Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • Hello everyone!

  • Welcome to Idiom 100, where we learn 100 commonly used idioms by native English speakers.

  • All of the explanations are in English, so it might be challenging for you,

  • but just try to imagine the meanings in your head and study hard and soon you'll be able to use these idioms in your conversations.

  • Is everyone ready? Let's begin.

  • Hello everyone! Nice to see you again.

  • Today's idiom is: walking on egg shells.

  • Walking on egg shells.

  • Alright, so does everyone know what an egg shell is?

  • It's from an egg, it's the shell, the outside, the white part of the egg.

  • And it's very fragile, right?

  • So, if we put a bunch of egg shells on the ground and we walk on the egg shells, you have to walk very carefully.

  • You don't want to break the egg shells, right?

  • So, you can't stomp around. You're going to walk very carefully if you are walking on egg shells.

  • Alright, so let's imagine this picture in our head as we listen to the examples.

  • How is your daughter doing?

  • Her entrance exam is coming up, so we're all walking on egg shells around her.

  • Alright, so the daughter has her entrance exam coming up. She's very nervous and worried.

  • So, the family is walking on egg shells around her.

  • Maybe they're very careful what they say or what they do.

  • Okay, let's listen to another example.

  • How did the trip to Mexico go?

  • There was a spread of influenza, so we were all walking on egg shells for a while.

  • Okay, so influenza went around Mexico, so they were walking on egg shells.

  • They were very nervous and careful not to get the influenza.

  • Alright, so 'walking on egg shells', if you guessed it, means to be very careful in a tense situation.

  • Okay, maybe someone's very nervous or it's an uncomfortable situation and you must act very carefully.

  • What you say or do could be very bad in the situation if you're not careful.

  • So, let's think maybe your friend lost his job, okay, and he's having a difficult time with money.

  • So, maybe you should walk on egg shells with him.

  • You should be careful. Yeah, you don't want to talk about money or invite him to a nice restaurant or something.

  • So, in such a tense, uncomfortable situation, be very careful and walk on egg shells, alright?

  • So, that's all for today. I'll see you next time!

Hello everyone!

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it