Do you want to jazz up your morning or evening routine with some fun expressions? Join Andrew and Morag as they introduce and explain some idioms related to getting ready for the day and getting ready for bed.

Expressions included in the learning materials

* To put your eyes in/to take your eye out

* To put your face on/to take your face off

* In the end

* To take your time

* To be squeamish

Sample transcript

Morag:

Let me tell you. I had a friend who left her contact lenses in for way longer than they should have been, and she got an ulcer in her eye.

Andrew:

Oh, what?

Morag:

Yeah, it is a terrible, terrible idea to leave your contact lenses in.

Andrew:

Ugh, that makes me so squeamish.

Morag:

Yes.

Andrew:

OK, cool. Well, let’s move on to our second set of expressions for today. What are they, Morag?

Morag:

Our second set of expressions are to put your face on and to take your face off. Now, this is something that I have a lot more experience with because I am a girl, and I do like to wear makeup. So before I go out, I put my face on. I put on my makeup. And always, again, before you go to bed, I have to take my face off.

Andrew:

So face is not talking about your actual face, right? Because it’s impossible to take that off. It’s talking about the makeup that you put onto your face.

Morag:

Mmhmm. It’s the face on your face, in some way.

Andrew:

Yeah, the face on your face. Exactly.

Morag:

Face, yes. The drawn on face on your real face. Yeah.

Andrew:

 And I’m curious—because I don’t wear makeup, so I honestly don’t say this expression too much—but do you use this expression often in your day-today life?

Morag:

 I actually do. It’s a little bit of a joke sometimes, but I do use it. Um, I’ll definitely say that I need to put my face on. It has the sense that it’s some kind of protection or preparation for going out into the world though. So I’d say that for, like, a night out where I really have to look good. I have to put my face on because my real face isn’t good enough. Does that make sense? I mean it’s not completely true, but that’s sort of the sense that it carries when I use it.

Andrew:

 OK. Yeah, I understand. So you need to put on sort of a special look, a special face, for a big event or something.

Morag:

 Exactly. You have to … You have to put on a good face to go out.

Audio/Learning Materials: Culips English Learning Podcast