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  • We belong to the age of machines. Well machines have made our lives easier, am I right? Well

  • you want to chop your vegetables, we have a machine for that. You want to wash your

  • clothes, we have our awesome washing machine. Well there are so many other types of machines

  • that we use in our daily lives. Well our gadgets, computers, phones, camerasthey all are

  • machines. Now in today's lesson, I'm gonna help you with some words and expressions to

  • talk about your machines, well we have automatic, manual, portable, different types of machines,

  • but how do you describe them? Well that's what we are gonna learn in today's lesson.

  • Hey friends, you're with me Niharika, welcome back to a new lesson. Well today we are gonna

  • look at some words and expressions that would help you to describe the machines that you

  • use. Well you need to help me with the list of machines that you use, I'm sure there are

  • way too many. So how do you talk about them? Well let's have a look. Well we have, “all

  • singing, all dancing”. Now when you say that, oh this machine is absolutely all-singing

  • all-dancing it means that, it has various impressive features. You go to an electronic

  • store, you probably want to buy a washing machine for yourself and the sales man, well

  • he comes and tells you, ‘oh, you need to look out for this machine, you know it's just

  • amazing it has so many features’, and then you're like, ‘oh yes, it's all singing all

  • dancing machine, I think I should buy this one’, right? So if a machine has, too many

  • impressive features, this is the expression that you can use, okay? Moving on to the second

  • word that I have for you which is, “high-performance”. Well a machine that works really fast and

  • is very effective and powerful. Like my new car, well cars are also machines, right? My

  • new car showcases high performance. So which means that it's really fast and very powerful.

  • I love my car! So this is another word that you can use in English, when you are talking

  • about a machine which is really fast and powerful. The third one that I have for you is, “jammed”.

  • Well are you talking about a traffic jam? No. Well when a piece of an equipment, a piece

  • of a machine is not working, okay, maybe it's faulty or maybe something has gone wrong and

  • it's just not working, then this is the word that you can use, rather than just saying

  • that, ‘I guess this is not working’, you can say that, ‘well, I believe it's jammed

  • up’. So jammed up, it means that maybe a piece of an equipment is, not working. Like

  • it is out of order, okay? The next onesouped up”. Okay, you buy something for yourself,

  • and you have a lot of technical knowledge, you try to make that machine more powerful,

  • more effective and really fast. So which means that yousoup it up’, okay? For example,

  • you buy a car and you modify that car, you probably, you know put different huge wheels

  • on it, which makes it very powerful, so you can say, ‘oh, look at this new car of mine,

  • I have souped up’. So souped up it means that, you have made something very powerful

  • and very effective. So to make a machine very powerful. Moving on to the next one which

  • is, “user friendly”. Well a machine which is very simple and easy to understand. Like

  • you can use it, because you know how to operate it. At times, we end up buying different types

  • of gadgets, like probably your tablet, your phone or cameras and you're just not comfortable

  • operating it, well the reason because you think it's not friendly enough, it takes way

  • too long to just understand the machine in order to, how to use it. So if you buy a phone

  • and you just get the hang of it, you would say that, ‘oh wow this phone is so user

  • friendly’. So it's because, you are, you have understood it, okay? It's very easy to

  • use, and hence you using this word in English, okay? So something which is really simple

  • or easy to understand. Yeah, machines can be quite complicated at times, right? So if

  • something which is really easy to understand, use the word, ‘user friendly’. Moving

  • on to the next one which is, “have a mind of its own”. Well do you think machines

  • have a mind? Well not really, but we are the ones who control the machines, right? But

  • at times machines just act in a very funny manner, so this expression is used in a very

  • funny way, you know when you're trying to do something with the machine, and the way

  • machine operates, you're like quite surprised, oh, well you think that the machine is controlling

  • itself, okay? It's in a very humorous way when you want to say when you're really super

  • looking at the machine you're like, ‘ah, this acts funny’, you can use the expression,

  • well it's having a mind of its own today’, okay? This is how you would use it. So when

  • you think that the machine is controlling itself. Well not literally the machine is

  • controlling itself, but when it's just not working fine, not the way that you expected

  • to work, then in a very humorous way, use this expression. Moving on to the next expression

  • that I have for you which is, “on the blink”. Well on the blink, well you think, well blinking

  • is like seconds job, right? So there are many people who think that using this expression

  • it means that the machine is working really fast, but the correct meaning of this expression,

  • on the blink’, it means that the machine is either faulty or it is out of order, okay?

  • Like, it's not working. So many English learners, do get confused with this expression, like,

  • on the blink they think that the machine is way too fast, but not really, ‘on the blink

  • it means that, the machine is out of order, there's something wrong with the machine.

  • So for example, ‘can I use your phone please, because my phone is on the blink’, so which

  • actually means, it's because my phone is not working, so can I borrow your phone to make

  • a call, okay? That's how you need to use this expression. And then the last expression that

  • I have for you is, “at the touch of a button”. Yes, we have so many things that make our

  • lives easier, because we can do something at the touch of a button. So when you use

  • the expression at the touch of a button, it means something which is so easy to use, okay?

  • And it is really quick, okay? For example, ‘you need to check out my new Grinder, well

  • it's absolutely at the touch of a button’, which means that, it's really easy to use

  • and it is so quick, it's just so fast, okay? So this is a very positive way of describing

  • a machine that you have recently bought, right? So these are the eight words and expressions

  • that you can use in English in order to talk about machines. So the next time you're operating

  • one or buying one, do not forget these expressions and start using them. I'll be back with a

  • new lesson, till then you take care.

We belong to the age of machines. Well machines have made our lives easier, am I right? Well

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