Fun English Lessons

ESL Reading

A:  What did you think of last night’s dinner party? B:  It was fun up until Katie showed up.  She really took Luke out of the picture.  It was pretty tacky for them to be making out in front of everyone like that. A:  At least she was pleasant.  Sarah was just picking at her food with a sour look on her face.  Then after dinner she wouldn’t talk to anyone and just sat there playing with her cell phone.  I think she made everyone feel a little awkward. B:   At least Bill made it all worthwhile.  He broke the tension with some outrageous remarks and had everyone cracking up.     A:  Ya, it was really great to see him in top form like that.  That was the first time I’ve seen him so relaxed since he dumped the old ball and chain.   B:  I really liked how the girls were friendly to each other.  Remember the last one where a couple of the girls got really catty to each other? A:  Ya, that was unbelievable!  B:  All in all I’d say last night was a success.  I just hope someone else hosts the next one.  The place looks like a pigsty today.

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Out of the picture:  Someone that’s “out of the picture” is not noticed anymore or if you don’t really talk to a person anymore especially people that you were in a relationship before with.  You could say, her ex-boyfriend is totally out of the picture now.  This means they don’t contact each other and don’t deal with each other anymore.  Here, if this girl took Luke “out of the picture” it means she occupied all of his attention and it seemed like he wasn’t at the dinner party anymore because he wasn’t talking to anyone else and wasn’t really noticed by anyone anymore.

Tacky:  Unfashionable.  Bad taste.  That color of your pants is too bright.  They look really tacky.  The furniture in your house looks really tacky.  Also, as you noticed in this lesson “tacky” can refer to behavior.  Some people think that kissing in public is tacky behavior.  Going to someone’s house for dinner and not bringing anything is a little tacky.

Making out:  Passionately kissing and hugging.  Sometimes in American movies you will see couples making out.

Pleasant:  A personality trait that means “enjoyable to be around”.  This kind of person is often smiling and doesn’t cause much trouble.  They are easy to meet and friendly.

Picking at her food:  “Picking at food” means to be eating really slowly and mostly just moving the food around the plate.  It seems like the person is busier playing with the food then eating it.  Often people do this when they are eating something they don’t like and don’t really want to eat.

Sour look:  This is a facial expression that looks like you just ate a lemon.  The person with a sour look appears that they really are not enjoying themselves.  They seem like they are unhappy and disappointed.  They seem to wish they were somewhere else.

Broke the tension:  When there are two or more people together who don’t seem to be comfortable with each other, we say there is “tension”.  For example, someone is at a party and their ex-girlfriend shows up unexpectedly and it makes everyone feel a little uncomfortable but no one is really saying anything.  They can all just feel it.  At that point we say there is “tension in the air”.  If someone does something like tell a joke to get everyone laughing, we say they “broke the tension”.

Cracking up:  This simply means “laughing”.  He’s funny; he really cracks me up.

Top form:  Being in “top form” means you are at your best.  People aren’t always in their best mood or being their funniest or their best.  If you are in top form, you are confident, happy, fun, and enjoyable to be around.

Dumped:  To dump someone means to break up with them.  Have you ever been dumped?  Last week his girlfriend dumped him.

Ball and Chain:  If you are dating someone who is really making your life worse, ie. Causing you stress, making you unhappy, not giving you freedom, we say they are a “ball and chain”.  Long ago, prisoners had a very heavy ball tied to their leg with a chain so they couldn’t move.  The idea is that the person you are dating is having such a bad influence on your life, they are slowing you down as much as a ball and chain. People usually just use this phrase as a joke and you could say to your friend, "where is the ball and chain?"

Catty:  In casual conversation we refer to girls being jealous of each other and acting mean or rude to each other because of this jealousy as being “catty”.  If two girls fight, we call it a “cat fight”.

All in all:  This is a phrase that means, “in conclusion”.  You could say, “today was raining and the weather was cold, but it was still really fun to spend time with my friends.  All in all it was a good day.

Pigsty:  This is the name of the place where pigs live.  It is obviously really dirty and disgusting.  If someone has a really dirty apartment, you can say, “your place is such a pigsty”.

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