05 May 2011 insect idioms

1. Knee-high to a grasshopper
2. Butterflies in your stomach
3. Ants in your pants

The script:

Hello, I’m a very interesting and intelligent man.

And these are insects. Today, these insects and I are going to teach you some idioms in
English.

I bet you’ve never been taught by an insect before! When I was a little boy I loved insects.
Small, wasn’t I?

In fact I was knee-high to a grasshopper.

In English, when we want to talk about someone who is very young or very small we can say they’re knee-high to a grasshopper.

Which, as you can see, is not very tall.

Knee-high to a grasshopper.

I’ve got to make a speech… in front of five thousand people. Can you imagine how I feel? Nervous. I've got that strange feeling in my stomach you get when you’re feeling nervous. Ah yes, butterflies. That’s how it feels - like I’ve got butterflies in my stomach.

In English, if we’re very nervous about something we have to do, we can say "I have butterflies in my stomach".

To have butterflies in your stomach.

Well here I go… I hope they’re kind to me… 

My self-talk: