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Have you ever felt like a fish
out of water? Maybe you've been in

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hot water recently or in deep water
with your boss. Do you feel like

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your relationship with the boss is like
oil and water or is that more like

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water off a duck's back. Let's
discuss. Welcome to another Happy English podcast,

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coming to you from New York City, and here's your English teacher,

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Michael. Alright, thank you John, and thanks everyone. It's Michael here

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from Happy English and I help people
speak English better. And this is Happy

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English Podcast, Episode six ninety nine. Water idioms. You know, the

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English language comes from England, and
since England is an island, as you

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can probably imagine, a lot of
the phrases and expressions we have in English

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come from the sea. Today,
let's have a look at six idioms that

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use the word water and have a
connection to the sea and water. By

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the end of this podcast English lesson, you'll learn these six idioms and also

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how they came to be. Let's
get the ball rolling. First of all,

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you can be like a fish out
of water. Imagine how a fish

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would feel if it was taken out
of the water and put on the land.

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It would probably feel very uncomfortable.
And certainly out of place. With

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that image in mind, if you
feel like a fish out of water,

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it means you are feeling uncomfortable because
you are in a new or unusual situation.

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By the way, you can feel
like a fish out of water,

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or you can be like a fish
out of water. Here are some examples.

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Jennifer felt like a fish out of
water at the technology conference because she's

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not very tech savvy after growing up
in a small town. Mark felt like

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a fish out of water when he
moved to New York City. Susan was

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like a fish out of water at
the concert. It seems she prefers quiet

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evenings at home. The next one
is like water off a duck's back.

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Ducks have waterproof feathers, so the
water just slides off their back. We

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use that image in the idiom like
water off a duck's back to mean that

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criticism or negative comments don't affect somebody. If you are not bothered by negative

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comments or criticism, you can say
that those comments are just like water off

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of ducks back. Here are some
other examples. John gets a lot of

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negative comments on his YouTube channel,
but for him, those comments are like

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water off a ducks back as an
auditor. Sarah has heard so much negativity

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in her career that it's like water
off of ducks. Back to her now.

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The next one is like oil and
water. Like oil and water,

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you know if you put oil and
water together, they naturally separate. We

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use this image of oil and water
to describe two things or people that just

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don't mix well or don't get along
well together. For example, mixing business

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and personal relationships is just like oil
and water. That's why you should never

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try to date your co workers.
Tom and Lisa's personalities are like oil and

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water. I can't believe they are
still dating these days. The relationship between

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politicians is like oil and water.
The next one is to be in hot

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water. This idiom always reminds me
of a Bugs Bunny cartoon that I saw

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when I was a child. In
one episode, Bugs Bunny was captured in

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the jungle by natives and they put
him in a big pot and started cooking

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him. He was in hot water. You can imagine with that image that

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he was in a lot of trouble
or facing a difficult situation. And that's

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exactly what this idiom means. When
you are in hot water, you are

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in a lot of trouble or you're
facing a difficult situation. For example,

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when Jerry accidentally scratched his his neighbor's
car, he knew that he was in

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hot water and immediately offered to pay
for the repairs. After missing several deadlines

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at work, Teddy found himself in
hot water with the boss. Mark borrowed

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money from his friend and hasn't paid
it back yet, so he's definitely in

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hot water now. In a similar
way, you can be in deep water.

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Imagine if you were in the middle
of the ocean, in the middle

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of the extremely deep ocean, even
if you're a good swimmer, that would

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be a very challenging or difficult situation. As an idiom, to be in

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deep water means to be in a
very challenging or very difficult situation that might

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even be more than your abilities can
handle. Here are some examples. After

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accepting the promotion to director, Emily
realized she was in deep water with her

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new responsibilities. Tom found himself in
deep water when the boss asked him to

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complete a complex project with a tight
deadline. Tommy came home drunk last night,

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and now he's in deep water with
his wife Finally, another way to

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talk about being in unfamiliar or even
uncomfortable situations is to be in uncharted waters.

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In the sailing world, maps that
are used on the sea are called

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charts. If there is an area
of the ocean where nobody has been before,

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we can say that the area is
uncharted, it's uncharted waters. And

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as an idiom, when you are
in uncharted waters, it means you are

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in a situation that is unfamiliar to
you and you've never dealt with that before.

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Here's some examples. Starting a new
business in a foreign country was like

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being in uncharted waters for Steve.
When they began renovating their historic house,

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Dan and Amanda were in uncharted waters. It's their first time to do that

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kind of work. When Jim moved
from his office job to owning a cafe,

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he found himself in uncharted waters.
Keep in mind, the best way

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to remember this or any English point
is to take the word or phrase,

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write it in a sentence that's true
for you or true in your world,

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and then memorize your sentences. Well, that's all the time and water we

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have for today's English lesson. By
the way, if you'd like to get

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more practice using your English. You
need to join my podcast Learner's Study Group.

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There you can make new international friends. Join me for live group coaching

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every week. Plus get the pdf, transcript and audio download for every Happy

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English podcast in the past and in
the future, and each episode has exercises

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where you can practice this English point
with speaking and writing checked by me.

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To learn more or to see some
of the example sentences from this lesson,

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just visit Myhappy English dot com and
choose podcast lesson six ninety nine. Remember,

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learning another language is not easy,
but it's not impossible, and I'm

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