Nail-biter

Idiom: Nail-biter

Meaning: something (such as a game or movie) that causes people to feel nervous because the ending is not known until the final moment

Example #1:

Jan: I’m so excited for the Super Bowl this coming Sunday!!

Steve: I know! The Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos are both really great teams. 

Jan: I think it will be a real nail-biter! We won’t know who wins until the very last minute!

Steve: I’d rather watch a game that is a nail-biter than a lopsided game where one team scores all the points.

Jan: Me, too! Just as long as my team wins!

Example #2:

Selena: Have you seen that new movie, “An Unsolved Crime?”

Jackie: No, but I’ve heard that it is a real nail-biter!

Selena: Yes, it is. I had absolutely no idea who had done the crime until the last second. Then, I was really shocked!

Jackie: Don’t tell me! I still want to see it.

Selena: OK. You’ll love it! The final scene is especially nail-biting.

Meaning: "A nail-biter” is something (like a close game) that causes tension or anxiety.  In the first example, two really good teams are playing for the championship in American football. It will be a close game and no one will know who will win until the final moments of the game. This will cause fans of the teams to be nervous or tense.  In the second example, the movie is very suspenseful and the ending is unpredictable. In this example, both “nail-biter (noun)” and “nail-biting (adjective)” are used to describe the movie.  For more information, please visit: www.languagesystems.com. 

On the Rocks

Sometimes idioms can have two completely different meanings.  This is what keeps English so interesting!   The expression “on the rocks” can have a negative meaning about a romantic relationship, but it can also refer to how you would like your cocktail served!

First example:                                                     

Leila:  Hey, Sarah, how’s it going? 

Sarah:  Oh, pretty good, I guess.

Leila:  What!!!  You are a newlywed; you should be feeling better than that! What’s up?

Sarah:  Well, to be perfectly honest, I am not that happy.

Leila:  What do you mean? Aren’t you happy in your marriage?

Sarah:  Well, at first I thought so, but now I think that my husband Ryan has been seeing his ex-girlfriend Mary!

Leila:  Oh no! You have only been married for three months. I am so sorry!

Sarah:  Yeah, I really think my marriage is on the rocks. We seem to argue about everything, especially about his relationship with Mary. I’m not sure what I am going to do.

Leila:  You poor thing. I think you might need to think about marriage counseling.

Sarah:  Yeah, I’ve already thought about it. I’ll keep you posted as to what I’ll do.

Leila:  In the meantime, don’t hesitate to let me know if you need anything. I feel really bad because I introduced the two of you!

Sarah:  Oh, Leila! I don’t blame you. Sometimes marriages work out, and sometimes they don’t. I’ll call you in a few days and let you know what’s going on.

Leila:  Okay, Sarah. Talk to you soon.

Sarah:  Bye, Leila. 

Meaning: When someone says that a romantic relationship is “on the rocks,” it means that things are not working out.  It means that the relationship is in danger of ending. Imagine a ship that is sailing the ocean and nearing an island. Somehow it comes too close to a reef or to some rocks, and the ship breaks apart. When a relationship is “on the rocks,” it is in a bad way. It may or may not be able to be repaired.  It is an idiom that can be used to symbolize that a love relationship is failing.

Second example:

Leila:  Hey, Sarah! I’m so glad you could meet me for a drink today. I haven’t seen you in ages!

Sarah: I’m happy to see you, too. Between marriage counseling and date nights with my husband, I have been pretty busy. It’s like we are falling in love all over again!

Leila: Oh, Sarah, I am so happy for you! I’m glad that you are trying to make your marriage work!

Sarah: Me, too. And I feel kind of silly. Remember what I told you about thinking that Ryan was seeing his old girlfriend?

Leila:  Yeah, you were suspicious. Was it true?

Sarah:  No, not at all. He was emailing her and calling her because he wanted to make arrangements to get back his old coin collection. He had put it into storage in her mother’s garage because he had been moving around so much.

Leila:  A coin collection! Wow, I didn’t know that anyone even collected coins anymore!

Sarah:  Yeah, Ryan does. He says it’s worth a few thousand dollars. He wanted to sell some of it so that he could take us on a cruise for Valentine’s Day! 

Leila:  No way! That is so romantic!

Sarah:  Yeah, he’s taking us on a cruise to Mexico, with stops in San Diego and Catalina Island!

Leila:  Sarah, I am so glad that your marriage is not in trouble. I was so worried about you.

Sarah:  Me, too, but I feel much better now.

Leila:  Well this calls for a celebration! Let’s have that drink. Bartender, I’ll take a shot of vodka, please!

Bartender:  And for you, Miss?

Sarah:  Make that vodka for me, too, but I’ll take mine on the rocks!

Meaning: In this situation, “on the rocks” has absolutely nothing to do with love or romantic relationships! In this situation, it describes how you would like your cocktail prepared. You can ask a bartender to make your drink “neat” or “straight,” which means a pour of liquor into a glass with nothing else. You can ask the bartender to make a cocktail, such as a martini; to be made “shaken” or “stirred”. Remember the 007 James Bond movies? James always asked for his martinis “shaken, not stirred.” A cocktail can be shaken in a shaker and then strained into a glass, leaving the ice behind in the shaker and not put into the glass. A stirred drink is poured in layers into the glass on top of the ice (such as vodka, soda water and cranberry juice) and then stirred by the bartender. Finally, a drink that is “on the rocks” can be a mixed drink or a straight pour of only one liquor that is poured directly on top of the ice and served that way. It is typically not stirred by the bartender. If you ask for a drink that is “on the rocks”, it means that you want it served on ice. Think of it this way, in this idiom, the ice cubes are shaped like rocks. The ice cubes are the “rocks”. This is what the expression comes from.

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To Bet

James: Where's Chris? Class is going to start in like 2 minutes.

Steve: I know. I bet he's going to be late again.

James: Man, that guy is always late.

Julie: Did you hear about the big sale this weekend at Forever 21? 

Diane: Yeah, I bet it's going to be so crowded tomorrow. I'm going to get there early before things get to crazy.

Julie: Good idea!

Meaning: "to bet" is used in American English when you think you are pretty sure about something. It basically means "I think." Practical idioms like this are taught in the Speaking and Conversation classes at LSI. For more information please visit www.languagesystems.com 

To Be MIA

Context #1

Tod: Hey, have you seen Kim lately? She hasn't come to class for like a week.

Joe: Yeah I know. She's MIA. I tried calling her a couple of days ago but I couldn't get a hold of her.

Tod: I hope she's alright.

Context #2

Kelly: Hey Christine! Long time no see! How have you been? I haven't seen you at the gym for a while.

Christine: Yeah, I was MIA for a while. I went back to New York to spend Christmas with my family. I just got back a few days ago.

Kelly: I see. I heard it was freezing in New York.

Christine: Yeah, I'm happy to be back in warm sunny California.

Meaning: "to be MIA" means to be "missing in action." You can use this idiom when someone "disappears" and you don't see them for a long time. Practical idioms like this are taught in the Speaking and Conversation classes at LSI. For more information please visit www.languagesystems.com 

A Piece of Cake

Meaning: easy; something that is not difficult
 Use:

Tom: What did you think of that test, Jill?

Jill: It was a piece of cake!

In other words, Jill thought the test was easy.

A Toss Up

Meaning: The result or end of a situation is unclear or undecided.

Use:  My friend is really unreliable. He often promises to do things for me and then he forgets. He told me he would pick me up at 5 tonight, but whether he will or not is a toss up.

In other words, the author doesn’t know if his friend will come or not.

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Back to the Drawing Board

First Example:

Susanne: Hey Peter! How is your new workout plan going?

Peter: Not so great.

Susanne: What happened?  You seemed so excited about your New Year's resolutions last week, saying you were going to go to the gym four days a week.

Peter: I had dinner plans after work on Tuesday and Wednesday, and then on Friday, I was so tired.  So it's back to the drawing board on my resolutions.

Susanne: Well, two days isn't too bad.  Can you plan to work out on the weekends?

Peter:  I was hoping to have my weekends free, but I think I might plan one weekend day each week.  Then I can plan to go to the gym two days during the work week, making it three days a week.

Susanne: That sounds pretty good to me.                                

Meaning: When someone says "back to the drawing board," it means that a previously established plan isn't working and that it is time to re-plan.  In the above example, Peter's New Year's resolution doesn't work with his schedule, so he needs to re-think his resolution and come up with something that is actually possible.  Sometimes "back to the drawing board" will be used in a complete sentence, such as in the example above; however, the idiom will sometimes be used on its own, as in the following example:

Lisa: My job interview went horribly!

Jason: What happened?! I thought you said you were perfect for that job?

Lisa: I thought I was, but then I got to the interview, and the interviewer started asking me questions about things I didn't understand. I was so confused by his questions, I finally just told him that I misunderstood the job qualifications and apologized for wasting his time.

Jason: I'm sorry to hear that.  What are you going to do next?

Lisa: Back to the old drawing board, I guess. I thought this job was so perfect, I didn't apply anywhere else.

Jason:  Well, good luck in the new job search!

Meaning: This time, Lisa uses the expression "back to the drawing board" without a subject and verb in answer to Jason asking "What are you going to do next?" suggesting that she is starting a new job search.  Also notice that she adds the word "old," which is common with this expression.  The meaning does not change when you add the word "old."

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