Hi. I'm Rebecca from engVid. In this lesson, you will learn eight new idioms
which are used very commonly in personal, social, and professional
situations. Okay? Now, I've divided them for you. There are eight, but four of
them are a little bit more on the negative side, and four of them are
quite positive. So, let's see what they are. Now, we could start all of them,
just in order to make a kind of a sentence... we could start all of them
with the word: "It's", or "It is", or "It was", okay? Whatever. But we'll say:
So, let's take the first one: "It's a tough break." So, what does that mean:
"It's a tough break"? It means something unfortunate happened or something bad
happened that really was kind of sad. Okay? For example, let's say somebody
bought a house, which is a good thing, but then he lost his job. So, that was a
tough break. Okay? Because now he has to cope with that situation, and it's a
difficult situation. So, it was a tough break that he lost his job shortly after
All right, let's look at the next one: "It's a long shot." A "long shot" means
that there's very little chance of success. So, for example, we know that
lots of people around the world buy lottery tickets, even though it's a long
shot that you're actually going to win millions of dollars. Okay? So, that
means there's very little chance of success.
Okay, the next one, number three: "It's a raw deal." So, when we say that
somebody "got a raw deal", or that "it was a raw deal", it means that somebody
was treated very unfairly. Okay? Not in a good way; it was a bad deal. So, for
example, if somebody got a job, and then he found out or she found out that the
person in her job before then got paid much, much more — so she got a raw deal,
or he got a raw deal. He got a bad deal, and was treated unfairly. Okay? That's
The last one here in the negative section: "It's a necessary evil." So,
that seems a little bit strange, right? So, "evil" means something bad;
"necessary" means something that you need. So, what's an example of "a
necessary evil"? Let's say taxes. Right? We all have to pay income taxes in most
parts of the world. And we don't like to do it, but we need to do it because our
taxes pay... allow the government to take care of lots of things for us and
provide us with all kinds of services. Right? Looking after our roads, giving
us a fire department, and all of these kind of things. So, we could say that
taxes are a necessary evil. Okay? Did you get those?
Let's review them a little bit. So, if we say something is "a long shot", it's
unlikely to succeed, such as a lottery. Or if we say it was "a tough break", it
was a difficult thing that happened, like that person who lost his job after
buying a house. Or if something is "a necessary evil", we say it's necessary,
but we still don't like it. For example, taxes or exams, or other things like
that. Okay? So, what's "a raw deal"? "A raw deal" is where someone is treated
unfairly or badly. For example, if somebody did some work, and was promised
$200, but then at the end of it, they got only $100. So, they got "a raw
So, let's look at the next four; these are a little bit brighter, a little bit
more... a little bit happier. Okay? "It's a no-brainer." Okay, so let me
give you a nice example of that one; a good, happy example. So, let's say that
somebody didn't have work for a long time —could be this guy up here, okay?
Who lost his job — but then after a long time of not having any work and not
having enough money, he was offered a great job with a high salary and
everything else. So, should he have taken that position? Of course. Yes.
It's very clear and obvious that he should. So, that's "a no-brainer". "A
no-brainer" is something that's very clear and obvious; you don't have to
think about it very much. It's very... You don't have to use your brain very
much to figure out the answer. So, it was a no-brainer that he should take
that job when he had no work. Okay.
"A turning point". "A turning point" is a time when everything changes for the
better. For example, if there is a couple and they've been trying to have a
child, and they couldn't have one for many years, and then they had a baby and
they were so happy, and that was a turning point in their lives. That's
"A safe bet". So, what's "a safe bet"? Do you have any idea what it could be?
Something that you can be sure of — okay? — something that you think is safe
to do. For example, most people consider that if you go to university, it's a
safe bet. That means that if you go to university, you invest the time and
money, but then for the rest of your life, you will benefit from that; you'll
have a career, you'll have an income. So, going to university is often
regarded as a safe bet; a good thing to do.
And the last one is "a win-win situation". So, what's "a win-win
situation"? It's a situation in which both sides win; both sides are happy,
both sides come out ahead. For example, let's suppose you want to improve your
English, and you meet someone who is an English speaker who wants to learn your
language. So, you could do a kind of language exchange, and both of you would
benefit; both of you would win. So, that's called "a win-win situation".
It's often used in business situations, when there's some sort of negotiation
between two sides. And finally, everybody is really happy. So, that
means it's a win-win situation. All right?
So, again, what's "a no-brainer"? Something that's very clear and obvious.
What's "a safe bet"? Something that you can be pretty sure and certain it will
succeed, or it's a good thing to do. What's "a turning point"? It's a time
when everything changes for the better. And what's "a win-win situation"? A
situation in which both sides or all sides are happy with the results. Okay?
So, maybe as a way to review this, you can do a few things. First, go to our
website at www.engvid.com; there, you can do a quiz on this. All right? Just
to make sure that you really understood these well. While you're there, you can
leave a comment for me in the comment section, and maybe use one or two of
these idioms. For example, you could tell me about a turning point in your
life, something that happened and... and a good time when something good
happened. Maybe you met somebody, maybe you started a business, maybe you did
something. And... or you could give me an example of some win-win situation in
your life. Okay? But find an idiom that you like and that you can apply, because
when you use your own examples, that's when you really understand something.
Okay? And last of all, subscribe to my YouTube channel so you can continue to
get more lessons that will help you to improve your English. Okay? All the