Today we're doing some scary expressions that we use all the time
If you're scared of skeletons, too bad!
Did you know that there's a scary skeleton
"To have some skeletons in your closet" or "To have a skeleton in your closet"
This expression suggests that you have killed someone
and put the body in your closet
but now of course a "skeleton in your closet"
just means you have a very bad hidden secret
If anyone found out, it would be very bad for you. It might ruin you!
So, typically if you think someone has a very bad secret
something they've done is very bad
You might say "Hmm I bet that guy has a few skeletons in his closet!"
It's super interesting how expressions evolve over time
This expression might sound familiar because it's quite similar to
"To be in the closet" means you're gay but it's kept a secret
and if you tell people for the first time that you're gay
You're now open about being gay
or more simply, you "come out"
and at that stage you "are out" to "be out"
Then, to "out" someone means you reveal someone's secret
that they did not want people to know
not necessarily about being gay but something that they didn't want anyone to know
So if you tell someone secret to everyone, you "out" them for example
Allen didn't want anyone to know that he's secretly an alien
Janet, his co-worker, told everyone in the office that he's actually an alien
The dodo has been dead since around 1690 so definitely
this animal is not alive anymore
So when something is no longer an issue it's no longer relevant
Everyone knows this thing is dead
or more fun: "As dead as disco"
Did you kill my husband, like I asked?
Sure did, Ma'am! He's as dead as disco!
a bucket list is a list of things you want to do before you die so for example
swimming with dolphins going skydiving seeing the Grand Canyon these are things
that might be on your bucket list
Let me know in the comments, what is on your bucket list?
Next one is "the graveyard shift"
typically means you work the very very LATE shift at work
midnight to 8:00 a.m. shift you are working the graveyard shift
Have you ever worked the graveyard shift? Do you now work the graveyard shift?
This goes nicely with "Saved by the Bell"
Okay, class today we're doing presentations
Does everyone have their presentation finished?
Timmy, you are next will you please do your presentation for the class
Okay I'm sorry Timmy we don't have time today
tomorrow you'll do your presentation
Timmy just got Saved by the Bell
He escaped a difficult situation
and in that situation you say you are Saved by the bell!
Phew! No more time! Saved by the Bell!
so usually time interrupts like the end of class the end of a meeting something like that
One possible origin for this expression comes from the 1500s
apparently people were buried alive quite often they would sometimes find
scratch marks on the lids of coffins which made people think
"Oh! Maybe we should check if people are really dead or not!"
I mean medicine in the 1500s wasn't exactly amazing and apparently it
happened so often that Chopin's last words were
So they started tying string to the
wrists of dead people burying them having the string go through the coffin
through the ground and up above the grave attached to a bell so if they woke
up two days later, Romeo and Juliet style, they could ring the bell
someone could quickly dig them up and save them
And of course someone had to be there in the very late hours from about midnight to
8:00 a.m. to watch the graves to listen for bells to save people who had been buried alive
that person was working - you guessed it - the "graveyard shift"
It has been argued that this story is bollocks it kind of sounds like bollocks
and in fact this expression comes from boxing
When a boxer is fighting, and he's
almost knocked out but then all of a sudden ding-ding-ding end of the round
the boxer is saved, literally, by the bell
The bell above a grave thing just sounds more fun though
I prefer to believe the grave one, because it's terrifying
If you're a historian, please tell me what really happened
Because that, the bell with the grave thing...
That's just cray cray! (Crazy)
Thanks for watching, I hope that lesson didn't suck!
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