Episode 30: Idioms About Parts of the Body

Today we're exploring the colorful world of body-related idioms, phrasal verbs, and expressions! With so many to choose from, we’re putting fate in the hands of a spinning wheel, landing on a body part, and uncovering a few surprising idioms featuring each one. Don't turn your nose up at these useful idioms - this episode is full of fun, laughs, and phrases you’ll want to keep an eye out for!

Show Notes

Transcript

D           Welcome to Coffee and Conversation for ESL Listening. I'm Donielle.

K            And I'm Khrystyna, so grab a cup and join the conversation.

D           Hello, hello, so good to see you.

K            Hi, good to see you too. How's it going?

D           It's going, you know, we're kind of full swing with fall already. It's in full swing.

K            Yes, has the weather changed in your part of the country?

D           Yeah, I mean, yesterday was pretty cool. I was a little annoyed that I had to actually put on long pants and socks instead of shorts, but fortunately, you know, it's back to normal today. Cooler, but not like sock weather.

K            I do not feel bad or sorry for you at all. Because we had really nice weather a week ago. And then this week, it's just… it became so cold that we had to turn on the heat in the house because it was too cold to sleep at night. Definitely socks, closed toe shoes and pants and jackets and my kid even had to put gloves on the other day for school. So it's just really cold, although…

D           I know. Ugh, that's awful.

K            They say this weekend is supposed to be really nice and like 70s and we're talking about Fahrenheit. Yeah. Yeah. So it's supposed to go up and be nice.

D           Yeah, well, that's good. I mean, I remember being in Illinois and the weather just changes so drastically from day to day. And I swear that is why I was sick all the time. I was always getting sinus infections. Knock on wood; I hardly ever get that anymore. And I have to say it's got to be the weather.

K            It has to be and right now it's just such a strange season here because you have this change of weather right so I feel like people start getting all… same thing… sick or like sinuses and earaches and headaches but also it's a harvesting season here and I don't know people if people know that in Illinois there is a lot of corn fields and soybean fields so they’re harvesting all of that and all that pollen and all that dust, you know, picks up and it's just everywhere. So allergies have been horrible this year. 

D           That's not good.

K            So, but that's okay. We're going into cold season again, I think it will kind of calm down a little bit with the allergies, but then you know, other things will come out like flu and all that.

D           There's always something, it's like, you know, roll the dice, what new sickness or ailment you're gonna get.

K            You know, it is what it is.

D           Yeah, it is. Anyway, enough talk of that. Nice segue I had there, right? That's it, enough of that. Anyway, so we have a topic today and we got to thinking about doing this because it seems like our earlier episode about animal idioms was pretty popular. People seem to enjoy idioms. I know I do. And so we thought we would take another crack at idioms. Another crack at means another try, another attempt. This time we are going to talk about parts of the body. There are so many idioms related to head and back and feet and leg and you know all of that.

K            Oh yeah.

D           So many so that when I was trying to prepare for this I was super overwhelmed. I can't even imagine someone trying to learn all of these things if I'm overwhelmed looking at how many there are.

K            Right, right. Well, and you know, the best part is… a little sarcastic. Best part about idioms is they make no sense. Unless you know the meaning. 

D           Yeah, yeah, there are a few that, you know, kind of, sort of sound like what they are, but some of them you're like, what the what?

K            Yeah, you know what, idioms is what make language fun and rich and interesting and exciting and so kind of have those.

D           Yeah, I like them and I think people like learning about them. So we're going to talk about a few of them. But like I said, there are so, so many of them. What we decided to do is make this a little bit fun and we put them in categories based on the part of the body. And Khrystyna is going to spin a wheel and she is going to choose from our “Wheel of Doom.” 

K            A body wheel

D           A body wheel. Arms and hands flying out everywhere. 

K            Pretty much.

D           Well, that's another podcast. Never mind. Well, you know me and my true crime. Anyway, so she's going to pick one for us and then we're going to just...talk about one or two in the category and we'll just pick something that sounds interesting and we'll have a little chat about it. How does that sound to you, Khrystyna? You ready for your wheel duty?

K            Sounds like fun. yeah, I have it right here. So..

D           And a real, real high-class podcast that we have here. The sound effects are going to be amazing.

K            Yes, they are going to be amazing. Thank you very much. 

D           Alright, Khrystyna, spin that wheel of doom.

K            Here we go. Alright, so we have a winner! Shoulder. Yeah, body part is a shoulder and the shoulder is that body part that's in your main torso, but that's where your arm comes out of.

D           Right, the arm connects to the rest of your body with your shoulder. Yeah. And this is interesting because I think this is the one body part idiom that I found the fewest expressions for. So anyway, does any[thing] come to your mind? Any idioms? If not, it's okay. 

K            No.

D           Okay. How about when you give someone the cold shoulder?

K            That's a good one. That's a good one. Because again, unless you know the meaning for this one, it kind of makes no sense.

D           No, you really would not be able to guess this. Maybe from context, you know, if you said something like, I was so mad at my coworker because, you know, she did something crazy and made me so mad when I saw her the next morning, I gave her the cold shoulder. Right. 

K            Yeah, so that yeah, that makes sense.

D           Yeah. And so that just means like, I am… I'm upset or I'm angry, I'm annoyed with someone. So I'm going to kind of ignore them, pretend that they don't exist or be very cold in my responses if I have to respond.

K            Yeah. So giving somebody [the] cold shoulder doesn't mean that you actually put ice on their shoulders to make it cold, but ignoring. would, I would agree. Like the best definition would be, you know, like ignoring them, just, you know, kind of giving them …

D           or being distant. Distant is a good one. Like you would normally be more chatty, but you're annoyed. So you're keeping your distance. Not friendly. Yeah. 

K            That’s a good one.

D           Yeah. What are the situations would we give somebody a cold shoulder?

K            Oh, I'm sure like, you know, spouses do that to each other all the time.

D           Yeah. That's what came to my mind as well. Yeah.

K            Yeah, not that I've ever done that to my husband. There's no way. No, no, no, no.

D           No, no, that's so funny because, you know, I think that's something that a lot of people do. Like when you're mad at your spouse, what do you do? You give them [the] cold shoulder, right? And I think for most men, they're probably like, all right, she's being quiet. She's leaving me alone.

K            She stopped talking! Finally!

D           Finally! I’ve got to do this more often.

K            Gosh. You know, let's also, so you know what? That's the thing. Maybe we should think next time when we give our husbands [the] cold shoulder, because it's actually benefiting them.

D           Yeah, exactly. Maybe, you know, like that Pavlov's dog kind of thing, like maybe we're training them without even meaning to. 

K            Yeah, yeah, we gotta be careful about it. I mean, it's good that we're talking about this so now we, you know, we can be more mindful.

D           Exactly. Just be more irritating when you're mad at them.

K            I feel like we can do another episode here on, you know, relationships.

D           How to annoy your spouse. 

K            That would be a good one.

D           All right. So yeah, that's about it. I think for cold shoulder, give someone the cold shoulder. So, yeah. what, here's a good one. Sometimes if you're feeling upset or you're sad about something, you already know what it is, right? You need a shoulder to cry on.

K            Well, you cry on… okay. So I was going into a different thing, but it doesn't have shoulder in it. So I was like, wait a minute, where is she going with this? Because when you're upset, you hang something, right? [She was thinking about “hanging your head” – tilting the head down and looking down when sad, embarrassed, ashamed, etc.] But that's not a shoulder. Yeah, that's a different body part. But yes, a shoulder to cry on. That's a good one too. But in this case, it kind of makes sense, right?

D           Yeah, even though you're not literally crying most of the time, it's really just the idea is you're really sad or you're upset and you just need someone to hear you out, to listen to you, to say, you know, everything's going to be fine or whatever. Someone who's open to listening to your tales of woe.

K            Right. And I think that the idiom comes from, you know, sometimes when you're sad, when somebody hugs you or kind of comforts you, it would be close to their shoulder. So that makes sense. 

D           And certainly sometimes if someone is literally crying, you know, they are crying on the shoulder. Yeah. But just to be clear, when you need a shoulder to cry on, doesn't literally mean that you're necessarily, I mean, maybe you'll cry, but it's not a requirement for this idiom. It's just, need someone, to, to listen to you, to make you feel a little better. Yeah.

K            Do you want to do another one or do you want to try a different body part?

D           Let's try a different one because as I said, I really didn't have that many on that one. So let's see what's next.

K            Okay, all right, ready for the next spin?

D           Next spin, let's go. 

K            Alrighty. Ooh, another winner. 

D           They're all winners.

K            I'm sure you have tons of idioms for this body part. It's a foot.

D           Foot. Love this one. Yeah, I do have tons, but I'm not going to do them all because we'll be here all night. Okay. So I think the first one that comes to my mind and I think is so useful and maybe you can help me think of some good examples for this. When you put your foot in…

K            your mouth.

D           Yes, you put your foot in your mouth. 

K            And look at that, we have two body parts in here.

D           Yeah, that's true. Yeah, that is true. There are a couple like that - that involve two body parts.

K            So it's interesting because when you think of it, it makes no sense, right? Because usually people don't put feet in their mouths. Unless… 

D           yeah, pretty rarely, I would say.

K            …unless they're babies, which they put their feet in their mouths all the time.

D           I was gonna say that. Yeah, they do that all the time. Yeah.

K            But it's just an interesting way of saying that you said something wrong, something you shouldn't have said.

D           Yes. And it's usually connected with like, either saying something that was really, I don't know if we know this word here, not tactful, meaning like not a nice diplomatic thing to say, like kind of rude, without intending to do that, or maybe just something embarrassing, like, my gosh, why did I say that? That was so dumb. You know, that kind of a thing.

K            Well and sometimes, you know, when you say something that could get you in trouble, they say, I really put my foot in my mouth.

D           Exactly. we can use a spouse example again, right? Yeah, seriously. It's like,

K            when they sometimes put their foot in their mouth, we give them [the] cold shoulder after that.

D           We're going to tie all these together somehow. But it's true, right? Yeah. So I'm thinking like, okay, for the guys out there listening, don't do this. If your wife says, you know, do I look like fat or overweight or bad or, you know, ugly or whatever disparaging thing that we might say about ourselves in this outfit, in this dress. You absolutely have to say, no, you look fantastic. What are you talking about? Because if you say yes, 

K            You’re really in trouble.

D           You’ve put your foot in your mouth.

K            Yeah. Or if you get that question asked, you just find an excuse to leave the room so you don't answer the question.

D           But that could be a pretty significant non-answer as well. So I don't know about that.

K            Well, it depends how good the excuse is to leave the room.

D           Yeah, it's gonna have to be really good. Yes. But yes, if you answer this incorrectly, you will maybe get more than the cold shoulder. I don't know.

K            I'm sure after that the spouses might have to cry on their wife's shoulders. I'm telling you, we're going to tie all this together. We're going to come up with a really cool story at the end with all these idioms.

D           yeah, that would be interesting. Like if we made a whole story out of this, I could do it too. I…that sounds like, sounds like a challenge.

K            Sounds like something for show notes there.

D           Oh dear. Okay. yes. But thank you. Since you mentioned show notes, you know, we'll just get that out of the way right now. Don't forget to check out the show notes and yeah, you get to find out about more details about all this and other stuff. before I move off of foot in one's mouth, I also want to say that we tend to say this in different ways too. Sometimes people will say something like, “Oh, he really put his foot in it.” And the implication being it is the mouth. He put his foot in his mouth. Sometimes we say as a response or commentary about someone who's done that, we might say, “Open mouth, insert foot.”

K            like an instruction. 

D           Exactly.

K            Open mouth insert foot.

D           Yeah. And if someone does this kind of thing frequently, we might say that they have “foot in mouth disease.”

K            You know, I don't think I've heard that one before. 

D           No? Yeah, definitely. I've heard that. So, yeah, you can see from all the different ways you can say this that it is quite common.

K            That's a good one. What else you got?

D           Yeah. yeah. So I don't know which one do I want to… which one do I want to talk about? There's so many, I can't decide. Okay. how about put my foot down?

K            That's a good one.

D           I like this one a lot because, you know, most of the time for a phrasal verb, I would say it's more like a phrasal verb in a way. There's usually an equivalent that is less informal and this one, it's hard to really get to like a good one-word equivalent for this. The idea is you have an opinion on something and someone wants to change your mind or they want to do something and you don't want it and you’re, “No, I'm putting my foot down.” It means I am, I am being serious on this. I'm not going to change my mind. We're going to do it this way. I'm putting my foot down.

K            Yes. Putting my foot down. It, you know, what comes to mind as an example, when my kid sometimes really wants something and he will keep asking and keep asking and keep asking, hoping I'll say yes. And finally, I have to put my foot down and say, no more. You ask one more time and this will happen. Right? So I have to stop him from asking me by putting my foot down.

D           Yes. And, of course we don't literally put our feet anywhere, but you know, you get like an image in your mind sort of, of someone who's really determined, stomping, putting that foot down like real hard stomping. they're like, that's it, no more!

K            Well, maybe sometimes we actually do that when we put our foot down.

D           Yeah, sometimes I'm sure that's where the expression came from. All right. Well, that's two for that one. So shall we move to next body part?

K            Let's do it. All right, ready? Ooh, this is a good one too. It's nose. I bet that one has a lot too. 

D           Yes. Yes. Where is it? I’ve all these notes here. Yes. Nose does have quite a few. Probably this may be something that a lot of people know is when you refer to someone as being nosy, right? 

K            Oh yeah!

D           And nosy, means like, it's sort of…It comes from the expression of that you always put your nose into someone's business, right? Like, hey, what's going on? What? I got to know. Tell me.

K            Yeah, or sometimes we'll say like somebody sticks their nose into somewhere, right? Stick your nose into. Yeah.

D           Yeah. Right. Stick your nose where it doesn't belong. That's one kind of thing, right? Like, you know, it's not your business. 

K            Not your business. Keep your nose out of it. that's another one.

D           Yeah. Keep your nose out of it. Yeah. Exactly. So yeah. So the word, I guess, the verb, no, not verb. my gosh. Hello, Danielle. No, no, no. I'm trying to say the adjective. I'm going to get to it eventually. The adjective nosy, to say someone is nosy, I think probably comes from this idiom.

K            I'm sure, I'm sure this kind of makes sense you stick your nose into it. Yeah.

D           Yeah. what else? Anything else about…?

K            I have one. Oh, about nosy or a different one?

D           No. Whatever. What you got?

K            So I thought of one about nose -  is when you say that somebody turns their nose up at something.

D           Ah, that's on my list. Yes. Yes. That is a really good one. I like that one a lot.

K            Well, and I think it makes sense to when you think about the meaning of this one. Right. So when you turn your turn your nose up at something means you don't like it. You don't want it. It's not good enough for you.

D           Exactly.

K            So when you think of that, when you turn your nose up, you kind of go up and like you, right? Your nose goes up, you put your head up like, I don't want it.

D           Yeah, you're like, ew, no, and you stick your head up in the air kind of, and your nose does kind of go up. Yeah. So you turn your nose up at something. Yeah, you don't like it. It's, and you're right. It has an idea of like, it's not good enough for you. You know, can you imagine, someone who is super wealthy, and maybe you were to offer them something that is just below their standards and they'd be like, no, thank you. 

K            Mm hmm. Yeah. I think sometimes people use this idiom with food too, if they don't like something, right? I cooked this for you and you turned your nose up at it. 

D           Yeah. Yes. Right. It's a negative thing because it's like, hey, I made this for you. And then you're not even going to be appreciative enough to be nice about it or try it or something. Just turn your nose up and you can really envision that whole thing. Someone actually doing that. So what would you turn your nose up at? What kind of food would you turn your nose up to?

K            Gosh, this is the hardest question of my life because I like food, so.

D           Really? Man, there's gotta be something that you're like, ewww.

K            Ok. I really don't like Velveeta cheese. You know, that orange melty processed block of cheese. I probably would turn my nose up at it.

D           And you know, this is a little bit like, okay, so and another word that comes to my mind is snob. And that idea of like, I'm too good for that, or that's below my standards. And I feel this way about the cheese that you're talking about. It's like, ugh, that's cheap cheese. That's no-good cheese. I’d turn my nose up at it because we're a little bit snobbish about it. Like we know good cheese, right? You know, it's like, I don't think so.

K            I know my cheese and that's not up to my standard of cheese.

D           That's not cheese, I'm sorry. Next, try again. You have pressed an incorrect button. That is not cheese.

K            That’s not cheese. Do you want to do one more for nose or move on to next one?

D           How many did we do? We did two. I think…

K           Let's try maybe another one.

 D          Let's go to another one. 

K            All right, here we go. Oh my gosh, this is a good one too and I'm sure you have a lot of examples for this one. The body part is an eye.

D           Ah yes, an eye. Okay. This one is a little tricky because I feel like there are a lot that kind of sound similar, but have completely different meanings. So I'd like to talk about, yeah, I think I'd kind of like to talk about a few of these 

K            Alright.

D           Because like just one preposition changes the whole meaning or sometimes two prepositions. Okay. So if you keep an eye out for something, keep an eye out for something, that means someone is telling you to be on, be on the lookout, be aware, pay attention. We're expecting to see something or we're hoping to see something. So be looking for it. Keep an eye out. Yeah.

K            Yeah, yeah, so be paying attention, look for it. You're right, you're right. 

D           Yeah. And it's such a funny sounding expression. I know that when I've done that idiom with my students sometimes, of course y'all can't see me, but I would do this thing where I would like pretend like I'm pulling my eye out of my head and like pulling it out. Keep my eye out. Like keep an eye out. There it is.

K            So you turn into a pirate when you teach okay

D           Arrrgh! Here you go. So we would use that for like, let's say you're driving, right? And everybody's getting hungry and cranky and we need to stop and your husband, let's say your husband's driving. And then he says, all right, keep an eye out for a place to stop for lunch. Right?

K            So like, pay attention to restaurants and all that while you yeah, yeah, that's a good one. I like this. I like this idiom.

D           Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's a good one. I know we use it all the time. Okay, so then there's also keep an eye on something. Okay, very different. And it means to watch something carefully, kind of protect it. Like, for example, if you're on a beach or something and you're going into the ocean to swim, right? And you might tell whoever's sitting next to you, hey, can you keep an eye on my bag? Or it could be anywhere.

K            The example that comes to my mind is you know how when you try to warm up the milk on the stove, you’ve always kind of keep an eye on it. And as soon as you turn away, it's a split second, as soon as you turn away, it goes over.

D           Yeah, that's true. So can really be anything. Keep an eye on the kids while they're playing, right? 

K            Yes, yeah, watch them.

D           Watch something carefully so that something bad doesn't happen is the idea.

K            Right, right. Yeah, that’s a good one. I like that one. 

D           So those were two about keep an eye. We have keep an eye out for something, keep an eye on something. And then...This is a little different one, but how about have an eye for something?

K            Oh, that's a good one too.

D           I use this all the time because I am artistically, creatively, whatever, challenged. 

K            That’s not true!

D           It's 100 % true. I don't have an eye for decorating or even necessarily what colors necessarily go together. I don't have an eye for art, like what looks good, you know, that kind of thing.

K            So how would you explain to not have an eye for something? Like, that you don't have that talent?

D           But it's a visual talent, right? It's like, I don't have the ability to process what looks good together, or does this chair go with this table or something like that? I don't have an eye for that. Or even putting up pictures, like what organization that it looks good, you know?

K            By the way for everybody who is listening, it is not true. She does have an eye for creativity. Her house is very well furnished and decorated.

D           No, it's not. 

K            Yes, it is.

D           It's definitely not. And I hate it too, because I watch tons of those, you know, like those house shows or decorating things like that. And I'm like, that looks so good. But then if I'm staring at my own house, I'm like, I don't know. I don't know what to do. 

K            You have a very nicely decorated house, so…

D           Yeah, well, thanks, but…

K            All right. What do you think? Do we have time for another body part or…

D           Let’s do one more.

K           Just one more? 

D           Let's do one more and we'll wrap it up here soon.

K            All right. All right. Sounds good. Ready? Ooh, this one is good too. 

D           Oh no.

K            It's an ear.

D           Oh, ear. Well, just like you can have an eye for something, you can also have an ear for something like music or languages. That just jumped out at me because we were talking about an eye. 

K            Well, that’s a good one because that makes sense.

D           Yeah. Yeah, it really does. Now where is my ear? 

K            Well, hopefully, on your head somewhere.

D           I don't have an eye for my ear. I don't know. Okay. It's going off the rails today. Sorry, guys.

K            Oh yeah, we're making our own idioms here

D           Here's another spouse related one. In one ear and out the other. Right?

K            And it's so true for spouses.

D           Yeah. And I'm not gonna lie, it works both ways. My husband will tell me something and I'll be like, uh-huh, uh-huh. And then later on I'm like, what? What’s he talking about?

K            So in one ear out of another means that you listen but you don't hear kind of right you forget what you've been told.

D           Actually, it's the other way around really. You hear but you don't listen, right? 

K            Right, right.

D           Cause that's the difference between hearing and listening, which I know is really confusing. I think any language that two different words for that concept, people get very confused. I know even in Spanish I have the same problem. But anyway, being aware of sounds is hearing, but listening is noticing and paying attention and registering something. And so they'll say something to us. We will be vaguely aware that they're saying something, but what? Who knows? 

K            Not paying attention.

D           One ear and out the other. Yeah. Or also kid related, right? You tell your kid, maybe clean your room 10 times, 15 times. It goes in one ear and out the other. They're ignoring you. 

K            Yes.

D           So either they don't hear you or they're not listening or they're not acknowledging or they're just ignoring you.

K            Yeah, they sometimes call it selective hearing. They only want to hear what they want to hear.

D           yes, so true selective hearing. Yes, it is true.

K            That's a good one.

D           All right. I like this one. When you give someone an earful. 

K            That's a good one.

D           Yeah. And I actually used this expression not that long ago, because I have a legal situation regarding some property in another state. And I have an attorney and that guy, it goes in one ear and out the other. I say the same thing over and over and over again. And the next time I talked to him, it was like he never heard the story. Oh what? Like it was the first time, right?

K            Goodness, that's frustrating.

D           Yeah, it is. so at one point it became a problem because he totally forgot something really important and it was going to cost me some money. I was like, AAAAH, so I gave him an earful and I was like what are you talking about? So, I mean, not necessarily yelling at them, but really, you know, talking a lot about why you are so upset and complaining, letting them know how you feel. Yeah.

K            Right, just letting them know, yeah. Yeah, yeah, an earful. I like that. I got an earful.

D           Yeah. Exactly. Okay. Well, last one on the ears, because this is just a nice way to go out. Music to my ears. 

K            Oh, that is a nice one.

D           Yes. When you hear news or information that is just exactly what you wanted to hear. Like, woohoo, that's music to my ears. Right?

K            Yes, something that makes you happy something you were expecting to hear. Yeah, yeah, that's a good one music to my ears, which makes sense. Happy music and nice music.

D           Exactly. So if Khrystyna ever decides to tell me she's coming to visit me in Alabama, I will say, “That's music to my ears!”

K            One of [these] days, you will hear music to your ears. Yes, yes.

D           Okay. I will hold you to that. Okay. Well, this has been a lot of fun. I enjoyed this. 

K            Yeah, me too.

D           I hope you all did too. If you like it, let us know. We've got that join the conversation link or something like that in the app, wherever you're listening. So let us know what you think. If you have another expression you'd like us to talk about, we can always do that too. 

K            Yes, absolutely.

D           But do check the show notes for all these idioms that we've talked about and other things that we may have mentioned vocabulary-wise that we might want to talk a little bit more about and more. So definitely grab those. And until next time, here's to good coffee, good vibes, and great conversations.

K            Cheers!

D           Cheers!