Wednesday, April 24, 2019

English Idioms about the State of Health


Spring is the time of budding and starting your life with a fresh mind. However, not everyone is in perfect shape, either physically or mentally. This week, let us practice some living and health-related expressions/ idioms in English.

1.   keep body and soul together: to have or get enough food and money to survive

2.   hale and hearty: someone, especially an old person, who is hale and hearty is in excellent health (*similar expression: to be as right as rain)

3.   (to be) on one's last legs: to be in a very weak condition or about to die

4.   hair of the dog that bit you: using as a remedy a small amount of what made you ill, for example a drop of alcohol when recovering from drinking too much, is called 'a hair of the dog that bit you

5.   touch and go: If something is touch-and-go, the outcome or result is uncertain.

6.   couch doctor: shrink/ a psychoanalyst or psychiatrist who puts his patients on a couch to talk to them

7.   (to be) in remission: a disease that seems to be getting better

8.   socialized medicine: a system of national healthcare that is funded by taxes and provided to people by the government.

9.   One’s back teeth are floating/or swimming!: to need to go pee/ urinate right away! When somebody has to pee so bad that the urine has filled their whole body all the way up to the back of the mouth and makes the back teeth float in urine

10.             (to be) down in the mouth: to be visibly sad, depressed, and unhappy



Now let’s use the above expressions in sentences.
    
    1.   Jill has been so down _________________________ for the past 5 weeks since her beloved cat died.

    2.   Drew was advised by his friend to go see a _______________ doctor about his depression.

    
    3.   Americans are fed up with their medical expenses, which made them even wish to move to another country like Korea where they have good _____________________ medicine.

    
    4.   Ashley had to get another job to keep _________________________ together, because her existing job as a janitor was chicken feed.


    5.   Everyone thought Mr. Smith was on his ______________________ after the recent surgery, but thank goodness he is hale and ___________________ at the moment!

    
    6.   It was really _____________________________ after the surgery whether she would survive, but she’s been in _________________.

    
    7.   Jack couldn’t understand when his uncle gave himself another glass of Whiskey to cure his hangover from last night’s party. Jack’s uncle says it was the hair of the ______________________.


8.  Jordan was looking everywhere in the building for a restroom. His ___________________________________  at that moment.



*Answer Keys*
1. down in the mouth
2. couch
3. socialized
4. body and soul
5. last legs, hearty
6. touch and go, remission
7. dog that bit you
8. back teeth were floating


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