December 9th, 2016

(Weekly Slang Homework List)

Thursday

-Discussion/Questions/Practice

-Practice Vocabulary

My Homework:

7. PULL A RABBIT OUT OF A HAT: to do something unexpected that may have seemed impossible

• I thought we were going bankrupt, but my partner pulled a rabbit out of his hat and we landed a major contract.

8. LEAVE NO STONE UNTURNED: to do everything you can to achieve your goal

• I’ll leave no stone unturned until I find out who did this.

9. GET IT OUT OF YOUR SYSTEM: to do something you’ve wanted to do for a long time and don’t want to postpone any longer

• I wasn’t sure how she was going to react, but I had to get it out of my system, so I told her I had found another woman.

10. STEP UP YOUR GAME: to start performing better

• If you want to win this competition, you’ll have to step up your game

11. PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER: to calm down and behave normally

• I understand you’ve had a bad day, but pull yourself together and get on with your job, will you?

12. SHAPE UP OR SHIP OUT: either start performing better or leave

• This is the last time I’m telling you to arrive on time. Shape up or ship out.

13. CUT SOMEBODY SOME SLACK: to give somebody a break/ not to judge somebody severely

• I was extremely busy last week. Cut me some slack and I’ll finish the report by tomorrow morning.

14. BY THE SKIN OF YOUR TEETH: when you do something by the skin of your teeth, you only just succeed/ nearly fail

• I hadn’t studied much, but passed the test by the skin of my teeth.

15. ONCE IN A BLUE MOON: when something rarely ever happens

• We used to see him all the time, but now he just visits us once in a blue moon.

16. GO DOWN IN FLAMES: to end or fail suddenly and spectacularly

• She’d wanted to become Managing Director, but her career went down in flames when they found out she’d been leaking information to our competitors.

17. TAR SOMEONE WITH THE SAME BRUSH: to believe that someone has the same bad qualities as others in a group

• I don’t think much of that band, but the singer shouldn’t be tarred with the same brush. She’s got a fantastic voice.

18. COME OUT SWINGING: to be confrontational and strongly defend yourself at the beginning of a debate

• Our local MP came out swinging against the current leadership and demanded that the government resign.

19. HANG IN THERE: wait and be patient

• I know you’d really like to call him, but I don’t think that’s the right thing to do now. Just hang in there and he will call you.

20. SHOOT FROM THE HIP: to speak directly

• If you want to get on well with your boss, try not to shoot from the hip next time. You don’t want to offend him, do you?