Speaker 1: Have you ever wondered about the difference between fall and autumn?
Both of these words refer to that cool season, the
time between summer and winter when the leaves change color,
but there is a small difference in how these words
are used. Fall is more commonly used in American English
and has a less formal sound than autumn, which is
probably more common in British English. Fall. Yeah, let's go
with that one.
Speaker 2: Welcome to another Happy English podcast, coming to you from
New York City. And here's your English teacher, Michael.
Speaker 1: 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 seven sixty one.
Save these idioms for a rainy day. Fall is here
and that means rainy days in wind, apples and nuts
and of course leaves. And we're diving into a whole
bunch of idioms inspired by fall. Perfect timing, right, the
leaves are changing, there's a chill in the air. Well,
we're gonna leaf through a bunch of idioms that have
those fall items and see how we can use them
in everyday conversational English. Let's check him out. Listen to
this story about Tommy and his brother. Last night, Jack
and Tommy were having a drink after work. It seems
like Tommy was under the weather, but actually the problem
is his brother, who is driving him nuts. Jack was
surprised to hear that because he thought Tommy's brother turned
over a new leaf. Nope, it seems like Tommy's brother
is just nuts and doesn't know how to save for
a rainy day. It also seems like he has never
gotten wind of something called planning. His father is the
same and spends more than he saves. Seems like the
apple never falls far from the tree. Okay, let's check
out these idioms. So Tommy's feeling a little under the weather.
Under the weather it's like saying you're not feeling well,
but way more interesting than just saying sick, right, like
you wouldn't say to your doctor, Oh, I'm feeling a
bit under the weather. This idiom is more for casual conversations.
I'm not going to go to work today because I'm
under the weather. It's got that friendly everyday vibe. I
was a little under the weather yesterday, so I just
stayed home from school. Now it turns out there's a
reason Tommy's feeling a little down. His brother is driving
him nuts. In this case, nuts means crazy, and when
someone drives you crazy, they annoy you. My neighbor always
plays loud music at night. He really drives me nuts.
I always take the train to work because being in
traffic on the highway drives me nuts. Okay. Next, Tommy
is hoping that maybe his brother's annoying habits are a
thing of the past, that maybe he's turned over a
new leaf. A leaf in this case refers to a
page in a book, and when you turn over a
new leaf in a book, you have something new to read.
As an idiom, turning over a new leaf, it's like
hitting the reset button, making a fresh start. My sister
turned over a new leaf. She stopped smoking and started
exercising at the gym. When you turn over a new leaf,
you change your life by breaking old bad habits and
starting fresh. And it's just like this new season of fall,
like nature's giving us a chance to start fresh too.
But unfortunately for Tommy, it seems like his brother hasn't
made a fresh start yet, because, as Tommy said, he's
still nuts. And here, nuts just means being a little crazy,
or maybe a little foolish and to be nuts can
be used in so many ways. Sometimes it's not so serious,
like you're going to eat another slice of pizza your nuts.
And sometimes it's more serious, like your nuts for going
out with that girl again she broke your heart last year.
So it all depends on the context. You knew that right. Okay,
so far we've covered feeling under the weather, getting driven nuts,
and the hope of new beginnings turning over a new leaf. Next,
let's talk about saving for a rainy day. This idiom
talks about being prepared for something you never know when.
You might need a little extra cash set aside for
those unexpected things that come up in life. So you
say some money for a rainy day. You can also
save something special, like I got a bottle of Japanese
sake that's hard to get in the States. I am
totally saving that for a rainy day. It's like doing
something good for your future self. Okay, this next idiom.
I love this one because it's so visual to squirrel
something away. It's like, you know, picturing a squirrel burying
its nuts for later. When you squirrel something away, it's
like you are putting something away carefully keeping it safe
and hidden for the future. My uncle used to squirrel
away some special bottles of konnak ooh connak. This must
have been some good rainy day savings. And my friend
Jack squirrels away twenty percent of his salary for retirement.
Smart guy. Next, let's switch gears a bit. Get wind
of something. This one always makes me think of secrets
and rumors. Oh yeah, like you're catching an idea of
something interesting, but you don't have all the details yet,
and maybe you're not supposed to know, like when you
get wind of a surprise birthday party, or you get
wind of some juicy gossip going around the office. You
get wind of it. Okay, are you ready for our
last idiom of the day. This one is a classic,
especially when we're talking about fall and family. The apple
doesn't fall far from the tree. This is an old
proverb that we use to mean that children often behave
just like their parents, Like you could inherit your mom's
amazing singing voice, or you might inherit your dad's interesting
dance moves. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
Chris is a smoker, and now his teenage son started
smoking Yep, the apple never falls far from the tree,
so you can use this idiom in positive or negative situations.
Keep in mind, the best way to remember idioms like these,
or any other word or phrase in English is to
take that word or phrase, write it in a sentence
that's true for you or true in your world, and
then memorize your sentences. Hey, did you know that you
can get the chance to this this kind of English
with me directly? Yeah. You can get more practice using
your English when you join my podcast Learner's study group.
There you can make new friends, join us for live
group lessons every week where we practice these podcast lessons together.
Plus you get access to the pdf, transcript and audio
download for every Happy English podcast in the past and
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has exercises where you can practice this English point with
speaking and writing checked by me. To learn more, just
visit Myhappy English dot com and choose podcast lesson seven
sixty one. Remember, learning another language is not easy, but
it's not impossible, and I'm here to help you on
your journey.
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