Thursday, August 25, 2016

Eye-popping



Idiom: Eye-popping; used as an adjective

Context #1:


Taylor: Did you see the new Christopher Nolan movie?

Jake: Yeah. You?
Taylor: Yeah, and while I didn't really care for the story, the cinematography was eye-popping! I was not expecting it to look that amazing.
Jake: Yeah, I was blown away by how beautiful it was.

Meaning: The expression "eye-popping" means that something is visually shocking or surprising. In the above example, Taylor uses "eye-popping" to say that something was surprisingly beautiful. It can also be used in a number of other ways, such as when someone wears a particularly revealing outfit, as in the next example:




Context #2:

The actress wore an especially eye-popping outfit to the awards show after party. She was wearing a very short shirt and a blouse that was rather low-cut. A few critics called it a scandal, but others said she looked gorgeous.
                                                http://languagesystems.edu/

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Street Smart

Idiom: street smart(s); used as an adjective or noun


Context #1:

Lenny: So Mayra got a new place.
Bruce: Really? Where is it?
Lenny: Over on 4th, kind of near the freeway.
Bruce: Isn't that kind of a bad neighborhood?
Lenny: Yeah, but she's street smart. She grew up in an area like that, so she knows how to survive. And she's saving a ton of money compared to her last place.

Meaning: The expression street smart means that someone knows how to survive in dangerous urban areas, usually because they have experience living in similar areas. The expression can be used as an adjective, as in the example above, or as the non-count noun street smarts, as in the next example:


Context #2

Don't go into that neighborhood without any
street smarts; it can be a rough area, and
people walk around with expensive jewelry and talking on expensive mobile phones are likely to get mugged.