Welcome back to English with Catherine.

I'm filming today's video next to my pride and joy, my beautiful piano.

I hope you don't mind.

Today, I've got 10 beautiful expressions for you.

This is daily British English that has a touch of magic about it.

A bit like this piano.

Let's get started.

Number one, like bees to honey.

This adorable expression makes me imagine lots of bees looking for the best source of honey, which is usually a beautiful big flower.

People living around here flock to National Trust properties on the weekends, like bees to honey, including me.

In other words, if something or someone is great and adds value to others, people are going to want to be near it or be close to it, like bees are to honey.

Number two, a bit worse for wear.

A bit worse for wear.

The expressions I've chosen for this video, I've used in the last two weeks.

They've just popped up in conversation and what I've been talking about.

This expression refers to how Tom felt after his stag do.

Now, what is a stag do?

A stag do is the party that the groom has, which is the man in a wedding, the bride and the groom.

The stag do is the party.

And Tom had a great one, but afterwards he felt a bit worse for wear.

This is an informal idiom meaning someone is in a worse condition due to doing something physical or experiencing something.

They feel worse.

We can use this for when someone's really tired, like if they're jet lagged, for example, or if they're in a poor condition because they've been burning the candle at both ends.

Another wonderful expression, which means working hard and playing hard, or if they've been drinking alcohol and they feel a little bit worse for wear the next day.

It's a lovely British way of saying something quite bad in a soft way, which is generally what we do all the time.

Number three, to go hand in hand.

To go hand in hand.

This is a lovely expression about harmony.

Harmony between two things that seem to naturally go together, as if by magic.

For example, wine and cheese go hand in hand.

Who knows why?

They just do.

In a film, the images and the sound go hand in hand.

They complement each other.

They go together.

For example, piano and candlelight, there's a candle there, and also a candlestick holder there, go hand in hand.

And in my opinion, velvet and winter go hand in hand.

I always wear velvet in the wintertime, and for me, they just go together.

Number four, ticking along nicely.

Ticking along nicely.

I love idioms and expressions to do with time.

This one is about the ticking of time.

If something is ticking along nicely, it means it's progressing well.

It's going smoothly.

It's a lovely response when someone asks how things are going.

Oh, how's your project going?

How's your wedding planning going?

Which is something everyone has been asking me lately.

I'm getting married very soon.

I say to them, it's ticking along nicely, thank you.

I think.

Number five, a seasoned professional.

A seasoned professional.

Now, this actually makes me think of salt and pepper, because when you season your food, you add salt and pepper to season it.

And it kind of relates to this expression, because a seasoned professional is a professional that's had a lot of experience, has a lot of wisdom, and has been prepared nicely as if they've had salt and pepper added.

It's a beautiful way to refer to doing the same thing for a long time.

You really know what you're doing.

Someone actually called me a seasonal professional the other day, which is why I've put it on this list.

And I thought to myself, wow, that's such a compliment.

I've been doing this job for over 10 years, and I guess, yeah, maybe I could be a seasoned professional by now.

I always think of seasoned professionals as being in their 60s or their 70s.

Number six, a storm in a teacup.

A storm in a teacup.

I love this one.

It's so cute.

Obviously, it makes me imagine a little thunderstorm happening on top of a teacup, and all the rain going into the cup.

This refers to a storm that's not that serious, but people take it seriously, and they make it into a bigger thing than it really is.

So something that causes great outrage, but actually it's something very trivial, which means not that serious.

I used this recently when I was reassuring my best friend.

Don't worry about the argument at work.

I'm sure it's just a storm in a teacup, meaning I'm sure it's just a big fuss over nothing, and it will get better and improve very, very soon.

Number seven, to paint the town red.

To paint the town red.

I love this expression because I love the colour red.

I have a red car, I have a red purse, and I have a red diary.

These three things remain red in my life.

Anyway, to paint the town red means to have a really great time, to have lots of fun.

According to the internet, this is also American slang, but it's definitely in use in Britain.

On my hen party, which is the party that the bride has before she gets married, I'm going to paint the town red.

And that means have lots of fun, dance, enjoy myself, listen to music, be with my friends, let my hair down.

Number eight, great minds think alike.

Great minds think alike.

This is a lovely one for people.

If you want to connect to someone and make it clear that you really are on the same wavelength as that person, or on the same page, sometimes we say, you can say, great minds think alike.

Usually someone says this when they've just come up with the same idea as someone else, sometimes even at the same time, and the person says, great minds think alike.

I said this to Tom the other day when we were coming up with ideas for our wedding decorations, and we both came up with the same idea, and I said, great minds think alike.

But then I added, but minds greater.

Number nine, to be in a pickle.

To be in a pickle.

Do you know what pickle is?

First of all, it makes me think of a cheese and pickle sandwich, which my granny used to make for me when I was young.

It's a very classic British sandwich, trust me.

However, to be in a pickle, when you're in a difficult situation, a situation that is less than ideal, you're in a pickle.

The other evening, I was in a pickle because we'd had a power cut, and I was trying to cook by candlelight.

Because we live in quite an isolated area, we seem to just get power cuts more often.

But also because I live in the country, there are slugs, and sometimes they slither their way into saucepans.

So if you don't check the saucepan before you cook, you might end up cooking a slug, which actually happened once.

So I was in a bit of a pickle because I was trying to check the pans, and I only had candlelight, so I couldn't really see.

So really, I don't know what we ate that night.

It's a really British expression, really, because you can be in a really bad situation, and you can still say this.

It kind of makes light of it and turns it into something positive.

Extra information, the word pickle comes from the Dutch word pekel.

I don't know if I'm pronouncing that right.

Dutch people, comment below.

This originally referred to a spiced vinegar that was used as a preservative.

We love pickling things, not as much as they do in Eastern Europe.

That is so inspiring.

Anyway, I'm going off topic, but pickling is interesting.

Number 10, the last one.

To butter someone up.

To butter someone up.

I love this expression because it involves butter.

This means to flatter or praise someone, usually because you want something.

Maybe you want their help or their support, so you butter them up and you hope for the best.

Example of that used in a sentence is, oh, you'll have to butter him up a little bit more before he agrees to that.

You'll have to butter her up a bit more if you want her to do that for you.

Buttering someone up could be complimenting them.

Oh, your hair looks so nice today.

Oh, I love your outfit.

Can you help me with something?

You can sometimes be suspicious of the buttering up by saying, are you buttering me up?

What do you want?

My mum does this sometimes when she wants my help on the computer because she's even worse than me with technology, if that's possible, and she'll be like, Catherine, you're looking lovely today.

You really are.

Is that a new outfit?

It's so well put together.

What do you want, mum?

I'm so sad that that's the last one.

I have so many more to share with you.

I don't think I'm ever going to get bored of sharing beautiful expressions with you.

They bring so much joy.

You know, guys, you don't have to just learn English from a textbook.

You can romanticise the whole process.

You could even listen to some piano music and light a candle and learn English.

There are no rules.

Hope you enjoyed this video, guys.

Let me know in the comments if you did, and if you did, you could even click subscribe.

It would be delightful.

We're posting our videos on Saturdays now, so I must remember to say, see you next Saturday instead of Friday.

Have a lovely weekend, guys.

See you next Saturday.