LET’S GET STARTED
It’s the beginning of the year and although, generally speaking, I tend to reject the popular trend of making New Year’s Resolutions, I’m going to recommend 12 expressions for you to learn and use during the next 12 months.
That’s just one per month.
Or two, if you want to prepare one in advance.
Little by little.
And speaking of one or two, the expressions included in this blog all have a connection with the numbers 1 and 2. It’s binary.
J A N U A R Y
ON ONE HAND… ON THE OTHER HAND
It’s January, and most shops hold sales and offer special discounts. We often find two for the price of one offers, amongst others. And so, not wanting to be outdone, my first expression of the year is also a two for one: on one hand… and then on the other hand.
Unfortunately, on one hand, is an expression that is often used incorrectly, and by that, I mean it is often used alone. Remember, we have two hands, so if you say on one hand you need to counterbalance what you say by using on the other hand. The whole idea of these two expressions when they are used correctly (that is, together), is that we are comparing two different options or even expressing opposite points of view about a situation.
· On one hand, I love seeing the sun shining in the sky every day, but on the other hand, having to put on sun-block every time I leave the house is a bit tiring!
· On one hand, €145,000 seems like a very fair price, but on the other hand, they can’t really afford to pay that much.
If we don’t use one of them, in theory, we can’t or shouldn’t use the other one. They are supposed to work as a pair. As you´ll see, one without the other means the full sentence is slightly incoherent.
Having said that, many native speakers don’t do this and have been confusing people who are studying English for time memorial.
Don’t be like them. Be right! From January onwards and for the rest of your life.
F E B R U A R Y
ALL IN ONE PIECE
If something arrives in one piece, as you can imagine, it means that the item in question is complete. It has arrived at its destination safely.
That is undamaged (for an object), or for a person, unharmed.
If you are moving your furniture from one country to another, (as I am right now), you are looking for a removal company that is going to deliver everything to your home in one piece, right down to the last cup or glass.
If you have ordered a fragile item on the internet or are moving this month, good luck!
I hope everything arrives in one piece.
M A R C H
ONE HIT WONDER
This is quite a negative phrase. Let’s be honest.
When we use it, we are saying that while a person or entity (such as a football team, company, political party, or singer) was incredibly successful on one occasion, they never managed to repeat their early success as time went on. We are hinting at failure and at the fact that it’s unlikely that these people or entities will ever recapture the glory days of the early part of their careers.
The hit referred to is usually a hit song whose success a recording artist never manages to repeat, no matter how hard they try.
Boom! If you are trying to think of a Spanish example of a one-hit-wonder, The Ketchup Song by Las Ketchup might spring to mind. They had a number 1 hit in around 20 countries in 2002, a feat they just couldn’t match with any of their future songs.
A P R I L
ONE THAT GOT AWAY
The One That Got Away, in addition to being a song from Katy Perry’s third album, Teenage Life, is also an expression that describes a love interest which didn’t materialise into anything, but which with hindsight, (that means, looking back) we wish it had. We look back and believe that this romance was our one chance at love – and the person involved, the love of our life. And we let this elusive figure escape!
We will never know if things would have worked out. It’s impossible.
So, actually, focusing too much on the one that got away is probably the biggest waste of time ever and not great for our mental health.
For those people who have never had a human one that got away, the expression can also be used to describe a prize or personal achievement that we just missed out on and have always regretted. That could be anything from the biggest salmon of the season if you are into fishing or a much-desired job that you almost got but missed out in the last round of interviews. As with past romances, it´s also best to leave these salmon or dream jobs in the past.
Forget them. NOW!
M A Y
ONE OF A KIND
This is something that is unique.
Like the month of May.
Okay, maybe it is MORE unique than the month of May.
You might say that your life partner is one-of-a-kind if you know you’ll never meet anyone quite like him or her again. If you have bought a one-of-a-kind painting on-line, then, either you are very rich, OR, you have bought a fake, painted by some second-rate, copy-cat artist who has just conned you out of a lot of money. There are very few things that can be truly described as one-of-a-kind in the 21st century, but if they are, the words one, of, a, and kind will be connected by hyphens.
J U N E
BACK TO SQUARE ONE
You start something. It doesn’t turn out the way you wanted or fails miserably and you have to start again. From the very beginning.
There are multiple theories about its origin, but I like two – one related to American football fields and the other related to board games like Snakes and Ladders, where, if you are unlucky and land on a snake’s head, you have to move back to the square where the snake’s tail is located, which in many versions of the boardgame was Square 1, meaning you had to start all over again
Ouch! That hurt.
· Our house and all our possessions were destroyed by the tornado, so I guess it’s back to square one for us.
· I failed my driving test, so it’s back to square one. What a pain!
J U L Y
TWO HEADS ARE BETTER THAN ONE
No man is an island. Have you ever heard this?
It means that doing things alone is never the best option. In fact, it can often be very useful to have the help, advice, and opinions of a second person when doing something important.
That’s the central idea of two heads are better than one.
Apparently, we are more likely to be successful when we work on a project with someone else than if we try to do something by ourselves. And this is not a recent idea. It’s a concept that has been floating around in written English since the 1540s, so it must be a pretty solid one.
Try it out.
Working with a friend or partner on your English will make it easier for sure. Especially, if you want to improve your conversational English.
A U G U S T
LIKE TWO PEAS IN A POD
Peas are small green vegetable balls.
Some people can’t get enough of them and others hate them. With a passion.
This expression describes two people who are almost identical, to such an extent that it is almost impossible to tell them apart. Even if they are not related.
Logically. If you look at two green peas in a pod, well, there is very, VERY little difference between them. At least, to the naked eye. So, when we compare people to peas, the people will need to be pretty similar, and not only on the outside. When we use this expression, we could be referring to physical characteristics or people’s characters, or both.
· When we were kids, my older sister Annie and I were like two peas in a pod. We enjoyed the same games, we disliked the same foods and we were good at the same subjects at school. We were like twins.
S E P T E M B E R
TWO LEFT FEET
Most human beings have two feet, a right foot, and a left foot.
And both of our feet are important if we want a stress-free life.
Most humans, however, are right-footed. According to a 2020 study published by Papadatou-Pastou et al, 89.4% of the population is right-footed, meaning only 10.4% of the population is left-footed.
Like with left-handedness, the left foot usually comes out “second best”.
Take for example having ‘two left feet’, a condition that was discovered in 1915. This is where your left and right feet are not symmetrical, thus giving the impression of imbalance. The left foot is no more asymmetrical than the right, but we still blame the left foot or ‘two left feet’.
People who have two left feet are thought to be incredibly clumsy or awkward on their feet, so they will probably not be very good dancers or balancing artists. Foot agility is apparently very important for dancing. And balancing.
· My brother has always had two left feet and tripped during the first dance at his wedding.
· I tried to keep up with the rest of the Aerobics class, but I have two left feet and was completely lost.
O C T O B E R
IN TWO SHAKES OF A LAMB’S TAIL
I´ll keep this one short in honour of this month´s expression which means very quickly.
If you are at the doctor’s or at the hairdresser’s and they tell you they’ll be with you in two shakes of a lamb’s tail, you can rest assured that they will be with you in a very short time.
This phrase and its abbreviated version in two shakes are starting to disappear, so I’m hoping readers of this blog will help to popularise them again, even if only during October 2021.
· Give me a second. I´ll be with you in two shakes of a lamb’s tail.
· She made lunch in two shakes of a lamb’s tail.
NOVEMBER
KILL TWO BIRDS WITH ONE STONE
I think there are equivalents for this expression in most languages. For example, in Japanese they say 一石二鳥. I hope.
The idea is that by doing one action, you can achieve two (or more things).
My local newsagent’s is also the village post office, so if I go to buy a newspaper, I can also return items to Amazon or post letters, neither of which I do very often.
· We killed two birds when we were in Paris and went for a quick visit to the Eiffel Tower after our business meeting.
DECEMBER
TWO-TIMER – TO TWO-TIME SOMEONE
This one is painful.
But I have to say that I love it because I have never taught or explained this expression before.
Prepare yourself. The two-timer is a much-maligned figure in most countries.
In English, a two-timer is a person who deceives their romantic partner by having a secret relationship with somebody else. Yes. A trickster! A big, dirty, lying cheat!
Obviously, the verb to two-time describes the act of cheating on or betraying your spouse or lover.
· While he was going out with Susan, he was two-timing her with another girl from the factory.
· His boyfriend was a two-timer who, according to friends ‘had a guy in every port’.
By the time we get to December 2021, I sincerely hope everything will have calmed down a little. How many of these expressions or idioms do you think you will be using effortlessly by then? How many of them will you have experienced first-hand by then? It´s all a big mystery! Only time will tell.
T H E L A S T W O R D
In this section, I’ll include an explanation of vocabulary from each chapter which you may not be familiar with. Learning is fun!
trend (n) fashion, popular belief or behaviour
to counterbalance (vb) to balance something with an equal force or weight
sunblock (n) cream applied to the skin to protect it from the sun avoid sunburn
fragile (adj) delicate, easily broken or damaged
with hindsight (exp) the ability to understand something after it has happened, although you did not understand or realize it at the time
to con somebody (vb) to get something from someone by deception
right-footed (adj) a person who uses the right foot more naturally than the left one
left-handedness (n) the fact of using the left hand more often than the right to do things
trickster (n) a person who cheats or deceives people
cheat (n) a person who behaves dishonestly to gain an advantage
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