Learning English: Colour Idioms

Let's learn English again Brandanese...! This time we will discuss the colour idioms.
We have many idiomatic expressions involving the whole range of colours in English. We will have a look today at just three colours: red, white and blue.

White Colour Idioms

White in British culture is traditionally associated with purity and innocence. See if you can work out the meaning of the following white colour idioms word for word. Then check your understanding by reading examples of how they are used in context. Finally, check again against the explanations given.

go as white as a sheet

white coffee

a white-collar worker

tell a white lie

whiter than white

• The news must've been bad. She went as white as a sheet when she read the telegram.
• 'Do you want white or black coffee?' 'White please.' Well, dark brown, actually - just a dash of milk.
• He hopes to get a white-collar job, though, with his level of education, he'll be lucky to get a blue-collar one.
• It's OK to tell a white lie. It doesn't do any harm and it nearly always does some good.
• She's whiter than white - the image of perfection. In her entire life she has never put a foot wrong.

go as white as a sheet = become extremely pale in the face

white coffee = coffee with milk (note: not white tea; instead: tea with milk)

white-collar worker = an office worker (note blue-collar = factory or physical work)

tell a white lie = telling a lie to avoid making someone upset

whiter than white = someone who is totally fair and honest


Red Colour Idioms

Red is often associated with anger or danger (red traffic lights). In British culture, red-haired people (redheads) are traditionally hot-tempered and high-spirited. Try to work out the meaning of these red colour idioms in the same way as before.

be in the red

see red

roll out the red carpet

paint the town red

a red-letter day

• She's always in the red, never in the black. No overdraft would ever be big enough for her.
• When she realised saw that no housework had been done all week, she saw red and banished us from her holiday home.
• It'll be time to roll out the red carpet when Auntie Meg returns home. We haven't seen her for twenty years.
• They decided they would paint the town red after winning so much money by gambling on the horses.
• It was a red-letter day for us when we were able to move into our new holiday house - the house of our dreams.

be in the red = have minus amounts on one's bank account (in the black = in credit)

see red = lose one's temper; become suddenly angry

roll out the red carpet = put on a special welcome for an important person

paint the town red = enjoy yourself by going to bars and/or clubs

a red-letter day = a very happy or exciting day


Blue Colour Idioms


Blue is traditionally the colour of boys' clothes in British culture - pink for girls. It is also associated with loyalty and true love. Try to work out the meaning of these blue colour idioms in the same way as before.

a blue movie

out of the blue

scream blue murder

the boys in blue

a blue-eyed boy

• Blue movies, or adult videos as they are sometimes called, are normally only available from sex shops.
• His suggestion that we should move to Cyprus came completely out of the blue. I wasn't expecting it.
• They started to scream blue murder when I told them they would have to work an extra half an hour on Saturday afternoons.
• It's a criminal offence. We can't sweep it under the carpet. We should hand it over to the boys in blue.
• He's the blue-eyed boy of skateboarding all right. He's won this competition five times.

a blue movie = a film with explicit adult scenes

out of the blue = suddenly and unexpectedly

scream blue murder = make a lot of fuss; shout loudly and emotionally in protest

the boys in blue = the uniformed police

a blue-eyed boy = a young man (grudgingly) admired because he is successful

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Let's Learn English: Phrasal Verbs

Guys... we often face a lot of difficulties in understanding the use of Phrasal Verbs.
In this posting you can clearly distinguish five patterns in building up Phrasal Verbs.

A phrasal verb is a verb that is combined with a preposition (e.g. in, on, with) or an adverbial particle (e.g. up, out, off).

The preposition or adverbial particle extend the meaning of the verb to create a new meaning. For example if you look at something, your eyes are focused on it, but if you look after something or someone, you take care of them.

Phrasal verbs follow one of five different patterns.

verb + prep / adv + object

Look for and look after follow this pattern.
The verb is followed by a particle and an object. The particle is not separated from the verb. Other common phrasal verbs following this pattern (and there are many of them) include:
take after (resemble), fall for (fall in love with), come across (meet by chance):

• I’m looking for my glasses.
• I’ve been looking for them all day.
• Can you look after my cat while I’m away?
• I’ll pay you for looking after him.
• I take after my cousin. Everybody says I take after her.
• I’ve really fallen for this guy. Have you ever fallen for anyone?
• Did you come across any photos of the family when your were clearing out the attic?

Exceptionally with this pattern, Anton, the particle is separated from the verb when it is combined with a relative pronoun introducing a defining relative clause, as in:

• He is the boy for whom I am looking.
• This is the relative after whom I take.
• But this is an example of very formal English.

We would normally say:

• He is the boy I’m looking for.
• This is the relative I take after.

verb + prep / adv + object OR verb + object + prep / adv

Some phrasal verbs can be used in either of these patterns, verb followed
by a particle then an object or verb followed by an object then a particle.

• To put on and take off (e.g. clothes) are examples of this type of verb:
• Take that stained pullover off and put your tracksuit on.
• Take off that stained jumper and put on your loose top and trousers.
• I’ve put on a lot of weight since I’ve been driving to work.
• I’ve put a lot of weight on since I’ve been using the car for work.

However, if the object is a pronoun it must be placed in front of the particle:
That sweater’s stained. Take it off.
You cannot say:
That sweater’s stained. Take off it.

verb + prep / adv + zero object

Note that phrasal verbs can also be intransitive where there is no object:

• The plane took off five minutes early.
• Two hours later it touched down in Berlin.
• The meeting dragged on and on and Reginald found himself dozing off.
• When he came to, he noticed that an argument had flared up.

verb + adv + prep + object

A smaller number of phrasal verbs follow the pattern of verb followed by an adverbial particle and preposition (or double preposition) and then an object.
Examples include: look forward to (anticipate with pleasure), get on with (form a good relationship with OR continue to do), put up with (tolerate):

• I’m looking forward to the trip. I’m looking forward to meeting Jo.
• I’ll get on with the ironing while you prepare supper.
• He doesn’t get on with his sister, but he puts up with her childishness.

verb + object + adv + prep

Occasionally phrasal verbs follow this pattern.
Examples include: talk out of (dissuade from), take up on (accept),
let in for (assume responsibility for):

• He insisted on taking his five-year-old daughter to the football match and I couldn’t talk him out of it.
• I’d like to take you up on your offer of employment.
• I’m letting myself in for a lot of work but I wouldn’t want to miss out on this opportunity.

Any questions...???

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Let's Learn English: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner & Supper

Guys... if you want to know how the English men have their meals, you should read this.
Moreover the Brandanese always eat heavy meals, perhaps you can compare it with your habits....

First of all, breakfast. This is simplest; it's the first meal of the day in the morning.
In the middle of the day, you might have lunch or dinner. Lunch sounds more informal or more typical, particularly for people who are working.

In the evening, you might have dinner or supper. I think that people who have a quick lunch in the middle of the day will say they have dinner in the evening and this dinner will be a good meal.

A supper is usually a light meal and is probably had after a larger dinner has been had in the middle of the day.

Confused? Well most people see a dinner as a more complete meal. A common lunch in England is a sandwich, but dinner might include soup, meat with vegetables, and then a dessert like apple pie and ice cream. So, dinner is really the main meal and people might have it in the middle of the day or in the evening. Lunch and supper are both light kinds of meal. Lunch is in the middle of the day, supper is in the evening.

Now I mentioned there are some other meals. We talked about breakfast. Two more words that you could add to your list are brunch and tea. Brunch is a mixture of breakfast and lunch, as you can tell by the sound of the word: 'brunch'. And people usually have brunch as a replacement for both lunch and breakfast. Brunch is usually had at about 11 o'clock.

And the final word is tea. Now of course this is a drink, like tea and coffee, but it can also be a light evening meal. I think this word is often used in families, particularly with their children. "It's tea time", "It's time for tea!" This means their small evening meal.

To finish, it is of course unusual to have breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner, tea and supper all in one day. But let me tell you, not impossible.

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