Nothing makes your English sound more authentic than a good
dominion of idiomatic expressions. Today the topic is football, but some of
these expressions can be used in other contexts.
We played football against Oakfield High School
today. What a disaster! They beat us 5-1. Really
thrashed us1. They
certainly didn’t win fair and square2
though. The referee3 was biased. He kept giving them all these
free-kicks and penalties and when our captain, Luke, complained the referee
just told him to keep his shirt on4!
I couldn’t believe it. And then when Luke complained a second time, telling the
ref that he was as blind as a bat5, he got sent off! We played the rest of
the game on the back foot6 and
although I think we did our best, there was not much we could do without our star player7.
After the game had finished and we
were leaving the pitch the Oakfield High kids in the crowd added insult to injury8 and jeered at9 us,
calling us a bunch of losers. We were
all fuming10 by the time we got to the school bus. We agreed
that next time, when they come to our school to play, we’ll teach them a lesson they’ll never forget11 in how to play great football! We’ll
make those Oakfield High kids eat their
words12!
Comments
(1) to thrash – to beat
the opponent very easily
(2) to win fair and square
– to win because of hard work and effort and not because of any cheating.
(3) the referee / the ref – the man who
makes sure the game is played correctly and punishes the players for any
wrongdoings
(4) to keep your shirt on
– a colloquial expression, others include keep
your cool y don’t get your knickers
in a twist meaning calm down.
(5) blind as a bat – someone
who can’t see or has poor vision, or doesn’t see what is happening in front of
their eyes.
(6) on the back foot –
to act defensively.
(7) star player – the
best placer in the team.
(8) to add insult to
injury – to make a bad situation even worse.
(9) to jeer at – to show disapproval by
shouting at someone
(10) to be fuming – to
be very angry.
(11) to teach them a
lesson they’ll never forget - defeat
the opponent in a resounding manner.
(12) to eat their words
– to make someone regret or take back what they had previously said.
No comments:
Post a Comment