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  • Hi. Welcome back to engVid. My name's Adam. Nice to see you again. Today's lesson is about

  • idioms. Everybody loves to learn new idioms because they're used every day. Sometimes

  • they're a little bit hard to understand. Today, we're looking at colourful idioms, idioms

  • that use colour in their expression. Before I begin, "colourful", you'll notice I used

  • "u". I'm Canadian, we use the "u" just like the British people. Americans use only the

  • "o", no "u". I used both just to make everybody happy. So just so you understand, it's not

  • a spelling mistake either way.

  • Let's begin. So I have a few idioms here. The thing about idioms, they never mean what

  • the words say; you have to actually understand what the idiom means and how to use it.

  • So, if someone sees the world or sees a situation "through rose-tinted glasses". "Glasses" are

  • glasses you wear on your head. "Rose-tinted", there's a little bit of a pink shade on the

  • glass. So you're seeing the world a little bit pinkish, like the colour of the rose.

  • That means you're very optimistic. Even in a bad situation, you're going to see everything

  • as good. You're seeing the world through rose-tinted glasses. Right? You work at a company and

  • they're about to layoff half of the staff; half of the people are going home, no more

  • job. And you think: "Oh, this is a great opportunity for me to find a new job and get a... advance

  • my career." So I am seeing the situation through rose-tinted glasses. I don't see the bad economy,

  • I don't see the fact that I'm 55 years old and I don't have any skills except for what

  • I do in my job, but I will be okay. "Rose-tinted glasses".

  • "Give someone the green light." You often hear this about governments giving the army

  • the green light to attack. "To give the green light", to give permission. Okay? Go ahead,

  • like a green light in traffic. You see the green light, press the gas, you go. So, for

  • example: The... excuse me. The board of directors gave the CEO the green light to layoff half

  • his staff, even the ones wearing rose-tinted glasses. Okay? So everybody's going home;

  • no more work.

  • "With flying colors", we always add this expression to the end of an event or action. So, for

  • example: "He passed his interview with flying colours." With flying colours means very,

  • very successful; he did very, very well. He went to a job interview, he passed with flying

  • colours. He got offered the job. Okay?

  • If you're "tickled pink", means you're very, very happy. Like tickled, tickle, funny - right?

  • You're tickled pink, you get all pink in the face, you're very happy. So, Tom's grandfather

  • was very... was tickled pink when he found out that Tom and his wife were pregnant. Now,

  • I say: "Tom and his wife were pregnant," because it's common for couples to think of themselves

  • as pregnant, even though it's only the woman, of course.

  • "Paint the town red." This is a very good expression. You're studying for your English

  • exams. Okay? You're very hard... studying very hard, very hard, very hard. You finish

  • your exams, you're free. This weekend, you're going to go paint the town red, means you're

  • going to go party. You're going to have a very good time, you're going to spend all

  • night drinking, and partying, and clubs, and dancing, and people. Have a very good time,

  • you're going to paint the town red; do everything.

  • "Blue-collared worker/white-collared worker". This might be a very common expression for

  • you. "Blue-collared". So, first of all, a collar, if you have a shirt with a tie let's

  • say or no tie. This is the collar-sorry about the tapping-you have a collar. If it's blue,

  • means you're working in a factory or a garage; you're a mechanic or you're working in some

  • skilled job. If you're a white-collared worker, if the colour of your collar is white, means

  • you're working in an office, you're some kind of professional. Okay?

  • Now, if you're the type of person who "sees things in black and white" means you're very

  • straightforward, very simple, very direct. Maybe a little bit lacking imagination, not

  • necessarily. Things are black and white; there's no grey, there's no middle ground. It's like

  • this or like that; no other way. Right? So you're seeing things in black and white. Everybody

  • has a... Somebody comes across a problem and some people see things as possibilities. The

  • guy with the rose-tinted glasses, he sees potential. The guy who sees things in black

  • and white, he thinks: "I'm out of a job, I'm in trouble." He doesn't imagine beyond that. Okay?

  • So these are some very useful expressions, used every day, good idioms. You can practice

  • using these at www.engvid.com. There's a quiz there. And, of course, ask questions. See you again.

Hi. Welcome back to engVid. My name's Adam. Nice to see you again. Today's lesson is about

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