Name: Learn 8 Expressions in English with "Tongue"
Uploaded: 2019-02-03T05:39:49.000Z
Duration: 9 min 30 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...

Today I'm going to teach you some expressions
or some idioms about the word "tongue".

So, first of all, the pronunciation of this
word is a little crazy; a little difficult.

It looks like: "tongue", but it's actually
just: "tong".

Don't say the "u" or the "e"; just say: "tong".

Most people don't like it when you stick out
your tongue, so do it all the time;

I'm going to teach you expressions using this.

And I usually am not a fan of idioms; I think
idioms are usually outdated, which means they're old,

and we don't use them, but these ones
we do use and they're kind of fun.

And interestingly enough, you might have the
same expressions in your language.

So, let's do a little culture quiz, shall
we?

Let's see how many of these you have in your
language, or how they're different.

So, the first one, someone might say to you:
-"Hey.

So, this expression: "Has the cat got your
tongue?"

So, they're asking you: "Why are you not talking?

The next one: If someone has a "silver" or
a "smooth tongue", this means they are able

to speak very well; they have a good way with
words, you can also say.

For example, you can say: "She is a great
salesperson because of her silver tongue."

If you have a silver tongue, you are able
to speak to people; you can maybe sell them things;

you are charismatic, which means you
can talk to people, you can charm them.

If your tongue was silver, I'd try and steal
it and sell it.

So, biting your tongue is actually a literal
thing, but as the idiom, it means that

So, you want to tell someone something, but
you bite your tongue to prevent you from speaking.

Example: "I had to bite my tongue in the meeting
because if I spoke or if I said what I thought,

So, if you bite your tongue it's you prevent
yourself from speaking, probably because you're

going to say something that someone doesn't like.

But don't bite your tongue; it really hurts.

This is good for you guys that are learning
to speak English: "Slip of the tongue".

Oo, that sounds a little dangerous; a little
slip of the tongue.

So: "a slip of the tongue" means you make
a small mistake when you speak.

When you're learning English and you're trying
to speak English, even if you make a small

Wow, my English is terrible", you can say:
"Ah, it was just a slip of the tongue.

I used the past tense instead of the past
perfect.

Sometimes you can use it like this: "Oh, I
was embarrassed by my slip of the tongue."

So maybe you said something that was wrong,
and you felt embarrassed.

But, again, you shouldn't feel embarrassed;
it's just a mistake.

This is interesting, too, for you guys:
"mother tongue".

Your "mother tongue" is your native language.

So, for example, if you're from France, you
could say: "French is my mother tongue."

This makes sense because it's what your mother
spoke.

Now, I don't know why it's not your 
"father's tongue".