Words and Their Stories: Food Expressions

Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES. A listener from Brazil, Elenir Scardueli, sent us a list of popular expressions about food. So today we will talk about expressions that use vegetables and fruits.

For example, a cucumber is a long, green vegetable that people often eat in salads. You might say a person is as cool as a cucumber if he never seems to worry about anything and stays calm in a stressful situation. If you put a cucumber in a solution of vinegar and spices for a long time, it becomes a pickle. But if you are in a pickle, you are in trouble or a difficult situation.

If two people are very similar, you might say they are like two peas in a pod.

There are several expressions about beans. If someone is very energetic, you might say she is full of beans. If you say something does not amount to a hill of beans, you mean it is of little importance. I might say you don’t know beans about a subject if you do not know anything at all about it. But if you spill the beans, you tell something that was supposed to be a secret.

Potatoes are a popular food in many areas. But something is considered small potatoes if it is not important. You probably would not want to hold a hot potato in your bare hands. This also means a problem or issue that no one wants to deal with. Someone might call you a couch potato if you sit and watch television all day and get little or no physical exercise.

Like potatoes, turnips are root vegetables that grow in the ground. Here is an old saying: you cannot squeeze blood out of a turnip. That means you cannot get something from a person that he or she is not willing or able to give.

Farmers have to separate the valuable parts of their crops from the waste. So separating the wheat from the chaff means keeping what is valuable and rejecting what is worthless.

Students often have to take a difficult test to gain entrance to a special school. So you could say the ones who are chosen are the best ones, or the cream of the crop.

There is an old saying that forbidden fruit tastes the sweetest. That means some people get pleasure from doing something that they are not supposed to do.

Bananas are a popular fruit to eat. But if you go bananas, you are wild with excitement or worry.

Finally, let us talk about lemons. Lemons have a sour taste if you eat them plain. But lemons make a nice drink when you mix their juice with sugar and water. So here is an expression about lemons that we like: If life gives you lemons, make lemonade. This means you should always try to make the best of a bad situation.

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This program was written by Shelley Gollust. I'm Faith Lapidus. You can find more WORDS AND THEIR STORIES at our website, voaspecialenglish.com. You can also find us on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube at VOA Learning English.

Words and Their Stories: Food Expressions, Part Two

Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES. We received a list of expressions about food from Elenir Scardueli, a listener from Brazil.

Today we will talk about some good things to eat. If something is new and improved, we say it is the best thing since sliced bread. In the past, bread was only sold in loaves in baked goods stores. Today, American supermarkets sell sliced bread in plastic bags. Many people thought this was easier because you did not have to cut the bread yourself. The person who makes the most money in a family is called the breadwinner.

Bread and butter issues are those that are most important to Americans and affect them directly – like jobs and health care.

Half a loaf is better than none means that getting part of what you want is better than getting nothing at all. If you know which side your bread is buttered on, then you know what your best interests are and will act to protect them.

Many Americans like their bread toasted. Toast is cooked with dry heat until it starts to turn brown. But you are in big trouble if someone tells you you’re toast.

If you say something is a piece of cake, it means something is really easy, like a test you take in school. Cakes are often covered with a sweet topping, called icing. Icing on the cake means something good that happens in addition to another good thing. Another expression says you can’t have your cake and eat it, too. This means you cannot have everything your way, especially if two wishes oppose each other.

Hotcakes are also called pancakes. They contain flour, eggs, milk and baking powder. You cook them in a frying pan and eat them with fruit or a sweet topping. If a new product is popular and selling well, you might say it is selling like hotcakes.

But if a friend of yours did something bad, you might stop being friends with him immediately or drop him like a hotcake.

Flat as a pancake describes something that is, well, really flat.

A tough cookie is not something you want to eat. It is a person who is difficult to deal with, and would do anything necessary to get what he or she wants. This person could be a sharp cookie or someone who is not easily fooled. Very often things do not go the way we planned. Instead of getting angry or sad, you might just accept it and say that’s the way the cookie crumbles.

Many pies are also good to eat. If something is easy to do, you could say it is easy as pie. But if you do something wrong or bad, you might have to apologize and show you are sorry. In other words, you might have to eat humble pie.

If you have an idea or plan that is not really possible, someone might say it is pie in the sky. If something is really easy to do, you might say it is like taking candy from a baby. But that would not be a very nice thing to do!

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This program was written by Shelley Gollust. I'm Faith Lapidus. You can find more WORDS AND THEIR STORIES at our website, voaspecialenglish.com.

Words and Their Stories: Food Expressions, Part Three

Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES. We present more expressions about food. They are from Elenir Scardueli, a listener in Brazil.

My mother always told us there is no use crying over spilled milk. That means you should not get angry when something bad happens and cannot be changed. People said my mother was a good egg. She would always help anyone in need. We never had to walk on eggshells around her. We did not have to be careful about what we said or did because she never got angry at us. She also told us you have to break some eggs to make an omelet. This means you have to do what is necessary to move forward.

My mother believed you are what you eat. A good diet is important for good health. She would always give us nutritious food. She liked serving us meat and potatoes for dinner. Meat and potatoes can also mean the most important part of something. It describes someone who likes simple things. Here is another expression about meat: one man’s meat is another man’s poison. In other words, one person might like something very much while another person might hate the same thing.

My father was also a good and honest person. People said he was the salt of the earth. He would never pour salt on a wound, or make someone feel worse about something that was already a painful experience. However, sometimes he told us a story that seemed bigger than life. So we had to take it with a grain of salt. That is, we could not believe everything he told us.

My husband has a good job. He makes enough money to support our family. So we say he brings home the bacon. He can cut the mustard, or do what is expected of him at work. It is easy to find my husband in a crowd. He stands almost two meters tall. He is a tall drink of water.

I take the train to work. It is not a pleasant ride because the train can be full of people. It is so crowded that we are packed like sardines – just like small fish in a can.

My supervisor at work is sometimes out to lunch. She is out of touch and does not always know what is going on in our office. Yet she is right about one thing: there is no such thing as a free lunch. Something may appear to be free of charge, but there may be a hidden cost.

When we fail to see problems at work, my supervisor tells us to wake up and smell the coffee. We need to pay more attention and fix the problem.

I once made a big mistake at the office and felt foolish. I had egg on my face.

Over the weekend, my friend invited me to watch a football game on television. But I do not like football. It is not my cup of tea.

We hope this program has given you food for thought, that is, something to think about.