So someone suggested that I read Jun some English idioms that he's never heard before and he can guess what they mean.

But... you know what?

Jun's a really smart guy!

He doesn't need to guess what the idioms are.

He's going to tell us what the idioms mean in English.

Because that's how good his English is.

Are you ready?

Sure

Alright Jun, what does "elephant in the room" mean?

Elephant in the room?

There's an elephant in the room.

It means... it's really crowded.

It's very... there's not much space left.

Because it's like there's an elephant in the room.

Yeah.

There's so many people in there.

Yeah. There're so many elephants in Japan.

Japan is so crowded, there's so many elephants here!

Elephant in the room actually means that there is something unspoken.

Unspoken?

Or there's kind of an issue that everyone in the room that everyone knows about but no-one's talking about it.

So there's a big issue but they're ignoring it.

Supposedly it came from a dude named Ivan Andreevich Krylov.

Sounds Russian.

Maybe a Russian dude

He wrote a story about a guy who went to a museum and he saw all sorts of tiny things there but he didn't notice there was an actual elephant there.

So for example let's say that half of my family voted for Donald Trump and half of my family voted for Hilary Clinton.

And then after the election, Donald Trump won.

Half of my family is extremely angry at the other half of my family.

But no-one's talking about it. So everyone's just sitting at the dinner table...

"I got some flowers on sale today" but really, in their mind they're all thinking "you did this to us, this is your fault!"

Yeah, but are they doing that so they don't ruin the atmosphere?

Yeah, it could be for any reason, but I like the definition that it's crowded better.

I'm gonna go with that one from now on.

Ok, yeah. This is really fun, and not fun at the same time.

Jun-sensei! What does "beat around the bush" mean?

Or in British "beat about the bush"

Beat around the bush?

Beat around the bush.

Beat around the bush means... um...

Talking to people about rumors. Annoyingly.

Annoyingly talking to people about rumors?

So like, someone who's gossiping?

So, like that girl at work who's always coming up and talking about everyone else and you're like "Carol, stop!"

Yeah yeah!

"Did you hear about Diana?"

"She forgot to pick up her kids at carpool!" That's Carol.

Where did this name "Carol" come from anyway?

But why, what does "beating around the bush" come from?

Household wives wanted to talk about rumors so badly that she would go outside of the house and beat...

...actually physically beat around the bush to go talk to her neighbor.

Why can't she just go out to the driveway and just walk over?!

The person the housewife wanted to talk to was in the yard.

That was surrounded by bush.

So like Joanne's just chilling by the pool and Carol pops out from the bushes.

"Joanna, did you hear about Diane?"

"Beat around the bush" actually means to avoid answering a question.

To stall, waste time.

So say you had to go to a business meeting and everyone has to solve an issue, but people just start talking about unrelated stuff.

So they're beating around the bush.

They're not getting to the root of the problem.

This came from back in the day; to do bird hunting, if the bird was in a bush, they would actually go beat the bush to get the bird to come out.

And that was kind of like the prelude to actually being able to hunt.

So before they could actually hunt the bird, they had to beat the bush to get the bird out.

So apparently that is how that came about.

Ok Jun. Maybe you know this one, Jun-sensei.

Well, I mean of course you do.

He knows all of these

What does "sleep with the fishes" mean?

Sleep with the fishes means... you...

...die, because you drowned.

And your corpse, your body, sunk to the bottom of the river or sea.

You know, people don't want to be direct so they say "oh yeah, my son, he's sleeping with the fishes".

So dad says this about his son who drowned?

Yeah, specifically that type of death.

"My son is sleeping with fishes."

"Dave, I'm so sorry to hear about your son. What happened?"

"He's sleeping with the fishes."

So "sleeping with the fishes" actually refers to someone who was murdered and their body was dumped into water.

So there is a death involved.

Yeah, they are dead, and their corpse is underwater but usually it's because they were murdered.

And it's famous in English because of "The Godfather" movie.

It was used in "The Godfather".

So I was kind of close.

"Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes"

So you definitely wouldn't say this about your own son if your son drowned.

People usually think of it in reference to the mafia, the mob killing someone.

Alright Jun-sensei. Jun-sensei, what does "bite the bullet" mean?

The bullet that comes out of a gun?

Yes.

Bullet. Pew Pew

It means do something painful.

Or do something painful, patiently.

Patiently do something painful?

Why? Where does that phrase come from?

You know no-one wants to bite bullets. It's really painful.

And probably would taste horrible too.

So this used to be one of the punishments they would do in the 18th century in America.

Ok, 18th century America, people used to bite...

So, what kind of punishment?

Like if a kid broke their parent's lamp or something, dad's like "alright, go bite this bullet now"?

So it looks very very serious. Dad will draw the gun from his drawer, then show the gun, and then open the gun

And then open the bullet holder, and get some bullets

Jun: And then he's not going to say anything, just... *gesture* Rachel: ...make the kid to bite the bullet.

Well it's kind of, kind of close.

Oh yeah?

So "bite the bullet" means to endure something patiently.

Ok.

And it can be something painful as well...

But these days, it's probably just something you really don't want to do.

But you just got to bite the bullet and go do it.

So that's how you use it?

Yeah. The origin is from back in the day, they didn't have anesthesia for when you had to have surgery.

Or something bad had happened, so they gave you a bullet to bite down on so you could clench your teeth while you were being operated on.

That's actually pretty close.

Jun-sensei!

Hai!

What does "hit the nail on the head" mean?

It means... death penalty.

"Hit the nail on the head", so that's like a human head?

Hitting a nail into someone's head.

Yeah, that means death penalty.

"So what happened to Jebediah, how'd his court case go?"

"They're going to hit him in the head with a nail"

Adjourned!

Oh my god! That's horrible!

Who dies by nails through the head!?

Very very heavy penalty

Nooo. The flat part of the nail, that's called the "head" of the nail.

So when you hit the head of the nail...

...you're getting something exactly right.

So like for one of these idioms you knew what it was, you guessed it correctly, so you hit the nail on the head with that one.

This one you did not hit the nail on the head.

But you hit the nail into the head... and that's horrible.

Ok Jun. Jun-sensei.

What does "Elvis has left the building" mean?

Rachel: "Elvis has left the building." Jun: What's "Elvis"?

Oh my god.

Rachel: Ok Jun. Jun: Hai! Rachel: What does "beat a dead horse" mean?

Means you're a jerk.

Means you're a jerk?

Yep. Yep, you're an asshole.

Because you're beating a dead horse?

Yep, the worst thing you could do.

You're the worst, that's what it means.

You would really be an asshole if you were beating a dead horse.

So the term "dead horse" actually used to mean something of no value.

So "beating a dead horse" is a phrase that means you're wasting time doing something that has already been done.

Rachel: So let's say... Jun: Ok, I got it.

So let's say you have an argument with someone and you try to convince them that you're right.

And then you give up, you're done.

And then someone comes over and starts having the same argument...

...you'd be like "don't bother, you're beating a dead horse", because you already tried that, it didn't work.

"Hear something straight from the horse's mouth".

An idiot.

'cause you're listening to a horse?

"The horse told me!"

To "hear something from the horse's mouth" means you're hearing something from the authoritative source.

So the person who is authorized to speak on the subject.

Sounds like there are so many idioms about or related to horses.

We like our horse idioms

I wonder if there are any more horse idioms.

Oh I know, I know one. I didn't even have to look it up.

"Horsing around"

"Stop horsing around!"

Like, stop messing around?

Yeah, this is what like a mom or teacher would say to their kids.

"Stop horsing around over there!"

I just found an article that says "The Origin of 12 Horse Related Idioms".

Hang on! Ok, I got some more horse ones!

"Hold your horses"

Hold your horses...

Hold them...

That means "we Americans love horses".

"Hold your horses" means we love horses 'cause I'm holding a little baby horse.

"Hey little baby horse." I think they were bigger...

Does it mean anything?

Yeah, this one's really common.

"Hold your horses" means hang on, just wait, stop, just wait a minute.

It means someone's rushing

Or someone wants to do something quickly

It's alright, I got it.

So, I think that's enough for horse idioms.

Do you want any more horse idioms?

Jun's had enough horse idioms.

No horse means I'm done.

Rachel: No horse? Jun: Yep. No horse. Rachel: No horse!

"It's over! Get out! No horse!"

I'm going to end every video from now on "no horse!"

Sure.

Thank you. Thank you Jun-sensei for teaching us. I learned so much today.

I'm glad.

Like elephants meaning that places are crowded.

And hitting the nail on the head means you're executing people with nails

Yep, that's the... worst one you can get.

Alright... no horse!

No horse.