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What does it mean to weather a storm? Have you ever rained on someone's parade? Do you feel under the weather today? In this lesson, I will teach you ten common weather expressions: steal someone's thunder, get wind of something, be on cloud nine, weather a storm, take a rain check, rain on someone's parade, storm out, take by storm, under the weather, and calm before the storm.

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 TRANSCRIPT: 

 

Hello, my name is Emma and in today's lesson, we are going to learn about weather expressions. Okay, weather expressions. So I will teach you 10 new expressions that have to do with wind, rain, storm, thunder, and weather. Okay? So let's get started.

 

The first expression I want to teach you today is: "storm out". So, what is a storm? A storm is when you have heavy rain, lots of lightning, lots of loud "boom" thunder sounds. So that's a storm. So we use it when we talk about weather, but we also can use it when we talk about how people leave. Okay. So when someone leaves a room very angrily, - okay -, they storm out. I don't know if you've ever seen someone storm out, but if maybe you have two friends and they have a fight, when there's a fight, usually one person storms out; they leave the room quickly and angrily. So the key word here: "angry".

 

Our second expression: "under the weather". Okay. And it's important to note which preposition we're using; not: "over the weather". "Under the weather". What does this mean? It actually doesn't have to do with weather. It means you're sick if you are under the weather. It's a common expression; we use it a lot. -"How are you feeling today?" -"Oh, I'm a little under the weather.", "My teacher didn't come to school today; she was feeling a little under the weather." So we can use: "I'm under the weather." Or: "I'm feeling under the weather." Both are okay.

 

Third expression for today: "weather that storm". So again, I showed you what a storm is, lots of rain, thunder, lightning. What does it mean to "weather a storm" or "that storm"? Well, when you weather a storm, it means you have a difficult situation and you get through it. So, for example: maybe you have to do a big English test, maybe you're doing the IELTS or the TOEFL or just a general English test, and you and your classmates are very good friends. And every night you study, you work very hard; you study, study, study and finally the test day comes, and you pass the test. You weathered that storm. So any difficult situation or problem that you get through. Okay. I like this expression a lot. Let me think of another example. Surviving difficult times. If you have a boyfriend or a girlfriend, and maybe you break up, and you're very, very sad but one day you feel happy again - you weathered that storm.

 

Our next expression: "to get wind of something". So what is "wind"? This is our key weather word. "Whish, whish." Wind. If you get wind of something, it's like the wind blows you information. So to get wind of something means you find out information or a secret. So maybe it's somebody's birthday party, maybe you're throwing a big surprise party for your friend. You don't want them to get wind of the party; you want to keep it a secret, you don't want them to know. Maybe someone says something about buying a cake, and they start to think: "Oh, there's going to be a party for me." They get... They got wind of the party. So usually: "Get wind of something." Something. Maybe if you celebrate a holiday, maybe if you celebrate Christmas or Chinese New Year, some sort of holiday and someone bought you a very nice present, maybe you get wind of what is... What the present is. Maybe it's a trip. So if you get wind of something, it means you learn some new information, and usually it's secret information that you've now discovered.

 

So number five on this list: "rain on my parade". You can rain on somebody's parade, not just "my parade". So you can say: "rain on his parade", "rain on Mary's parade", "rain on Abdullah's parade". Okay? So you can change this to "his", "her", "my", "your" or a name. What does it mean to rain on someone's parade? If I rain on someone's parade it means I lessen their happiness. Okay? So this is not a good thing; to rain on somebody's parade is a bad thing. It means somebody's very, very happy about something and you say something that takes a little bit of that happiness away. So what are some examples? Well, maybe I got a new promotion at work. I'm very happy. I have a new job at work, it's a great job, I'm telling my friend about it and they say: "Well, it's great you have a new job, but you're going to be very, very busy now and maybe you'll have a lot more stress." So my friend has now lessened my happiness; I'm less happy now when I think about stress, and pressure, and hard work maybe. What's another example of raining on someone's parade?

 

Well, maybe somebody has just gone shopping and they have a beautiful new purse they bought and they're very, very happy about their purse. And they show their friend and say: "Look at my nice new purse." Maybe their friend will say: "How much did your purse cost? Was it very expensive?" They might respond: "Don't rain on my parade." Meaning: "Don't lessen my happiness, don't ruin my happiness. I want to be happy, I don't want any happiness taken away." So I like this expression, it's a good one.

 

Number six: "take a rain check". This is a very, very common expression. What does it mean to take a rain check? It means you're going to reschedule an event. So, for example: maybe I want to have lunch with you and we plan to have lunch at a restaurant, but you're really busy. You might tell me: "I'm going to take a rain check." Meaning: "I can't come today. I will meet you at the restaurant a different day." So for anything it means when you reschedule. Another example: maybe you want to have a party, but you're very busy with school or busy with work. You tell your friends: "You know, I'll have to take a rain check; I can't party." So it means to reschedule.

 

Number seven: "the calm before the storm". So what does..? You remember what "storm" means, and "calm" is a synonym for quiet. So "calm" means it's very quiet; no loud noise. "The calm before the storm" means the quiet before a bad situation. So, an example: maybe there's a boyfriend and a girlfriend, and they're going to break up. Right before their big break up fight, maybe it's quiet. Everyone feels that there's a bad time coming, but it hasn't arrived yet. So it's that time before there's a fight, before there's a big problem, the time before when it's quiet. I really like this expression: "on cloud nine". So a "cloud" is like this, that's a cloud. "On cloud nine" is an expression that means someone is very, very, very happy.

 

Okay. When I make these videos for you, I'm on cloud nine. I'm very, very happy, very excited. Maybe if you meet your dream husband or your dream wife or your dream girl, you will be on cloud nine; you will be so, so happy. So it's just another way to say very, very happy. "I'm on cloud nine." Number nine: "steal someone's thunder". Okay, what does it mean to steal someone's thunder? If you steal someone's thunder... Thunder is the loud noise you hear during a storm, it's the "boom" sound the sky makes, that's thunder. If you steal someone's thunder, it means you take someone's attention away.

 

So, for example: maybe it's someone's birthday party and they're getting all this attention; everyone's talking to them, everyone is paying attention to them - if I steal their thunder, maybe I'll do something so everyone looks at me. And a really good example is in Western culture, many people wear white wedding dresses; the bride wears a white wedding dress. If you want to steal the bride's thunder, you could wear a wedding dress to someone else's wedding and look even more beautiful, that would steal someone's thunder. It's not a good idea, but that's a good example of stealing attention from someone.

 

Finally, number : "take by storm". What does it mean to take something by storm? Well, if you think about a storm, they're very loud, very quick, very dramatic; there's lots of rain, lots of lightning, and thunder. So if you take by storm, it means you do something very quickly and very violently, very dramatically. Okay? Very big. You do something in a very dramatic way. So what's an example of this? Maybe... We often use it when someone moves to a new place. "They took Toronto by storm." Meaning: they moved into Toronto, they started partying in Toronto, they did a lot of fun things in Toronto. When you take something by storm, it means you do something quickly. Another expression would be: "Lady Gaga... Lady Gaga took the music world by storm." 

 

Okay? Before Lady Gaga, maybe people weren't so dramatic in the way they dressed. When Lady Gaga became a performer, she started wearing strange outfits, she became very popular very quickly. She took the music world by storm. So I want to thank you for watching this video. If you want to try our test, - maybe you can take our test by storm -, our website is: www.engvid.com. And I will be on cloud nine if you visit our site. Until next time, take care.