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  • Hi. I'm Rebecca from www.engvid.com. In today's lesson, we'll learn eight idioms which have

  • the word "have" in them. Okay? Now, of course, an "idiom" is an expression where the overall

  • meaning is something different from the individual words that are included in that expression.

  • Okay? So let's have a look at these idioms.

  • The first one, "Bill has a sweet tooth." "Bill has a sweet tooth?" What does that mean? He

  • has a tooth that's sweet? No. Remember; it's an idiom, so it has a different meaning. Have

  • you ever heard anyone using this? Well, if you say that someone has a "sweet tooth",

  • it means that he or she likes to eat sweet things, likes desserts, likes chocolates,

  • likes anything sweet. Okay? And maybe a little too much. So that's the expression "to have

  • sweet teeth." All right.

  • Let's go to the next person. "Susan has a heart of gold." Okay. So what does that mean?

  • Again, don't take the meaning literally. It doesn't actually mean that; it means something

  • else. When you say that someone has a "heart of gold", it means that that person is very

  • kind, is very generous, is very helpful. Okay? A really good person. All right? So there

  • we are.

  • Let's go to the next one. "John has a good head on his shoulders." "John has a good head

  • on his shoulders." Okay. What do you mean, "good head on his shoulders"? Of course, you

  • have a head on your shoulders, right? Yes, but it's an idiom, remember. Okay. So when

  • you say that somebody has a "good head on their shoulders", it means that they're very

  • sensible; they're clever; they're intelligent. Okay? So it's kind of like they have a good

  • brain. They think well. Okay? So that's what it means to "have a good head on your shoulders".

  • Let's go to the next one. "Angela has her hands full." "Her hands are full" means that

  • she's very busy. Okay? Because you're always doing something, in other words. She's very

  • busy. So before we go on to the other four, let's review the first four.

  • So who is very kind and helpful, generous? Who has a heart of gold?

  • Susan. Okay? Now,

  • what does it mean -- or which idiom can we use to say that somebody really likes to eat desserts?

  • You have to say that somebody has a sweet tooth. Good. If you want to say that

  • somebody's very intelligent, very clever, which idiom can you use? You can say that

  • they have a good head on their shoulders. And if you want to say that somebody is very

  • busy, you can say

  • that they have their hands full. You want to use it for yourself, you

  • can say, "I'd love to help you, but I'm really sorry. I have my hands full." " I have my

  • hands full" means, "I'm very busy right now. I'm very busy with a lot of other things,

  • so I can't help you." Okay?

  • Next. All right. Let's look at the next four. "Steven has eyes in the back of his head."

  • "Steven has eyes in the back of his head." What does that mean? How can you have eyes

  • on the back of your head? What could that possibly mean? Well, it means that you know

  • what's happening around you as if you had eyes in the back of your head. Obviously,

  • you don't. But when we say this, what we're trying to say is somebody knows everything

  • that's happening even though you don't know how they know it, but they know what's going

  • on. So, "He has eyes in the back of his head". Okay?

  • Next. Now, of course, you see that I'm changing it, right? If we're talking about a man like

  • Steven and we say, "He has eyes in the back of his head." If it is Angela, then, we'd

  • say, "Angela has eyes in the back of her head." And that goes for all of these, okay? Whenever

  • there's a "his", "her". If it was about me, "I have my hands full." "You have your hands

  • full." Etc. okay?

  • Next. "Barbara has a big mouth." Oh, no. That's not good. What's going on with Barbara? Does

  • it mean she physically has a big mouth? No. Not necessarily. When we say that someone

  • has a "big mouth", it means they like to gossip; they like to talk a lot; they like to tell

  • secrets; and they just like to talk a lot. So don't tell your secrets to Barbara. Won't work.

  • Next. "Mark has a green thumb." So first of all, what's a "thumb"? This is a thumb, right?

  • This is your thumb. What does it mean to have a "green thumb"? Any idea? Okay. So "green"

  • has to do with plants and so on. So if someone has a green thumb, you're saying that he is

  • very good with plants, is very good at gardening. Okay? And things grow well when he plants

  • them. Okay? He's very good at that. He has that skill.

  • Okay. And the last one about Julia, "Julia has her head in the clouds." "Julia has her

  • head in the clouds." What does that mean? Well, if you have your "head in the clouds",

  • it means you're really -- you're somewhere else; you're not paying attention to anything

  • that's happening around you because you're thinking about something else. So Julia's

  • not paying attention to what's happening here. It's the opposite of Steven who has eyes in

  • the back of his head, right? Julia has her head in the clouds. She's always thinking

  • about something else. Maybe when you talk to her, she's not paying attention; she's

  • not really listening. Why? Because she has her head in the clouds. Okay?

  • So let's go over the last four, and then, we can review them all. Okay. So if you say

  • that someone has a "big mouth", it means they like to gossip, tell secrets. Right. If someone

  • is really good at gardening, you could say they have a "green thumb". Right. Okay. Someone

  • who is not paying attention, and you're telling them things and -- you don't know. They're

  • not there. What can you say? "They have their head in the clouds." And someone who seems

  • to know everything that's happening around them is --

  • we can say that "they have eyes in the back of their head." Okay?

  • So let's review all of them now. Okay? Who is really smart? Which name here? Who is really

  • smart, really intelligent? Okay? Who's that?

  • That's John because John has a good head on his shoulders. Good.

  • Okay. Who likes to gossip? Which one of these people likes to gossip, likes to tell people's

  • secrets? That's Barbara. Okay? Let's mark these off.

  • Who really enjoys sweets and desserts, cakes, and all that kind of stuff? Who's that? Where

  • is it? Well, it's our friend Bill, here. Okay? Bill has a sweet tooth. Good.

  • Okay. Who's really good at growing plants and flowers and gardening? Okay? Who's that?

  • Did you find it?

  • It's Mark. Mark has a green thumb. Right? That's a way to say it.

  • Okay. Who's a very busy person? Who's that? Let's see.

  • It's Angela. Angela has her hands full. Okay? All right?

  • Who is always thinking about something else, not really paying attention to what's happening

  • here? Who's that? What's left to choose?

  • It's Julia. Okay? Good. And who knows everything

  • that's happening even though you don't even know how they know everything? You're like,

  • "How did you know that, man? Do you have eyes in the back of your head?"

  • Okay. That's Steven.

  • Right? Very good. And the last one that's left is Susan. Susan has a heart of gold,

  • which means that Susan's a really sweet, good, kind-hearted person. She has a good heart.

  • She's helpful. Okay? That's Susan.

  • So these eight idioms all start with the word "have", "has", right? Plus a part of the body

  • you'll see, sort of, like, a tooth, a heart, a head, hands, eyes, mouth, thumb, and head

  • again. All right? So a little bit -- something in common there. But again, an idiom, you

  • just have to learn it as a whole. You have to learn it overall what the meaning is. Don't

  • try to analyze it because it doesn't usually help you. Okay? If you want to practice these

  • idioms, what you should do -- please go to our website, www.engvid.com, and there you

  • can do a quiz on these idioms and more. And also, subscribe to my channel so you can keep

  • on learning English. Bye, for now.

Hi. I'm Rebecca from www.engvid.com. In today's lesson, we'll learn eight idioms which have

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