Name: Animal idioms and expressions in English
Uploaded: 2015-10-31T05:26:08.000Z
Duration: 13 min 4 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Present continuous

Okay. Hi. James, from EngVid. I've just been shocked. And it's bringing out my animal nature.

Today's video is on expressions -- some people say "idioms" -- but expressions using animals.

Future simple

Now, in English, you will find there are a lot of expressions and animals, and people never really think about it.

In fact, I think in your own language, the same thing happens.

You have expressions with animals, and you use them every day.

What I want to do today is give you about six of them from different animals,

and I want you to get the understanding because this will help you when we do other ones later or for ones you already know.

Animals are usually used to show human behavior. Huh? Well, yeah. When we say, like, "crazy like a fox,"

we mean really smart and intelligent, stealthlike. Not stealthlike, but you know, clever.

"Clever" means to have good skill. So we're talking about human characteristics or things that human have.

And we're showing animals that depict -- and "depict" is another way for saying "show"

-- show how or in the best way to illustrate to other people.

I must be a visual person because I like these visual words. Okay. But they show that in

the best way for people to look at the animal and understand instantly.

And that's one of the best reasons for using these kinds of idioms because what you really mean, people understand,

even if you don't use it perfectly. I mean, like, "Smells like a rat."

I said that today, and I meant "smell a rat," and that's one of them you're going to learn today.

Because as soon as you know, you know, "Oh, that must be bad." Even though I didn't say it correctly,

we'll get it better than some other idioms you might try to use to express yourself.

So if you keep in mind that animals are used to show human behavior, then, you'll

basically understand why we use animal idioms, and it will be easier for you to remember. Okay?

You like that? Yeah. Because you're crazy like a fox. Okay.

Where should we start? What the? Whoa. Okay. Apology time. Sorry. The EngVid art department is not here.

Usually these would be drawn much better, but our monkey looks like something on LSD.

Okay? The rat looks like it got rabies, which is a disease. And the pig looks like it's been going on, like -- I don't know.

I don't want to say somebody's diet because somebody will get angry because it means the pig looks fat.

Like it's been on the -- okay, whatever. Whoever's diet, okay?

But let's get to the board and talk about the animal expressions, okay?

I did two for each. And when you think about them, remember what I said.

Animals show human characteristics or actions or behavior, okay?

Well, I like this one, "Monkey see, monkey do." No. 1. What does that mean?

It means to copy. If you watch monkeys or apes [makes monkey sounds], you know, Tarzan's ape,

they copy humans all the time, and we love them, right? You see them walking and talking and trying to act like us.

And because of that, we use the idiom, "Monkey see, monkey do,"

to talk about a person who is copying you or copying someone else, especially babies and children.

If you take up a cigarette and smoke, if you look down, a baby will pick up a pen or a pencil and pretend to smoke.

And the mother might say, "Monkey see, monkey do." Okay?

In a way, it's an insult. Remember this. Because monkeys are considered lesser humans -- well, less than humans.

So if someone says "monkey see, monkey do," they're not really giving you a compliment.

They're saying, "That person's an idiot, and so are you. Monkey see, monkey do."

Okay? So don't use it on people unless you're using it in a funny way with a good friend --

like he's copying you; you're like, "Monkey see, monkey do." --

or you want to insult somebody, "Monkey see, monkey do." Understand? Cool. And that's why

we use it for children, because children don't know any better, so we say they're not as smart as adults.

Now, monkeys are not only -- they are very intelligent. That's why they can copy humans.

But our second one is "monkey business." If I say, "When I leave, Mr. E,

I don't want no monkey business going on around here." It means I don't want any illegal --

trust me on this -- illegal or unethical behavior. It seems monkeys aren't just eating bananas these days.

They're running businesses. When we say "no monkey business," it's because people are playing around.

Usually playing around with the rules or the law.

And sometimes, it's unethical, even in relationships, or illegal, right? Stealing money from a company is monkey business.

And even though it sounds funny, it's very serious. They're saying,

"There's a lot of monkey business going on here. Things that are not right." Okay?

So you notice using the monkey in many idioms is to show there's intelligence, but it's

either in a negative way, or you're not intelligent. So watch when people use monkey idioms. All right?

No. 2. As you can tell -- well, I didn't draw it. Mr. E, did you draw is? Somebody doesn't like rats.

So, "I smell a rat" because this rat doesn't look as happy as the other animals.

When you smell a rat, it means you smell something's wrong. Rats are dirty, disgusting animals.

Rat lovers, hold up. "Hold up" means "wait," okay? Hold your peace. I'm not -- I have nothing against --

well, I do. I don't want rats in my house, okay? But when we say, "I smell a rat,"

it means (a) you think somebody who may be telling secrets, your secrets to someone else, right?

But specifically, "smell a rat" is you smell something is wrong because rats are typically bad.

Most people don't like rats. So if somebody is "ratting" --

one we even use is "to rat you out," which is to tell your secrets to other people, your bad behavior.

Smelling a rat is not good. So when someone calls you a rat or uses an idiom or an expression using a rat,

they're saying something negative about you or the situation.

I smell a rat. I smell E. I think E did that picture because that rat got a red eye.

"The rat race." Rats tend to run around because they've got no job. They just run around, run around.

They have no job. They've got nothing to do. They're crazy. Well, not crazy.

They're just running around your house eating everything. We refer to the "rat race" here

as any behavior that keeps you very, very, very busy in activity, but not necessarily getting anywhere.

It's called a "rat race." Get a job. Pay your bills. Die. That's it.

That's the rat race. You go, "What is the significance -- 'significance' means 'importance' -- of my life?

What am I trying to accomplish?" So when you're in the rat race, you don't have time for that.

All the rats are running in the same direction, and so are you. We're out to get our cheese and get the heck out.

The rat race is what you do with your life unless you take time to think about it.

So once again, it's kind of negative because people you might -- sorry, I'm going fast.

You might say the rat race is what everybody does, but people who, you know --

it's not just reading, but take time to enjoy life go, "No. The rat race is getting caught up in money and business."

And you should be careful about that. Okay? So that's the "rat race."

We've got two more. And I love these two and so will you. "To pig out." Notice our svelte pig.

"Svelte" means "skinny." Quite clearly, this pig is not skinny. "To pig out" means

to eat a lot of food in a short period of time. Generally, we pig out on holidays.

When you go home for Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, Thanksgiving, Valentine's, or family dinners,

you might "pig out," which means to eat a lot of food in one sitting or at one time.

I like to pig out when I go home to my mom's because she's a very good cook. You might

pig out at McDonald's, right? And that means to eat a lot in one sitting. So don't try

to pig out too much, or you'll get like this pig -- fat. It's not a pretty sight, is it? Okay.

I've got one more to do, okay? I'll come back to a couple things, here. Okay. "To hog something."

When you "hog something," it means to keep to yourself for a long time when you should share some with other people.

You could "hog" the road, which means your car takes up two lanes.

You know, if you've got two lanes of traffic, okay. If you "hog" the road, you drive here because nobody can move.

But when you hog a pen, maybe everybody should use the pen for five minutes,

and you keep the pen for 30 minutes. You're "hogging" it.

Like all pigs, you keep too much for yourself. Okay? Cool?