I'm having a hard time reading this book, E. It's all upside down.
Oh, you're having the same problem.
E and I are having a problem because he's looking at himself in the mirror, and his
His head should be here, but it's on the bottom.
And I'm reading this book and I don't understand the words, because the words are in the wrong
place; they're all upside down.
That's probably one of the phrases that we use in English that confuses many people who
are learning the language, because the words are all, well, kind of topsy-turvy.
Today's lesson, I'm going to show you five common things that we say, and they are direction
related, which they do give us an idea of what direction things are going in, except
we often say it without thinking that you won't understand because we use them only
in this manner, in a certain way.
Let's go to the board and take a look.
E's having problems because his picture or his mirror is upside down.
Let's start with the first thing.
I've got one "inside-out".
I was going to wear it, but you can see it.
This is the right way to wear the shirt.
When it's inside-out, you will notice...
Now it's the wrong way because you can see the label.
Have you ever worn your shirt inside-out by accident, and someone has to go: "Ahem.
I never thought about it!" it means the in part is on the outside.
Funny enough, this is usually when people wear their clothes incorrectly, but we have
When you say: "I know something inside-out", it means: I know everything about it because
I know every small part, from the inner part - the smallest part to the bigger part.
So, I say: "I know this book inside-out."
I know everything about this book.
So, listen for context, because if they: "Hey, son.
Your underwear is inside-out", it doesn't mean: You know everything about underwear;
it means you should take it off and put it on properly.
Okay?
But if you know a book inside-out...
This is the outside of the book; this is the inside of the book.
So, when saying: "I know this book inside-out", it means I know all of the information on
the inside, right to the outside.
One thing and you've learned two things.
Let's see what else we can learn.
So, listen for that when English people speak.
If they say to you: "I know everything about this company inside-out; I know everything
about this company, from the floor, who cleans it, how they make the money - I know everything."
But if my shirt is inside-out, I need to go home and change.
Round and round you're calling me, doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo.
Dah-dah-dah...
Yup.
"Round and round", it means to go in a circle, moving in a circle.
If you say: "We've had this conversation for, like, 20 minutes, and we're just going round
and round the same things", it means the conversation isn't getting any...
Nothing new is coming; we're just talking about the same things again, and again, and
Hopefully you know what a CD is, because everyone streams now.
Or a DVD, it goes around and around.
So, a lot of times, in English, people go: "We've been through this before; we just go
round and round the same conversation."
It means: Nothing is new; we just move in a circle, like my poor dogs who are confused
and going in different directions.
And they're like: "Round and round.
No, that's not round; it's the..."
Yeah.
Okay.
So, things, when you hear a Canadian or a Canadian English person...
English speaker go: "Why are we going around and around the same thing?"
They should say "round in a circle".
They won't say "circle", usually; they'll just say "round".
Another variance or another one of these is "around".
They go: "We go around and around" Same thing.
Around and round, because they're both talking about circles.
Cool?
Number three: "tip top", "tip-top".
Used by British people more, I would say, from England, but people know what it means
when someone says: "something's in tip-top shape".
Or to make it even easier, if you go: "What is that, James?"
When you look at a pen, that end on the pen, this very thing here is the tip of the pen,
So, this is the tip of the arrow.
So, "tip and top", if you notice, it's the very end of something.
So, in this case, we mean the very best, because the best is up here and the best is here.
So, when someone says to you: "This room is in tip-top shape", it is in excellent shape.
If I say: "I feel in tip-top shape", I am feeling very healthy and very strong.
Okay?
This is the problem that E had.
E said: "It's all upside down."
He's looking at himself, and he notices his head is here when it should be here; tail
I'm going to teach you a fancy word for "inverted".
This...
Oh, I should have taught you another one; it's in the back of my head now.
This pen is in the correct position.
When it's inverted, the pen is this way.
Another way of saying this is: "upside down".
Now, right now, the pen is in the correct position and I'm upside down.
Take your computer: "Now James is inverted; now James is back again!"
Okay?
So, "to invert" something means to change its position from one position to the opposite
So, a lot of times, English people say: "Oh god, everything's just upside down", which
means it's not in the correct order.
It's, like, normally we come to work and we have coffee, then we have a meeting, and then
we go to do our jobs, and then we have another meeting.
But now we started with a meeting, we did our jobs, then a meeting, and then coffee.
It's been changed to its opposite side or its opposite way.
Okay?
So, if your life is upside down, it means-and this is kind of a separate meaning-everything
is in the wrong order or everything is out of order.
Cool?
So, listen when people say: "It's all...
I'm...
It's not in the right or correct order.
Cool?
Yes, my stickmen have become acrobats.
So, he didn't quite make it; he flopped - failed.
Hi, Brazilians, I love you guys.
I forgot what you call them, and you put them on your feet, and you call them flip...
We call them "flip flops".
"To flip flop", here, is you make a decision and then you change your mind.
You suddenly change your mind; you reverse the decision.
"Okay, so let's go for dinner.
I would like to have McDonald's."
Just before we get to McDonald's: -"I mean, no, no, I want chicken.
-"What?
What?
It means to continually change your mind on a decision.
Some people flip flop all the time - it drives you crazy.
It's like: Just make a decision and stick to it.
A lot of governments flip flop, don't they?
Every country, your government says one thing and then they do another.
It's like they cannot make a decision.
We, at engVid, can make decisions, and we've decided to teach you.
Okay.
So, anyway, I hope you like these five.
We're going to have a couple more; you know, there's a bonus round.
Are you wearing your shirts inside-out?
Okay?
I'm sure you're in tip-top shape, because you're in the hands of myself and our crew.
[Snaps]
So, we have, as usual, our bonus - a smart...
A little quiz and some homework.
But before I get to that, I'll just say welcome back, and let's look at the first bonus word
I want to give you, or phrase: "topsy turvy".
Do you remember we talked about "upside down" means things were inverted?
Sometimes you'll see people use "topsy turvy" and "upside down".
For instance...
Or, for example: The pen is upside down.
Okay?
And that's a very common to say...
Common thing to say: The phone is upside down or the book is upside down.
No one would look at this book when it's like this and say: "It's topsy turvy."
They would say: "It's upside down."
But sometimes "topsy turvy" and "upside down" can be used...
Are interchanged; people use them.
Remember I said: "My life is upside down"?
My life isn't actually upside down; I wasn't dead and then I was born - it doesn't change
like that, but it's confusing; it's a mess.
"Topsy turvy" means more to being mixed up or a mess; everything's messed together.
But because of that, sometimes people say: "topsy turvy" and they mean upside down, but
So, when a book is upside down or a pen is upside down, you don't say "topsy turvy".
But if things are confused, or messy, or mixed up, you might see people saying: "It's topsy
Or in a rollercoaster: "It's topsy turvy.
It's, like, it's all over the place."
Okay?
Well, for some of you smokers out there, you know what Zig-Zag is.
Mm-hmm, you make your own cigarettes and probably something else, right?
"Zig zag", though, when we talk about in English, we mean to go suddenly to the left and to
So, you "zig zag" - you don't go in a straight line; you move back and forth.
You're zig-zagging, like the letter Z.
That's why we have a "z" and a "z": "to zig zag".
Left turn, right turn; left turn, right turn.
Cool?
So, right now, I'm zig-zagging, as I come to the camera.
Okay?
Speaking of which, let's go right to the questions.
I'm sorry, it's been a long day.
When you look at this particular quiz, I'm going to write...
Well, I have written out what peopley...
What people have actually say...
Would actually have to say if they didn't use the phrases.
I gave you these phrases, like "topsy turvy" and "zig zag", because really, if you don't
use them, you have these long phrases that you have to say instead.
And we like just saying the short phrases because the meaning is understood by most
The very first one is this one: "We made sudden turns to the left and to the
right, going through the streets of Toronto."
I bet you can think of an easier way of saying that.
Yeah, we talked about "zig zag", right?
You go: "We zig zagged through the streets of Toronto."
We went this way, we went that way, we went this way, and we went that way; not a straight
line.
Cool?
Let me clean that up a little bit.
You can say: "We zigged and we zagged", but not: "We zagged and we zigged".
Through the streets of Toronto.
"They went in circles arguing about the same things.
They went in circles arguing about the same things."
[Hums] Yeah, it's still bad, even when I'm just doing the music sound.
"They went around and around".
I know this is three words, and three words; but as you can see for the next one, they
get longer and we only need a few words.
I love this one: "She didn't realize her shirt had the inside
on the outside and the outside was on the inside."
I don't think I would ever say that, because in English, I know
Yes: "inside-out".
Say: "inside-out".
"Her shirt was inside-out."
Done.
Cool?
Just put a little hyphen, there.
Okay?
So: "Her shirt was inside-out."
"I don't trust them because they constantly change their minds on important decisions."
They constantly change their minds on important decisions.
Remember, if you go to Brazil you wear these?
Remember we talked about "flip flop"?
The guy was in the air, jumping, doing a flip, and then he flopped.
"They flip flop on their decisions."
And now, the last one: "I feel in excellent shape."
And I said they usually say this more in England, but they will say it in Canada and America.
A little joke for you: In Canada, we have a store called: "Tip Top" suit people, and
No offence, Tip Top, but you know you're not.
But, you know, it does mean the very best.
So, we've gone through and you've done your quiz; I'm sure you did rather well.
"Boooo".
I want you to write at least two sentences with these new phrases.
Taught you about seven phrases, so you have a choice between seven.
You could be romantique and say; "I zig zag through the streets of Rome with my love."
That's, like, a French accent.
Anyway, I'd like you to do the other quiz lined up for you.
And where are you going to go for that quiz?
You have to go to www.engvid.com; eng as in English, vid as in video, and I know I said
Okay?
And before you go away, hit "Subscribe".
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I always and I should always say: Thank you for watching.
Don't forget to hit "Subscribe"; there's a button somewhere, here.
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Cool.
Ciao.