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Oh, it's hot; oh it's cold.
Come on, these are simple, simple expressions which you can use, and I want you to speak advanced English with impressive vocabulary.
So, in this lesson, I'm gonna teach you 10 alternative expressions to "It's cold."
Hi, and welcome back to English with Greg.
I've done a few of these videos in the past, where I encourage you to avoid simple, basic words and use more impressive vocabulary to help you sound more advanced.
Today, we are using the word "cold", which is a very common word that you're gonna use in winter,
so, let's avoid using the word "cold" and start using some of these alternative expressions instead.
If this is your first time here, I'm Greg.
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OK, I've got 10 expressions and I'm going to go in order of coldness.
So, the first one I'm gonna give you is just a little bit cold.
And then at the end of the video, that will be the coldest expression to use.
So, if it's just a little bit cold outside, you could say that it's "cool".
Cool also has another meaning, which is "stylish and fashionable and good", generally.
Cool⏤it's a very, very common word, but the original meaning of it is "a little bit cold".
Oooh, it's a bit cool today.
So, a little bit colder than cool is "chilly".
Chilly is, again, a very common word.
If it's just a little bit cold outside or in the room, you could say, "Oh, let's... let's put the heating on in the house because it's a little bit chilly."
It's getting chilly.
A word that we use for outside but not inside, really, is nippy.
It's nippy because the air has a cold nip to it, I think.
We don't usually say that, but the expression we often use is "nippy"⏤"Ooh, it's nippy; it's nippy today."
This, again, is a little bit colder than "chilly".
It's nippy.
Crisp⏤I'm sure you know the word "crisp".
There's our crisps.
And if it's "crisp" outside, perhaps the ground is starting to get a little bit frozen.
When I think of the expression, "Ooh, it's crisp today," I think that perhaps there is some frost on the ground.
We're talking maybe zero, one, two degrees⏤it's crisp.
And a super common expression is "freezing".
As I said before, I've done a few videos where I help you avoid common words and use more advanced vocabulary.
The first one I did was years ago, and it was telling you to avoid the word "very"⏤you can watch that up there.
And in that I said, "Don't say it's very cold, say it's freezing," because this is a very common expression, which means "very, very cold".
You can say, "It's freezing outside," or you can say, "I'm freezing."
Maybe you go out and you forget to take your coat, you would say, "I'm freezing."
You can also say, "I'm freezing cold."
It's freezing cold out there; I'm freezing cold.
It's kind of obvious because you can't be freezing hot, but it's an expression that we often hear.
I'm freezing cold.
OK, without a shadow of a doubt, my favorite one is the next one.
It's brass monkeys out there.
It's brass monkeys out there.
This means that it's very, very cold, and this expression is quite obscure.
It actually comes from a longer expression, which is not polite.
It's a very vulgar expression.
But we use this, which doesn't involve any of the vulgar part of the expression.
It's... it's brass monkeys out there.
Now, if you're interested, the full version is that "it is cold enough to freeze 'a certain part of the anatomy' off brass monkeys".
Again, it's quite obscure, but that's the origin of this expression, I wouldn't worry too much about that.
But this, "it's brass monkeys out there", is a great expression to use and to impress native speakers.
OK, next we have "icy"⏤it's icy.
If, literally, it is zero degrees Celsius or colder and the water is turning to ice, you can say, "It's... it's icy out there."
Like, so cold the water is turning to ice; it's icy.
The next word we can use is "bitter"⏤it's bitter.
And again, when I think of the weather being bitter, I think of people in woolly hat, scarves, coats up to the top, really bundled up.
"Bundled up" means wearing lots and lots of warm clothes⏤hat, scarf, gloves, big coat⏤all bundled up.
Why are they bundled up?
Because it's bitter out there.
And, finally, this is a word that I only heard when I was living in the Midwest of the United States.
Often when the weather was about zero degrees Fahrenheit or lower, which is about minus 18 degrees Celsius,
people would describe the weather as "brutal".
Brutal⏤this is quite extreme.
It's not only cold enough that you need your hat, scarf, coat, and gloves.
It's so cold you mustn't spend more than 10 minutes outside without protective clothes because if you do, it's just really, really dangerous for your health.
So, I personally would never use the word "brutal" for weather that we have in England, but in certain other parts of the world, they get brutal weather in the winter.
If you have liked this lesson, please leave a thumbs-up and watch one of those videos next.
Because if you've liked this, I'm pretty sure you will like one of those videos.
OK, guys, thanks for watching, and I'll see you there.
Bye for now.