Hello E-Speller friends!
Now that you know some ways to
describe the cold weather,
let's talk about some "cold" idioms,
or idioms related to the cold
We have a lot of idioms, as you can see,
so we will break it into two parts.
We'll start over here today.
First we have "Catch ones death".
When you go outside, and it's very cold,
you can get sick.
And many, many years ago,
people could die from being too cold and getting sick,
so this phrase stuck around: "to catch ones death".
You can hear people say,
and I hear my grandma say a lot,
"Don't go outside. You'll catch your death."
Or "Make sure you dress warm so
you don't catch your death."
This may sound a bit overdramatic,
but people still can die from going outside for too long
without enough warm clothing.
So be careful and bundle up and
stay warm when you go outside.
Next we have "Put something on ice."
This means "to put something off until a better time".
So before the days of modern refrigeration
with freezers and fridges,
people literally put food on ice to keep it fresh,
so they could use it later,
things like meat and vegetables.
So we still have this phrase: "Put something on ice."
Like "Let's put building a house on ice
until we can afford it."
We'll put it off until we can pay for it,
because that's a pretty important thing.
Next we have "When hell freezes over."
Hell is a very, very hot place, extremely hot.
So for it to freeze is very unlikely,
so it's probably never going to happen.
People use this phrase to describe something
that's probably never going to happen
There's a hockey team in Canada,
maybe you have heard of them,
called the Toronto Maple Leafs.
And people think they are bad hockey team,
Many people, not everybody, but many people.
So there's a big trophy that a hockey team wins
in the National Hockey League, the NHL,
called the Stanley Cup. So people say,
"The Toronto Maple Leafs will win the Stanley Cup
when hell freezes over."
So it's not very likely they're going to
win the Stanley Cup.
Sorry Leafs!
And similarly we have
"A snowball's chance in hell"
or "Not a snowball's chance in hell".
A snowball is a ball made of snow,
and in a very hot place, like hell,
it's going to melt very quickly,
so it's not going to last very long.
So if something has a snowball's chance in hell,
it also means it's very unlikely to happen.
So I can say, "The Toronto Maple Leafs
have a snowball's chance in hell
of winning the Stanley Cup.
Or if I have a friend who missed a lot of classes,
I can say, "Because she missed a lot of classes,
she has a snowball's chance in hell of passing the exam.
Now to use "Not a snowball's chance in hell",
that's even worse!
So I can say, "The Toronto Maple Leafs
don't have a snowball's chance in hell
of winning the Stanley Cup."
This means it is more likely that
a snowball will last in hell
than the Leafs are to win the Stanley Cup.
Pretty, pretty small chance they're gonna
win the Stanley Cup,
like none at all really.
Or I can say,
"Because she missed almost all the classes,
she doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell
of passing the exam."
You can also use "Not a snowball's chance in hell"
as a sentence on its own,
which means "definitely not! There's no way!"
So if my friend says,
"Hey, do you think she has a chance of passing the exam
after she missed so many classes?"
"Not a snowball's chance in hell!"
There's no chance she'll pass that exam.
Next we have "to leave someone out in the cold".
This means "to ignore someone
or leave them out of a group activity".
For example,
Stacey was left out in the cold
when Amy started hanging out with her new boyfriend.
So Amy and her boyfriend went off
and left Stacey by herself "in the cold". Poor Stacey.
And "come in from the cold".
So if someone is isolated
or they were kicked out of a country
and the country welcomes them back in,
you can say, "They came in from the cold"
or that "The country let them come in from the cold."
For example,
"Jimmy was working undercover for a long time,
and he was tired of it,
so he hoped his company would let him
come in from the cold and not be undercover
and he could just be himself for a change."
There you have part one of the cold idioms.
Which one was your favorite, so far,
and how can you use it?
Stay tuned for next week
we'll talk about these idioms
Remember, sharing is caring!
Until next time!
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