Lesson 26: Idioms. Feb 4th, 2006

Preview: On this show we talked about some expressions and idioms and tried to answer a question about word order from Dimitri. 

Vocabulary and Expressions
Don’t count your chickens until/before they hatch= This means to be cautious about what to expect. Do not be too confident or take something for granted.

Stay cool but don’t freeze= This is a play on words. Cool means to be hip or fashionable as well as physically cold. If water gets cool enough, it freezes into ice. It’s a kind of joke but not used that often.

Freeze= As a slang term, this is an order to stop, or to stay still. Bob told a [bad word] tragic story about this in America.

Grammar Question
How can I decide which of the following sentences to use?
1) Who did you see yesterday?
2) Who saw you yesterday?
In sentence 1, “who” is the direct object and “you” is the subject. This gives a pattern of OVSV. (note: first V is auxilliary)
In sentence 2, “who” is the subject and “you” is the direct object. This gives a pattern of SVO.
I think sentence 1 sounds more natural, but don’t be afraid if the forms get mixed up. Just remember that the subject is usually always followed by a verb.
Joke
Bubba Bohacks

Song:
Group: Chris Payn
Song: Coffee

____________________________________________________

Both sides of the pond
(US) jello/ (UK) jelly
(US) jelly/ (UK) jam
(US) period/ (UK) full stop