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  • Hello. Welcome back to www.engvid.com. Today, we're going to be dealing with: "Idioms of Colour".

  • Okay? There are really beautiful ways of describing things in the English language,

  • and they will add a degree of richness and variety to your spoken and written English.

  • I'm going to be telling a story today about my friend, Bob, and what happened to him,

  • and you're going to be learning 12 idioms using colour, or 10-12 colour idioms. First

  • thing I wanted to point out was here in the UK, we spell "colour" with a "u". We like

  • our u's in UK style English, original English. But in the America... Well, in the USA, they

  • tend to forget about our worthy u's. So, you know, make your own mind up.

  • My friend, Bob, he got beaten up until he was "black and blue". Okay? He got beaten

  • up. Okay? So, "black and blue", it describes the colour of his skin because he has bruises.

  • Okay? He gets beaten up. He was in a fight. He got in a fight until he was... Until he

  • was beaten black and blue. It means he got badly beaten up.

  • The police said that the matter was "black and white". Okay? So, my friend, he's got

  • beaten up, so I ask the policeman: "What's happened, here? My friend, he got beaten up."

  • And they said to me that the matter, that this whole topic, this subject, this event,

  • it was "black and white". Okay? It was clear. Okay? It was clear what had happened. There

  • was no questions: what had happened? My friend, Bob, had been drunk, so he got attacked, he

  • got beaten up. Okay?

  • So, what did I do? Well, I asked Bob's mom: "Why? What's happened? What's happened to

  • Bob? He got drunk. He got beaten black and blue. What's going on, Mrs. Bob?" And Mrs.

  • Bob said: "Well, Bob, he's always been a bit of a 'black sheep'.

  • " That's a red sheep. What's

  • a black sheep? Ma-a-a. A black sheep is one that goes a different way. So, we got lots

  • of sheep. Okay? Here's a big family of sheep, and here's Bob. Here's Bob being a black sheep.

  • Well, what does a "black sheep" mean? Well, a "black sheep" means he's gone a different

  • way. Okay? Because most of the time, sheep are what colour? Yes, they're white. But Bob,

  • he's a black sheep, he's a bit different. He's taken a wrong turning. You are going

  • the wrong direction. Okay?

  • So, I'm still talking to Mrs. Bob, and I'm like: "Yes, but he was 'born with a silver spoon'.

  • " Okay? If I'm born with a... Woo, it's silver, the spoon. With a silver spoon

  • in his mouth, it means the gods are giving riches. Okay? Caliban in The Tempest, Shakespeare:

  • "Me dreamed that the clouds opened and showed riches ready to drop upon me." Okay? Sorry.

  • A bit over your head. He's born with a silver spoon, Bob. Okay? What...? What the...? What

  • does that mean? It means he was born into a good family. Yeah? He's born into a big

  • house, there's a car, there's food. But Bob's been a black sheep, okay? And he's gone to...

  • He's gone to Hull instead of to New York, maybe. Sorry, people in Hull. It's a glorious

  • city. I love it very much.

  • Okay, so he was born with a silver spoon. He was given-okay?-gold, silver; valuable.

  • Okay? Lots of money for gold and silver. He was given "a golden opportunity", a great,

  • a fantastic, a magnificent, a brilliant opportunity. Yeah? To... To go to a good school. Okay?

  • And so Bob went to the good school, but he thought... Okay? Past tense of the verb: "to

  • think", he thought that "the grass was always greener on the other side". Okay? So here's

  • Bob, he's at his school. He's got his silver spoon, and he thinks that it's always better

  • to be... Well, a... Someone swimming in the sea, under water. He thought it was always

  • greener to be a deep sea diver. Okay? A deep sea diver. So "deep" means far under the water,

  • right down. So Bob thought it was greener to be under water, to be doing something completely

  • different. Okay? So here's Bob, to think it's greener on the other side, he always thinks

  • it's better over there. So if I'm in a blue car, I think it's better to be in a red car;

  • if I'm in a red car, I think it's better to be in a blue car. Bob thought it was better

  • to be a deep sea diver. Uh-oh.

  • So, he soon was "in the dark" about things. Okay? So he's swimming, he's in the water.

  • He's in the dark, it means: don't know what's going on. Yeah? I don't know. So, you could...

  • You could say... If someone asked you a question, you could say: "Sorry, mate. I'm a bit in

  • the dark about that." It means: "I don't know. No one has told me." Yeah?

  • Because he was a bit in the dark with his finances, he didn't know what was going in

  • and out of his bank, he soon came "into the red". Yeah? "Into the red", yeah? Pound sign

  • going down, down, down, down, down. Or dollar, if you prefer the dollar. I don't. Okay, he's

  • going into the red until he's minus. Yeah? So he has no money at all.

  • What Bob really wanted was for people to "roll out the red carpet" for him, to treat him

  • as an important person. Okay? You see movie stars, they have the red carpet. Bob so wants

  • to have the red carpet rolled out for him, but he's being a deep sea diver, and he doesn't

  • have any money. I'm not saying that deep sea divers don't have money. Don't get me wrong.

  • It's just Bob's a bit in the dark about what to do with his money, and so it all goes to

  • the wrong places.

  • Now, Bob would have been "tickled pink"... Okay? You know what tickle is? Tickle. [Laughs]

  • That looked a bit like a chimpanzee, but tickle is like, you know, we have an itchy bit here,

  • an itchy bit here. [Laughs]. Yeah? That's to be tickled. Okay. A bit weird. Sorry. Inappropriate.

  • To be "tickled pink", it means really happy. Yeah? Pink, you know, it's kind of... It's

  • a happy colour, a bit of a gay colour, but it's happy. Yeah? Tickled pink. He would have

  • been... He would have been. So we can use our tenses with... Because it's "to be tickled

  • pink", so he wanted to be... No. We wouldn't say: "He wanted to be". He was tickled pink.

  • So normally, we would use it in the past or in the present. I am tickled pink that you're

  • watching my video right now.

  • So, we never really saw his "true colours", dee, dee, dee. Yeah? You know the song? His

  • true colours. We never really saw Bob's true colours. It was such a shame.

  • And he didn't really "pass life with flying colours". But, you guys, on the other hand,

  • are going to pass my quiz with flying colours. Aren't you? You're going to know exactly what

  • "black and blue", when you beat him black and blue. To see things in "black and white",

  • yeah, crystal clear. The "black sheep" of the family, the one who does things a bit

  • different. "Born with a silver spoon", born with everything they could want. "Given a

  • golden opportunity". "The grass is always greener on the other side" or not.

  • "In the dark", when you don't know about something. "In the red", when you're in the minus.

  • "Roll out the red carpet", to be treated importantly. And "tickled pink" when you're so happy with

  • everything.

  • You want to see the "true colours". So "true colours", what is this? It's if my colour

  • is red, and grey, and black, and blue, it's like saying my person. These are my colours.

  • Inside my mind, you see all the beautiful colours. Okay? It's seeing my heart, seeing

  • the colours that are in me, Benjamin. Okay? To see someone's true colours, you see the

  • best of that person. Okay? So... You could see... "To see someone's", okay? The true

  • colours of someone. To see someone's true colours. To see the very best of that person.

  • Okay? "To pass with flying colours". Flying, yeah? I'm doing pretty well because I'm flying,

  • so the colours... So we're flying colours. What do you think "flying colours" are? Sort

  • of red, yellow, green, blue, pink, purple, I don't know. "With flying colours" just means

  • that you do exceptionally well, like 100% distinction.

  • That is what I want you to do now. Do the quiz: www.engvid.com, quiz on "Idioms of Colour".

  • If you really want to, subscribe to my YouTube channel, and I've got some more things going

  • on at Exquisite English. So if you want to continue the relationship and, well, get out

  • of the dark in terms of your English, then maybe go there as well.

  • Thanks a lot for watching my video. See ya next time.

Hello. Welcome back to www.engvid.com. Today, we're going to be dealing with: "Idioms of Colour".

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