  • it's not always the best thing.

  • Now I'm giving marriage advice (laughs)

  • or just relationship advice.

  • It's really nice when you have

  • a relationship with someone to kind of

  • let the other person decide every once in a while

  • when you're going to do things.

  • When we go to a restaurant,

  • when life is normal and not COVID,

  • sometimes Jen will say, "Hey, let's go out to eat,"

  • and I'll say, "Where do you wanna go?"

  • And she'll say, "Hey, it's up to you."

  • And sometimes I'll say, "Hey, it's up to you.

  • It doesn't matter to me.

  • We can go anywhere you want."

  • And that works out really, really well.

  • Hey, anyways, that's it for today.

  • As you can see, it's getting brighter and brighter.

  • My eyes are closing more and more as I make this lesson.

  • It wasn't sunny when I came out, but it looks like

  • it's going to be an awesome, beautiful day.

  • Can't wait for stuff to turn green.

  • That will be really cool.

  • See you in a couple days with another short English lesson.

In this English lesson I wanted to help you learn

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