14 ENGLISH IDIOMS & SAYINGS from food & drink

In this lesson I'll introduce you to 14 different English idioms using metaphors from food and drink. Idioms are words or phrases that mean something you might not expect from the words' normal meaning. For example, if something is "fishy", it means that it is suspicious. I will teach you the meaning of "which side your bread is buttered", "nice as pie", "gravy train", "not my cup of tea", "crying over spilt milk", and more. Native English speakers use these expressions regularly in conversation. So to get your "share of the cake", watch this lesson, do the quiz at www.engvid.com/14-english-idio... , and improve your understanding of everyday informal speech!
TRANSCRIPT
Hello. I'm Gill at engVid, and today's lesson is on idioms and sayings which are based on references to food and drink. Okay? So, these are sayings that are sort of metaphorical, meaning they're not literally true, but they mean something in a different kind of context. So, you'll see what I mean when we look at the examples. Okay?
So, the first one is this, which is actually true literally, as well as metaphorically perhaps, but it's: "There's no point crying over spilt milk." So, if you spill... "To spill". If you drop the milk and it goes all over the floor, you've lost it; you can't use it, and milk is... Well, milk costs money; it's inconvenient to lose some milk when you need it for your... To put in your coffee or whatever. So, if you spill some milk, it's... You know, I... if it happens to me, I feel annoyed and upset because I've wasted some milk which I needed, really, and you have to then go out and buy some more. And it makes a mess; you have to clean it up. If you don't clean it up properly, it goes bad and it starts to smell. So, there are all those things to think about. So...
But then this saying is: "There's no point crying over spilt milk." The idea is once it's spilt, you can't do anything about it - that's it, you just have to get on, clean it up, carry on, go and buy some more or do without it; don't bother getting any more, have your... Drink your tea without any milk in it - whatever it is. So, this is what people say sometimes if someone's complaining and they're upset about something, people say that just to say: "Well, there's no point being upset about it. That doesn't achieve anything. You've just got to move on and be positive; carry on and don't just be negative all the time, saying: 'Oh, dear. Oh, dear, isn't this terrible?'" The main thing is to do something positive about it, and not just cry... Crying when you spill the milk. There's no point. Okay, that's that one.
Then the next one, if you say: "That's not my cup of tea" or "That's not really my cup of tea", it doesn't mean literally: "That's not my cup of tea; that's somebody else's cup of tea." What it means is that's not my taste. Okay. If somebody invites you to go to a film at the cinema, and maybe it's a horror film, and if you don't really like horror films, you probably don't want to go. So, you say: "Oh, that's a horror film, isn't it? That's not really my cup of tea. I don't think so. Tell me when there's a different kind of film on, and I might go to that with you, but horror film - no, not my cup of tea." So it's just a saying that we have. "It's not my cup of tea. It's not my taste; I don't enjoy that sort of thing." Okay. Right.
So, next one, if someone is on the gravy train... If someone said: "Oh, she's on the gravy train", it may be that someone has got a job, or maybe it's like a politician sometimes - they get the kind of job where they earn a lot of money, they have the opportunity to go out for meals in restaurants quite a lot, and it's all paid for on their work expenses and so on. So, if you're on the gravy train... The "gravy" is the kind of sauce that you put on your food. In English cooking, it's a kind of brown sauce; it could have beef flavour in it or chicken flavour, but it's hot liquid, quite thick. It's a bit like a soup, and you pour it on your meal with... If you have a meat and vegetable meal, you can pour gravy onto it to give you a kind of sauce to add to your food. So, it's the idea of sort of rich food and something nice to eat. So, if someone is on the gravy train, it means they're in a position where they can have a really nice time and lots of nice things to eat, and generally not have to worry about money and so on. So, that's that one.
Okay, next one: "He knows which side his bread is buttered." Okay. So, if you think of a slice of bread... There's a slice of bread. And if you put butter on your bread... You... I think you only put it on one side usually, don't you? If you put butter on both sides, it would get very messy because you'd be putting the butter down onto the plate, it would stick to the plate - you know, not a good idea. So, usually you put butter on one side of your bread, there. […]

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This is a kind of person I'd just love to have in my family just to sit with at dinner and talk about stuff. It's like she brings up the light and beautiful side of life. Thanks

[@JaneDoe-ci3gj]

Well said! I agree!😄👍

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I think the same, she es absolutely superb!!

[@shyambaranwal727]

Ma'am your voice is a melody... that adds value to your lessons like icing on the cake.

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The cutest teacher in the world. it doesn't matter what colour the apples are. they can even be blue in your lessons💙

[@juliankirilov8903]

Really,I agree!

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Lovely lady, with pleasure I watch her lessons

[@fernandodelrio8299]

Blue apples are also red or green for me.

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You are so right. She is a cutie.

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She really is.😉

[@brini2439]

Dear Gil, once again you helped a poor German girl understand the English language a bit more 🤩 I really love your videos and appreciate your work. You're such a charming person everyone has to admire. Thank you so much!

[@Me-kr7fg]

I thought every German speaks English. These languages are so familiar.

[@brini2439]

M e with your logic, every English speaker has to know German? Well, I've learnt several languages in school but you don't learn colloquial terms or everyday language there. Also, after many years out of school, you forget many things if you don't have to use it regularly, 😀 that's why I'm grateful to have these kind of videos 😅 I love to see this girl on camera an to improve my knowledge again. Unfortunately, I'm not able to travel through the world to learn it directly from the people

[@karicoleman3548]

Brini Pa I enjoy her so much also and I already speak the language. I just always learn something new 😊. Speaking of food, some of the best I ever ate was German food!

[@scarlettstarlet1892]

if you hadn’t said that you were German, I would have thought that you are a native English speaker

[@sudhirniranjanlalsharma3538]

Ich liebe Deutschland 🇩🇪 from India 🇮🇳

[@winter6470]

Gill is not only teaching English, but she also tells us stories we can identify with. How annoying is to spill milk on the floor, for which we have to go out and buy some other! I ♥️ her!

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There are are many youtubers teaching English but no one explains it the way you do Ma'am ♥️♥️♥️

[@ellahoncharenko]

You are absolutely right!!!

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Real

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0:10

[@chandrashekharhase2977]

Great and inspiring teacher. Presents the unit/text very effectively. Hats off dear. You are my ideal.

[@Sabride]

This lady is lovely, I discovered her yesterday and since then I am binge watching her! More relaxing than an hour meditation, next life I wanna be part of her family!

[@rogerbrigatti2721]

Ms. Gill, thank you for the help... I like the way that you explain about the language, you do talk in a format that make easy to understand... You don't know but you're my best teacher of the word for me... I'm Brasilian and I like to learn about the English and you make feel confident to talk ... I can understand what you told to us in your video... I do talk in my language... Muito obrigado... And in you language... Thank you by exist... See you soon... I hope... Don't stop with this job... You're amazing teacher.

[@miguelps2344]

Hi beautiful and professional teacher. Thank you for all your effort in the videos. You have helped me a lot. THANK YOU !!! Greetings from Guadalajara,Mèxico and have a great and magnificent day !!!

[@philipwilliams5808]

Hola Miguel, Yo estube en Guadalajara en dos mil y uno. Era bonita! I was travelling in Mexico for 3 months and I loved it! I was in a camper van stopping in little villages for the night and was always made very welcome and was well looked after by the lovely people of Mexico. Philip

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@@philipwilliams5808 beautiful city, indeed. Greetings from the underground.

[@akgaming2033]

You are the best teacher I have ever seen in my life

[@jeannettechermont3833]

The best english teacher I ever had. Thank you Mrs. Gill. 🙌🙌🙌

[@sigogglin]

English is my native language and I live in the US but for some reason I watched this whole video! All of these saying are used in the US as well but not “do you want jam on it” that is very British. Sometimes in the US I will say sarcastically “can I peel you a grape” :)

[@augusto321]

;) ahaha "peel a grape" is outstanding! Nice one.

[@Le_Petomane]

My wife is Mexican and she always looks for new material to improve her English, she just found your videos and she is completely fascinated with your lessons. She said, thank you so much Gill. xx

[@SuperZita123]

There's à Staying in Berber, which says: " The old cook( saucepan) makes the best soup." and I do agree. We can feel all your wisdom and teaching patience and in giving these enjoyable online lessons. Thank you, madam.

[@shkotovo]

Thank you so much. Your lesson is a pinch of gold. I enjoyed it.

[@zulfiqarahmad8757]

Gill is the master of articulative phonetics. It's a pleasure listening to her. She makes sure that each and every syllable sits in its place with the listener before she moves on to the next. Some more: Have the cake and eat it too. Rotten egg. Sour grapes. To be beaten like a rye.

[@reavidorabarete4738]

I so love this gracious lady! If she was my teacher I think i would have paid close attention and enjoyed more my junior high school English classes. Nice and marvelous person! ❤️

[@agnieszkaa.4600]

Dear Gill, it is SUPERB! Very helpful. I have never liked idioms, so difficult to me. You explains in such way that it's getting easier to remember.It's getting clear to me more and more.Thank you so much.You have such peace in you. I love it. I listen to you with pleasure.Keep doing pls!👍🍒😄

[@eagleeye5520]

What a lovely lady she's as nice as pie

[@JaneDoe-ci3gj]

I agree! Nice use of the idom!😁👍

[@saragarciarueda4249]

Dear Gill, I'm a teacher of English in Madrid as I did English at the uni. I'm so happy and grateful with your awsome videos, because you are holding a continuous conversation whilst you are explaining each of them. You speak clearly with a standard accent although I suspect you are from the North of English, l, but it sounds nice and I love people from the North as the are so friendly, although I don't understand their accents, I'd say they are dialects . You seem so charming and warm as a person, I'm chuffed to bits with your instructive and rewarding videos, Gill. Thank you for being so clear, patient and professional.´ Cheers

[@user-yl6lx1wz4t]

Thank you very much!!! You are amazing teacher in the world! ❤️

[@lovenature7727]

Hey Gil, we miss you so much. I appreciate what you present. Your lessons are so much enjoyable and helpful. Thank you so much, ma'am.

[@ahmedalshalchi]

Please correct her name , it would be impolite to mistype people's names !.... thank you...

[@dudidudi1047]

The best teacher, the most fantastic person which explains everything so so so so so well.

[@kothapallybalaramakrishna5005]

Your videos really help to improve my English a lot. Thank you dear Gill.

[@petronilobuan4648]

Thanks more of these idiomatic expressions my old aunt an educator and very intelligent once told me when you speak in a crowd or giving a speech use idiomatic expressions because your English speaking viewers views you as somebody who is cultured and highly educated! K

[@shaikarif9773]

respected mam I'm really thankful to you. Today I done lots of house chores work so I'm tired of it. cooking supper then I to busy in assanging household things and forget about milk which I kept on gas stove half of the part of milk was boiled. and flow away. I'm so upset about it but I remaind myself There's no point crying over spilt. milk (Idiom ) which coincedent today l learn it from your video🙏🇮🇳🌹Thanks again mam for your Excellent and incredible teaching👍

[@anasapsana824]

I adore these explanations about metaphors and idioms themselves 🤗

[@rajodumaify]

THE MOST CHARMING TEACHER!

[@TonyAkcaabat]

Dear Gil, I’m an English teacher myself and your videos help me a lot to understand things more clearly.

[@ilincutaalex6029]

Thank you Ms Gill. You have done a wonderful thing by explaining these idioms. It is another way to understand everyday -spoken english.

[@ArunMaskeri]

Gill you are the big big book inside you , giving such good knowledge is will help society at large. God bless you.

[@samdevries6280]

Gill, I always watch your video’s with pleasure and a very big smile on my face, I love the way you’re doing it. You are unique ❤️❤️❤️

[@martaholgado5046]

I love your lessons and the way you teach! Thanks so much!

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I just love your class, Gil! Thanks a lot!

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I have almost seen all your lessons. Wonderful teacher. Thanks

[@universe7761]

Thank you very much dear Gill for nice lessons !!! ❤❤❤

[@bettyrachmawaty541]

I love to learn English with Gil, especially about idioms, metaphora. Tks Gil. ❤ from indonesia

[@denislacombe4103]

Gil you're the best English Teacher all over the world!!!A French Man

[@user-tq4fv8ie6q]

Thank you for another useful video, Gill!

[@englishforchildren4557]

It's a real pleasure to listen to you - real British +profound knowledge. Thank you for that 🌹

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Wonderful video. It's so good to learn about your culture listening your mild voice and nice gestures.

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Also, your lessons besides being informative about the British language, is that your performance on those youtube seminars is the best possible I could find among the other teachers.

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They are the best courses I have found in English, excellent explanation and he speaks slowly and I understand almost everything in English. thank you, thank you very much I really like your courses

[@alvaroandresgaviriaespitia6354]

Thank you so much, your lessons are really helpful. ¡God bless you!

[@anv.4614]

Thank you teacher Gill. appreciated your lessons with idioms.

[@user-bg4xm6zl1m]

I was having really joyful time watching you, Lady.👍👍❤💛

[@amalia3843]

Oh, so nice to notice that there are people who are really concentrating the different sides of the language.

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The best teacher ever

[@user-do2kw9rv1i]

What a pleasure to listen to you speak, thank you

[@Marcelo-xi5wz]

You are the cutest teacher on KZbin, Gil. The examples you provide to explain each idiom helped us to understand clearly what they mean. Thank you!

[@user-jz5qq2er4s]

A real pleasure to listen to you thank you so much ❤

[@oksanashostachenko7865]

Hi from Ukraine, thanks a lot for your lessons! You are the most charming teacher in the world.💕

[@innaclifford2842]

I like so very much your lessons......and especcially that you talking bit slowly i understand everything and you are very nice person as well......thank you very very much its pleasure to listen your lessons

[@lindasun5178]

You are as nice as pie. I love idioms and old sayings, which are my cup of tea!

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Dear Gill! I am happy finding your lessons. Bless you!

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Wow! So amazing and inspiring teacher.I'm so happy to follow your interesting and understandable English. Keep on teacher Gill we are proud of you and your teaching!

[@giliolaplesca7164]

Grazie mille Gill e un piacere asistere alle tue lezioni sei molto explicitta in tutto e molto paziente a spiegare in detaglio e ti ringrazio di cuore .

[@RethinkMehrab]

Thanks Jill for the great teachings

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Dear Gill, greetings from Monterrey, N L. , You explain excellently with great fluency and I am learning little bu little, thanks yo You, I love british English, a pleasure yo meet You , recibe an affectionate greeting, See You soon, take care of yourself.

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Thank ýou very muc.h. The more I watch your lessons I the more I admire you.

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Thank you very much. Wonderful. Keep going on. It''s effective. Your videos are my cup of tea.

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Gill, I love your English lessons very much. Thank you,hilda andrade from Brazil.

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What a deep contex on people's knowing, and what a magistral explanation, congratulations.

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Dear teacher thanks a lot for the passion and patience you put into your work. I just appreciate and adore your teaching videos they help me so much in improving my written and spoken English that's why I always look forward to seeing your videos

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Thank you, Gill! You are as nice as pie. 😊

[@aricacox]

This lesson is so helpful.Thank you Gill you're so kind and the best teacher ever.♥️😘

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Hello from Moscow. You are one of the kind teacher. ❤️

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Excellent English teacher, no doubt about it, Thanks Gill.

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Dear Gill, I love your English lessons very much thank you ,Alina from Bolivia Bless you

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The power of the tongue can also be life-giving.

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Thank You !! I"m glad see You again.❤️🌷💥☀️🌻

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Hello there. I would like to thank you about your great experience in studying English here on You Tube. It is very helpful and grabs the eye by itself.

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Madame,you are a lovely teacher. I am so pleased to be one of your students. Thank you so much for your time and your efforts.

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I came across your channel today. Your videos are great, I really enjoy them! Thank you very much!

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Smashing ! Love from Olivos, Buenos Aires, Argentina🇦🇷🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇬🇧

[@user-zm4qm4dz3y]

It was pleasant to listen you, Gill. Good job. Thanks a lot.

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Such a soothing.... and interesting lesson... Thank you soooo much Gill...❤️❤️❤️

[@JaneDoe-ci3gj]

Watching old lessons again. Thanks Gill! Love you teaching!😄👍 Will you come back to class eventually? Loved that Scottish poem video❣

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Very inspiring person.........a teacher in heart and soul

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We are very lucky tu have a teacher who give us such a prolific explanations

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Dear Gil, thanks for your Enlish teaching. I love your explanation about words, grammar and also your accent . I don't have much opportunities to use English. Your videos are so useful I think not just for me but for all people who are interested in English around the world, Thank you so much.

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Very usefull, thanks for sharing. Have a great day.

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Some I knew and some I didn't. Excellent explanation, as always :D I really enjoy your videos your voice is calming and relaxing!

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Thanks a million for this amazing lesson, it's really helpful.

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It's just wonderful ...Thanks!

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Your teaching stiles are so good, I enjoy watching it….You are a genius….God bless you!

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Thank you so much ! dear GIL

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Thank you, dear Gill, i will use it for my students, future cooks!:)

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The perfect teacher, thank you

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Excellent! Thank you Gil!!

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Thank you so much.Dear Gill. I love your English lessons.

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Dear Teacher Gil, I really loved your channel. I feel so relax and at peace hearing your cool voice hehe.

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Благодарю,учитель !Вы настоящий педагог!

[@MrLleal]

Thanks! So interesting, useful and nice!

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I enjoy listening to your accent!

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Gil, you're such a good teacher, your explanations are so clear, your accent and vocabulary are lovely! Xxx

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Perhaps.... she is one of the finest English teachers in the world....

[@jolandafeline620]

Thank you so much for your well explained lesson! I especially appreciated being able to take the quiz afterwards, so I know that I understood everything correctly.

[@eagleclaw2052]

Nice Lesson and Clear speech, Well done and thank you so Much,