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Body Language. From Head to Toe

English has many colloquial expressions to do with the body – from head to toe! Here are some of the most common ones.

To keep your head is to remain calm, but to lose your head is to panic and do something foolish.

An egghead is an intellectual, and someone who has their head screwed on is very sensible.

If you split hairs you are very pedantic, but if you don’t turn a hair you are very calm. To be scatterbrained is to be very forgetful, but to have a brain-wave is to have a very clever idea. If you have something on the brain, you can’t forget it, and if you pick someone’s brains, you talk a problem over with them to see if they have any good ideas.

To pay through the nose is to pay a very high price for something, but if you turn up your nose at something you despise it. If you are all ears, you listen very attentively, and if you keep your ear to the ground you listen and watch out for signs of future events. To see eye to eye with someone is to agree with them, and if you don’t bat an eye, you show no surprise or excitement.

If you are down in the mouth, you are rather depressed. A stiff upper lip is a traditionally British quality of not showing any emotions in times of trouble. To have your tongue in your cheek is to say one thing and mean something else. To have a sweet tooth is to have a taste for sweet food, and to do something by the skin of your teeth is to manage to do it.

To stick your neck out is to do something risky or dangerous, and to keep someone at arm’s length is to avoid getting too friendly with them. To be high-handed is to behave in a superior way, but to lend someone a hand is to help them. If you have a finger in every pie, you are involved in many different projects, and if you have green thumb you are very good at gardening. To be under someone’s thumb is to be under one’s influence.

If you have a heart to heart with someone, you have an intimate talk, and if you learn something by heart, you learn it completely.

If your blood boils, you are furious about something, and if it freezes in your veins, you are terrified. If you put your back into something, you put a lot of effort into it.

If you pull someone’s leg, you tease them, and if you don’t have a leg to stand on, you have no reason or justification for what you do. To put your foot down is to insist on something and to land on your feet is to be very fortunate.

A) Translate from the text colloquial expressions given in the bold type.


Date: 2016-04-22; view: 1735


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VOCABUALARY PRACTICE | B) Complete the sentences with the suitable expressions from the text.
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