Idiom Corner

Have you noticed that hats are back in style? In today's he will give you five idioms with hats. He is going to act for you and tell you about the different kinds of hats you can wear.

Now, Mr. E is here, of course. He's wearing a baseball cap. He's got, you know -- we call them "granddad caps" in England, but they're "caps". You see people wearing them all the time, this kind of a cap. Okay. Cowboy hat, badly drawn, but who cares? In the early 20th century, people wore hats a lot, okay? So a lot of hat wearing. People would wear hats everywhere -- church, whatever. Men would wear hats, so would ladies. But then, they suddenly stopped. If you want to know the truth, it was around the 1960s from a president named John F. Kennedy. He was seen often not wearing a hat, and he didn't wear an undershirt. And after that, men starting changing their style. See? You don't just learn English. We're going to teach you some history. He kind of changed fashion a little bit, for men, for the next 40 to 50 -- well, 60 years. But now, hats are back. And it's time for a hat idiom show, okay? Because now, you can say things. You'll be wearing your hat, and you can say something stylish like, "I take off my hat for you." Okay? So let's go to the board.

You'll see I have a couple of things written here -- well, five, to be exact. Okay? And right now, you don't know what they mean, like, "without hesitation", "Be prepared for something very physical", "Be prepared to be shocked", "give my respect", "I admire them", "keep it a secret", and "have many responsibilities". And I'm sure you're saying, "What does this have to do with hats?" Well, why don't I show you? Ready?

Now, "drop of a hat". When somebody says "at the drop of a hat", they mean "without hesitation. At any time." I'm talking to you, and -- oops. It dropped again. You don't know. It means, "Move now." If someone says, "You have to move at the drop of a hat", it means, "Don't even think. Just go." Or it could happen at any time. "At the drop of a hat, the bus could arrive." So you literally drop your hat; you look down; Whoa! The bus is gone. Just like that. So "be prepared", okay?

What about this one? Have you ever been walking in the wind? It's really, really windy. See this is flying. It's flying away like Superman's cape now. See, it's flying. Someone will say, "Hold on to your hat!" Because it will blow away. Well, if you watch any movies, especially Westerns or North American movies, they're always, like, "Hold on to your hat, son. Something's going to happen." It's saying, "Be prepared to be shocked, or something's going to be bad. Be prepared." Because it's going to be so physical or so amazing that the hat might fly away, and you'll lose your hat. Remember, people were in the 20th century, so they wore hats all the time everywhere. Now, we don't as much, so they don't say it as much, but you're going to see that these idioms are going to come back simply because hats are in style. All right? So, "Be ready to be shocked." Something will scare you, and your hat will fly off your head. Or you're going to do something physical like run, and, "Hold on to your hat! We've got to get going."

Now, how about this? "I give my respect" or, "I admire that person." If I were to see the Queen right now, I would do this. Hat's off. Okay? When we say, "My hat it off" -- "hat's off". Remember, this is from a long time ago. So when you say "hat's off to that person", it's a sign of admiration. Many people, when they go into a church, if they're wearing a hat, they will take their hats off as a sign of respect for the religion. Or, "My hat is off for that guy." I take my hat off because I respect him, so I take it off. And sometimes, people don't do that. What they do is this. You'll see it -- not as much, but they go like this. That's like taking off the hat, so they do it short. And they go like this, "Good morning, ma'am. Good morning, sir." They'll be like, "Good morning." Hat's off to you. "I respect you" or, "You have my admiration" or, "I admire you."

And here's something. I know it's funny money -- whatever. But see this? I've got some money. Don't tell anybody. Keep it a secret. When we say this, "Shh! Keep it under your hat" -- "Keep it a secret." "Keep it a secret. Don't tell anybody." "Shh! Keep it under your hat. Shh! Be quiet."

By : Zsal Zsabila

So, "suit" is what we're working with today. "Suit" is a word that could be either a verb or a noun in English, and we usually use it with a lot of expressions. So, today, we're going to work on the expressions that we use it for.

Let's start with the first one. I've divided the board into business and personal, or should I say: "Personal and business", because I'm awake, and we're going to find out how "suit" is used in the business world and in your personal life, so you can use this word outside, you know, with your friends, joking around, having fun or actually when you go to work.

"Birthday suit", you're naked, baby - no clothes whatsoever. And if you look very carefully, E is censored, because he's in his birthday suit. He has no clothing. He looks a little too happy, right? If you take a look, a little too happy for my liking.

Now, what about him wearing a suit here? We've got "birthday suit", to "suit up". There's a program in North America called How I Met Your Mother, and there's a guy called Barney. Barney's hilarious. And whenever he wants to go meet women... He's got a friend. I forget his name. He always goes: "Let's suit up", and they go on and they put suits. That's a suit and a tie, and they dress up. And as you can see here, Mr. E is suited up. He has put on his shirt and his tie. He wants to look good. It means to look good and attractive.

Another meaning for "suit up" is this: in the military, they might say: "Suit up, boys!" It means: get your weapons, get ready for battle or for action. Sometimes they say in sports: "Suit up!" Get your uniform on. Get ready for action. So you could say it's for putting on a suit, or: put on clothes for action, because you're ready to do something; military, sports, any kind of activity. First two.

What's the other one? Well, this isn't a monkey suit, but it kind of feels like one right now. A "monkey suit" is the informal word for tuxedo. Tuxedo, I'm sure you've seen it, when people go and get married, they wear a fancy, special suit because on this suit they have a bow tie. It's a tie that looks like this, usually used for weddings and formal occasions; big parties. Yeah? So, they call it a monkey suit. Even though it's formal clothing, it's like a uniform because all the men wear the same thing. They will usually wear a white shirt with a black jacket, a cummerbund, which is this thing they put around their waist, here. Okay? And black pants and black shoes. And all the men wear it, so that's why they call it a monkey suit, because they're all doing the same thing. But we also sometimes call uniforms monkey suits. If someone works as a cleaner, they might say: "This monkey suit", because it's not... I'm not... I don't feel human; I feel like one of a group, just a uniform body of people. Okay? "Uniform" meaning the same.

"Bathing suit". If you wear a bathing suit, it's not when you take a bath. I know, you think shower, you think bath. A bathing suit is something different. When you go swimming, that's when you wear your bathing suit. So when you go to the ocean and you're out there, you're not in your birthday suit - no, you can't go naked. But you can put on a little thing, it looks like little underwear. And some girls, their bathing suit is a "bikini", that's a two-piece bathing suit, or it can be a one-piece bathing suit. 

By : Zsal Zsabila