This afternoon, I was taking a cat nap and I had a dream that
I was in the doghouse with my boss. In the dream, the boss
was yelling at me to get my ducks in a row, and even though
I'm very organized, I just clammed up. Nevertheless, when I woke up,
it was hard to get back to work because I had ants in my
pants. Let's study together. Welcome to another Happy English podcast, coming to
you from New York City. And here's your English teacher, Michael. All
right, thank you John, and thanks everyone. It's Michael here from Happy
English and I help people speak English better. And this is Happy English Podcast
Episode six sixty four are idioms with animals. I love helping you learn idioms
because using them makes your language more colorful and more natural sounding. And today
we're going to take a look at some idioms with animals. Let's check them
out. The first one is to have ants in your pants. Can you
imagine actually having ants in your pants? You'd be pretty uncomfortable, wouldn't you.
Well, if you say that someone has ants in their pants, it
means they are restless, or anxious, or in some way unable to sit
still. Here are some examples I have ants in my pants and i can't
focus on my work because I've been waiting for the reply from my boss about
my vacation request. Sarah has ants in her pants because she's excited to go
on vacation next week. Ted's got ants in his pants because he's nervous about
the presentation tomorrow next we have a cat nap. They say that cats sleep
a lot during the day, so when you take a cat nap, you
have a short sleep, usually in the afternoon. For example, I'm going
to take a cat nap before my next meeting because i didn't sleep well last
night. Kim likes to take a quick cat nap after lunch because she says
it makes her more productive. I just took a cat nap, so I
feel a bit more refreshed. Let me ask you something. Are there ducks
where you live. There are a lot of ducks where I live, and
when I see them walking with their families, they look organized, like they're
marching down the street in a row. Well, when someone has their ducks
in a row, they are well prepared and organized. Here are some examples
we need to have our ducks in a row. Regarding our marketing plan,
before the meeting starts. The office manager always has her ducks in a row.
I guess that's why everything runs smoothly in the office. The project was
successful because we had our ducks in a row and planned everything out in advance.
Next is clam up. When a clam is closed, it's really hard
to get it open, right, And so with that image, we say
that somebody clams up. In other words, when you clam up, you
suddenly become quiet and refuse to speak. Maybe you want to say something,
but you hold back from doing so. For example, at the party,
Frank clammed up when I asked him about his job. I wonder if he's
a gangster. When the police arrived, the suspect clammed up. I tried
to get her to talk about her interests, but she clammed up and didn't
say much. And finally, we have in the dog house. A doghouse
is a small house which is built for a dog next to or behind the
owner's house. Just imagine that you did something wrong and your spouse or parent
told you to stay in the doghouse. That would probably be an unpleasant experience.
Right well, with that image in mind, when you are in the
dog house, you are in trouble with someone. Here are some examples.
Kenny forgot his anniversary and now he's in the doghouse with his wife. Jack's
been in the doghouse with his boss ever since he missed the deadline. Will
Smith was in the dog house when he slapped Chris Rock in the face last
year. Keep in mind the best way to remember this and any vocabulary is
to take the word or phrase, write it in a sentence that's true for
you or true in your world, and then memorize your sentences. Well,
that's it for today's English lesson. I hope I'm not in the dog house.
By the way, why don't you join my podcast Learner's study group.
There you can make new friends, join me for live group coaching every week.
Plus get the pdf, transcript and audio download for every Happy English podcast
in the past and in the future, and each episode now has exercises where
you can practice this English point with speaking and writing checked by me. Yeah.
To learn more or to see the example sentences from this lesson, just
visit my Happy English dot com and choose podcast lesson six sixty four. Remember,
learning another language is not easy, but it's not impossible and I'm here
to help you on your journey. This podcast is brought to you by Happy
English. Please visit my Happy english dot com. Show your support for Happy
English by leaving us a review. Get English, Get happy, Happy English.