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Episode 190 Couch Potato or Sofa Potato? Is there a right answer?
This week's episode comes from a question from a student who heard this phrase from a colleague and wondered what was wrong. They asked me what was the difference between a 'sofa potato' and a 'couch potato'. It's a good question, so I thought we'd look more deeply at these tricky idiomatic expressions.
We'll talk a bit about what an idiomatic expression is, what it does, and why it's so tricky and then we'll have a look at some similar idiomatic expressions that have two words that together make an entirely different meaning to what the words mean separately.
I hope you find this useful. I have lots of questions for you. I find idioms very interesting because most languages have them, and often we have a similar idea, but we use different words to describe them. So tell me in the comments what the translations of your similar idioms are and where you're from.
Today's Idiomatic Expressions
Couch Potato - Someone who sits on a sofa and watches a lot of TV
Wallflower - Someone who stands at the side at parties and watches.
One of Emma Watson's break out movies after Harry Potter 'Perks of a Wallflower' is a coming of age story of a young man discovering who he is in a new city.
Bookworm - someone who enjoys reading and reads a lot
Busy bee - someone who is always keeping busy and doing a lot
Night Owl - someone who likes to be up late and works best at night
Early Bird - Someone who likes to get up early and works best in the morning
The Early Bird catches the worm. - idiom meaning someone who gets up early can get more done or get the best things.
Social Butterfly - someone who is good in social situations and enjoys being social
Class clown - someone who tries to be funny in class and keep everyone entertained
Additional Vocabulary
Burst out laughing - expression you can use to describe when someone starts laughing suddenly
My immediate impulse was to laugh - expression meaning 'the first thing I did' and that I did it without thinking. It was automatic.
couch/sofa/settee - all three of these words mean the long 2/3 person piece of furniture we have in our living room.
idiomatic expression - an set of words that have different meanings apart but together have a cultural meaning that is hard to guess from the words themselves.
lost in the mists of time - an expression meaning something happened a long time ago and we don't know how it happened or who it relates to because it was so long ago.
who coined them - 'coined' or 'to coin' is a word that means to create a word or term so if someone 'coins a phrase' then it means they invented it.
romp around the garden - 'romp' just means to bounce around joyfully, we can use it to describe the way small children move too.
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By EmmaThis week's episode comes from a question from a student who heard this phrase from a colleague and wondered what was wrong. They asked me what was the difference between a 'sofa potato' and a 'couch potato'. It's a good question, so I thought we'd look more deeply at these tricky idiomatic expressions.
We'll talk a bit about what an idiomatic expression is, what it does, and why it's so tricky and then we'll have a look at some similar idiomatic expressions that have two words that together make an entirely different meaning to what the words mean separately.
I hope you find this useful. I have lots of questions for you. I find idioms very interesting because most languages have them, and often we have a similar idea, but we use different words to describe them. So tell me in the comments what the translations of your similar idioms are and where you're from.
Today's Idiomatic Expressions
Couch Potato - Someone who sits on a sofa and watches a lot of TV
Wallflower - Someone who stands at the side at parties and watches.
One of Emma Watson's break out movies after Harry Potter 'Perks of a Wallflower' is a coming of age story of a young man discovering who he is in a new city.
Bookworm - someone who enjoys reading and reads a lot
Busy bee - someone who is always keeping busy and doing a lot
Night Owl - someone who likes to be up late and works best at night
Early Bird - Someone who likes to get up early and works best in the morning
The Early Bird catches the worm. - idiom meaning someone who gets up early can get more done or get the best things.
Social Butterfly - someone who is good in social situations and enjoys being social
Class clown - someone who tries to be funny in class and keep everyone entertained
Additional Vocabulary
Burst out laughing - expression you can use to describe when someone starts laughing suddenly
My immediate impulse was to laugh - expression meaning 'the first thing I did' and that I did it without thinking. It was automatic.
couch/sofa/settee - all three of these words mean the long 2/3 person piece of furniture we have in our living room.
idiomatic expression - an set of words that have different meanings apart but together have a cultural meaning that is hard to guess from the words themselves.
lost in the mists of time - an expression meaning something happened a long time ago and we don't know how it happened or who it relates to because it was so long ago.
who coined them - 'coined' or 'to coin' is a word that means to create a word or term so if someone 'coins a phrase' then it means they invented it.
romp around the garden - 'romp' just means to bounce around joyfully, we can use it to describe the way small children move too.