By Robby

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12 English phrases meaning something completely different

Improve Spoken English

I often touch upon the subject of English language idiomatic expressions on this weblog for the unproblematic reason that more often than not  our every-twenty-four hour period speech consists of such and similar  word combinations and information technology's making our voice communication so much more easier !

Just wait at the above paragraph – it's blimp with various idiomatic expressions and collocations, and the 1 mutual trait they all share is that you take to larn the EXACT mode they're used and then that y'all can larn them off by heart and then use them in your own conversations.

Then at that place are proper English idioms y'all can't fifty-fifty understand unless you actually know what they mean – such every bit "It'south no pare off my olfactory organ" or "Until the cows come up home".

There are, notwithstanding, certain English phrases that may at first audio as if they don't have any double-meanings AT ALL, still they mean something completely different!

If y'all're an advanced English language speaker and you've been communicating with real people in real life for years, this list will probably reveal zilch new to yous.

If yous're someone who's just starting off in an English language speaking country, for case, the following phrases might turn out to be an eye-opener for you! 😉

Y'all don't want to do that!

If you have this phrase literally, it sounds as if someone is making a statement that you lot don't want to exercise something (in which instance it doesn't really make an awful lot of sense – I mean, how can someone else maybe know what I do or what I don't want to do?!)

In reality though, this phrase is used when advising someone non to do something, so the existent bulletin backside this expression is "You shouldn't practise information technology!"

Why exercise English speaking people say "You don't want to practise that!" instead of simply saying that ane SHOULDN'T do it?

Well – it'southward just the way conversational English language goes! Don't inquire WHY – just accept that it'due south the style native English language speakers speak, and life is going to be a whole lot easier for you.

Another version of the same phrase – "You don't want to be doing that!" – is used just like the original one, and in one case once more – don't inquire WHY there are two different versions of this phrase in employ.

Merely take information technology and use whichever one you want to employ! 😀

He can't assistance himself

When I heard the English verb "to assistance" used in this context for the commencement time, I idea the person in question must be physically handicapped once they can't help themselves.

I mean – the word "to help" is quite simple and straightforward, then when someone can't assistance themselves, they quite literally tin can't assist themselves with performing certain tasks, isn't that right?

Turns out information technology's not the case!

When someone says virtually some other person that they tin't help themselves, information technology means the person in question can't RESIST doing something, they're as well weak to say NO to themselves ❗

Allow's say, y'all're eating besides much chocolate on a daily basis, and your work colleague asks you one day why you're eating so much chocolate every twenty-four hours. Yous can merely respond by maxim "I merely can't help myself!" which means that it'due south a habit and so strong you tin't resist it.

Close upwards!

When someone tells y'all to shut up, it's quite clear what they want to tell you, isn't that right?

They're telling you to shut your mouth, and needless to say, it's quite rude to be talking to someone like that.

Sometimes, however, the phrase "Shut upward!" can be used to express something completely different – namely, your amazement at something the other person is telling y'all about.

So if you're speaking with an English language speaking person and they respond to yous by saying "Shut up! I can't believe it!", it doesn't necessarily mean they want y'all to shut your oral cavity and finish talking to them. It merely means they're so surprised at what you merely said that they're using the phrase "Close upwardly!" equally means of expressing they disbelief or excitement.

Certain enough, yous'll be able to read the truthful significant of those words off the other person'south face up and tone of vox – the part of torso language can't be underestimated, later on all.

At that place might be some occasions, however, when y'all'd think the other person is being rude to you while in reality in that location's no harm intended, so please acquit in mind that the expression "Shut upwards!" can likewise have a pretty harmless meaning!

Become abroad!

I don't know about you, only where I alive (Ireland) this phrase is used the same fashion as the i above ("Shut up!") when expressing your surprise at something the other person has just said.

Basically it'southward just some other way of saying "Really?!", and when they say "Get away!", nobody means it literally. It' just a mode of letting the other person know that you're shocked to hear it, and you may besides starting time using this phrase in your own daily English conversations.

I see!

This is a very, very simple English phrase, just when an average beginner English language pupil sees it, on 9 times out of 10 they'll think it ways that someone is maxim that they Come across something.

In fact, the phrase "I encounter!" is used conversationally all the time when people want to say that they get information technology, that they Understand it, and this is actually something that a lot of foreign English speakers should learn pretty early in their lives.

On mode also many occasions my boyfriend foreigners say "I understand" while the phrase they should be using is "I come across"!

You meet, "I sympathize" sounds way too formal when used during your daily conversations, then I warmly propose you start using the much more friendlier version of it "I encounter!" instead.

Encounter where I'g coming from?

If someone asks you if you lot see where they're coming from, you may assume they hateful information technology quite literally, in which case you may be thinking "How on Earth am I supposed to know where they're coming from?!"

When people ask you lot this question, what they really mean to say is "Do yous understand the reasons why I'thou saying this?"

Basically the conversation would get something like this:

"I think nosotros should swap this motorcar for the other one because the production output is much lower now that the busy season is over."

You lot: ???

"You encounter where I'm coming from?" (Exercise you understand why I'yard suggesting we should swap the machines on the production line?)

You: "I oasis't got a clue what y'all're talking about! Can you explain everything to me step-by-step please?"

You may want to…

This phrase may seem a bit confusing at first. You may… Y'all want… Why "You MAY WANT" then? Why are the ii words grouped together? Does it mean you're giving the other person a permission to do something as in "Y'all may do it"?

What this phrase actually means is quite the opposite to giving someone a permission to do something – information technology'south all virtually giving the other person a suggestion that they should probably choose to do whatever it is you're telling them to do!

Why not simply say "You should…" instead?

Well, yous meet – "You may desire to…" is a very polite way of letting someone know equally to what would exist the right course of action while "Y'all should…" might really sound like a control rather than a suggestion!

I don't purchase information technology!

This English phrase has nothing to practice with buying stuff, it's all about Assertive what you're told! 😉

If someone makes an empty promise to you or you're told some news you don't believe, you tin can respond with proverb "I don't buy it!" in which case y'all're simply making information technology articulate you don't believe what yous're told.

I'thousand looking frontwards to…

As a beginner English student you may think this phrase means to be looking direct ahead of yous (every bit opposed to be looking backwards or sideways, for example).

In conversational English and besides in English language in full general, however, this phrase has a completely unlike meaning – it simply means to exist expecting something, to be really waiting on something to happen!

I think when I'd only started living in Ireland 11 years ago, my supervisor asked me at piece of work if I was looking forward to my holidays, to which I didn't really know what to say because the sentence didn't make a lot of sense to me.

Now I know only too well that it ways to be expecting something, and in case you didn't know it – it'due south about time to add this English phrase onto your vocabulary!

Tell me near it!

"Tell me about it!" doesn't hateful "TELL me ABOUT information technology".

Information technology ways "Yes, I know exactly what y'all're talking about – I accept the same experience!"

Here'due south a state of affairs to describe exactly what I'm talking about hither:

You: "My lilliputian sister is real nightmare – she constantly makes demands to our mom and cries if she doesn't get what she wants!"

Your friend: "Tell me about it!"

What your friends is telling yous is – "Yeah, I can completely relate to that considering I besides take a piffling sis who's behaving that way!"

So now that you know what this phrase means, you wouldn't first telling your friend More ABOUT it. Yous'd simply empathize your friend is going through a similar experience!

It doesn't hurt to…

When someone tells you that it doesn't hurt to practise something, they don't literally hateful that information technology's not going to be painful.

What they hateful to tell you is that the activity in question is going to effect is something actually benign to you lot, so it's definitely worth doing it!

How do you discover this…?

I remember someone asked me how I found my job to which I started telling them about the recruitment agency who helped me to land my task with the company…

What that person actually meant was – "What do you lot Call up Well-nigh your job?" – so in this case the English verb "to discover" has some other meaning on pinnacle of the most common ane which is to actually detect something afterwards you've been looking for it!

* * *

Now, did you lot discover this article interesting?

Did you larn a few new English phrases you didn't know existed?

If and then – let your friends know virtually them by using the social sharing tool below!

Thanks for reading,

Robby 😉

P.S. Would you like to find out why I'm highlighting some of the text in red? Read this article and you'll acquire why it's so of import to learn idiomatic expressions and how it will assist you to improve your spoken English language!

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