So someone suggested that I read Jun some English idioms that he's never heard before and he can guess what they mean.

Junに英語のイディオム・クイズをしてほしいとリクエストがありました。

But... you know what?

まあ、でもJunには楽勝なので、

Jun's a really smart guy!

今日はイディオムのレッスンをしてもらいましょう。

He doesn't need to guess what the idioms are.

無茶振りレッスン、スタート。

He's going to tell us what the idioms mean in English.

準備は良い？

Because that's how good his English is.

来いや！（ヤケ）

Are you ready?

”elephant in the room”の意味は？

Sure

”elephant in the room”？

Alright Jun, what does "elephant in the room" mean?

部屋にいる象

Elephant in the room?

非常に込み合っている状態を指します。

There's an elephant in the room.

部屋に象がいるくらい狭い、という事ね。

It means... it's really crowded.

「日本には象が沢山いる」という風に使います。

It's very... there's not much space left.

日本は混んでるな、象が沢山だ！

Because it's like there's an elephant in the room.

”elephant in the room”の本当の意味は

Yeah.

見て見ぬ振りをする

There's so many people in there.

明らかに皆が気付いていながら

Yeah. There're so many elephants in Japan.

触れようとしない話題とか

Japan is so crowded, there's so many elephants here!

イヴァン・アンドレーヴィチ・クルィロフさんが

Elephant in the room actually means that there is something unspoken.

ロシア人？

Unspoken?

うん、その人が書いた話で

Or there's kind of an issue that everyone in the room that everyone knows about but no-one's talking about it.

ある男が博物館で象の存在に気付かなかった所から来てるみたい

So there's a big issue but they're ignoring it.

例えば私の家族の半数がトランプ氏に投票、残りの半数がヒラリーに投票したとして、

Supposedly it came from a dude named Ivan Andreevich Krylov.

トランプ氏が勝利。

Sounds Russian.

で、食事の席ではお互いに不満で誰もそれに触れない感じ。

Maybe a Russian dude

それは、雰囲気を壊さない為？

He wrote a story about a guy who went to a museum and he saw all sorts of tiny things there but he didn't notice there was an actual elephant there.

理由は人それぞれ

So for example let's say that half of my family voted for Donald Trump and half of my family voted for Hilary Clinton.

私は「混んでいる」の方が好きだから、

And then after the election, Donald Trump won.

今度からそういう意味で使う

Half of my family is extremely angry at the other half of my family.

この不毛なレッスン続けるの？

But no-one's talking about it. So everyone's just sitting at the dinner table...

Jun先生

"I got some flowers on sale today" but really, in their mind they're all thinking "you did this to us, this is your fault!"

”beat around the bush"の意味は？

Yeah, but are they doing that so they don't ruin the atmosphere?

イギリス英語だと少し違う。

Yeah, it could be for any reason, but I like the definition that it's crowded better.

beat around the bush？

I'm gonna go with that one from now on.

意味は、

Ok, yeah. This is really fun, and not fun at the same time.

「他人と噂話をする」です

Jun-sensei! What does "beat around the bush" mean?

ウザい感じで

Or in British "beat about the bush"

他人と噂話？

Beat around the bush?

陰口みたいな感じで？

Beat around the bush.

職場に一人はいる鬱陶しいゴシップ好きね？

Beat around the bush means... um...

「キャロル、うるさい！」

Talking to people about rumors. Annoyingly.

「ダイアナのこと聞いた？子供を車に置き忘れたんですって」

Annoyingly talking to people about rumors?

ウザいわね

So like, someone who's gossiping?

どこからキャロルさんが出てきたの？

So, like that girl at work who's always coming up and talking about everyone else and you're like "Carol, stop!"

由来は何なの？

Yeah yeah!

噂話し好きな主婦が、隣人に伝えるために家を出て、わざわざ垣根（茂み）をかきわけて会いに行く様子から

"Did you hear about Diana?"

垣根をかき分けなくても、普通に会いに行けばよくない？

"She forgot to pick up her kids at carpool!" That's Carol.

隣人宅は垣根（茂み）に囲まれてて…

Where did this name "Carol" come from anyway?

隣人が庭でくつろいでいると

But why, what does "beating around the bush" come from?

キャロルが垣根をかき分けて出てくるのね？

Household wives wanted to talk about rumors so badly that she would go outside of the house and beat...

「ダイアナの噂きいた？？」

...actually physically beat around the bush to go talk to her neighbor.

beat around the bushの意味は

Why can't she just go out to the driveway and just walk over?!

遠回しに言う、です。

The person the housewife wanted to talk to was in the yard.

仕事の会議なんかで

That was surrounded by bush.

本題とは関係ない話題を話したりする時も

So like Joanne's just chilling by the pool and Carol pops out from the bushes.

beat around the bushを使うこともあります

"Joanna, did you hear about Diane?"

元々は野鳥狩りで、実際に茂みを探っていたらしくて

"Beat around the bush" actually means to avoid answering a question.

メインの猟の前にする作業の一つだったのが由来みたい

To stall, waste time.

これは知ってるかも

So say you had to go to a business meeting and everyone has to solve an issue, but people just start talking about unrelated stuff.

sleep with the fishesの意味は？

So they're beating around the bush.

sleep with the fishesの意味は

They're not getting to the root of the problem.

溺死して、

This came from back in the day; to do bird hunting, if the bird was in a bush, they would actually go beat the bush to get the bird to come out.

ご遺体が川底でお魚さん達と一緒にある様子…かな

And that was kind of like the prelude to actually being able to hunt.

直接的な表現を避けたい時に

So before they could actually hunt the bird, they had to beat the bush to get the bird out.

「私の息子はお魚さん達と眠っている」

So apparently that is how that came about.

父親がそうやって使うの？

Ok Jun. Maybe you know this one, Jun-sensei.

直接的な表現は避けたいからね

Well, I mean of course you do.

「本当に残念です。どうしてまた…」

He knows all of these

"He sleeps with the fishes."

What does "sleep with the fishes" mean?

実際の意味は、他殺で死体が川などに遺棄される事です。

Sleep with the fishes means... you...

ちょっと近くない？

...die, because you drowned.

うん、でも使うのは他殺の場合

And your corpse, your body, sunk to the bottom of the river or sea.

ゴッドファーザーの映画で有名になったの

You know, people don't want to be direct so they say "oh yeah, my son, he's sleeping with the fishes".

「ルカには魚と眠ってもらう」

So dad says this about his son who drowned?

自分の息子には使わないかな

Yeah, specifically that type of death.

マフィアの殺人を指すことが多いです

"My son is sleeping with fishes."

bite the bulletの意味は？

"Dave, I'm so sorry to hear about your son. What happened?"

バレットって銃弾の？

"He's sleeping with the fishes."

「辛いことをする、辛抱強くする」という意味です

So "sleeping with the fishes" actually refers to someone who was murdered and their body was dumped into water.

辛抱強くする

So there is a death involved.

由来は？

Yeah, they are dead, and their corpse is underwater but usually it's because they were murdered.

銃弾なんて誰も嚙みたくないでしょ？

And it's famous in English because of "The Godfather" movie.

味もきっと最悪でしょう。

It was used in "The Godfather".

18世紀のアメリカでは、罰として銃弾を噛ませていました。

So I was kind of close.

どんな罰なの？

"Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes"

子供がものを壊したら、パパにされるの？

So you definitely wouldn't say this about your own son if your son drowned.

「これを噛みなさい！」

People usually think of it in reference to the mafia, the mob killing someone.

もう、滅茶苦茶に怖いよ。

Alright Jun-sensei. Jun-sensei, what does "bite the bullet" mean?

引き出しから銃を取り出して、

The bullet that comes out of a gun?

弾倉から弾を抜いて、

Yes.

無言で噛ませるの

Bullet. Pew Pew

ちょっと近いかな

It means do something painful.

意味は

Or do something painful, patiently.

「歯を食いしばって耐える」です。

Patiently do something painful?

辛いことも当てはまるかな

Why? Where does that phrase come from?

最近では困難に耐えるという意味で使われると思う。

You know no-one wants to bite bullets. It's really painful.

由来は

And probably would taste horrible too.

手術で麻酔が無かった時に

So this used to be one of the punishments they would do in the 18th century in America.

弾を噛んで、痛みに耐える様子からです。

Ok, 18th century America, people used to bite...

ほぼ正解

So, what kind of punishment?

hit the nail on the headの意味は？

Like if a kid broke their parent's lamp or something, dad's like "alright, go bite this bullet now"?

意味は

So it looks very very serious. Dad will draw the gun from his drawer, then show the gun, and then open the gun

死刑です

And then open the bullet holder, and get some bullets

頭に釘？

Jun: And then he's not going to say anything, just... *gesture* Rachel: ...make the kid to bite the bullet.

頭釘刑？

Well it's kind of, kind of close.

「ジャパダヤ氏の判決は？」

Oh yeah?

「…頭釘刑だ」

So "bite the bullet" means to endure something patiently.

閉廷

Ok.

ひどい

And it can be something painful as well...

むごい刑ね

But these days, it's probably just something you really don't want to do.

非常に重い刑です

But you just got to bite the bullet and go do it.

釘の頭をヘッドって呼んで、

So that's how you use it?

うん（知ってた）

Yeah. The origin is from back in the day, they didn't have anesthesia for when you had to have surgery.

頭を叩くから、きっちり当てるって意味

Or something bad had happened, so they gave you a bullet to bite down on so you could clench your teeth while you were being operated on.

さっきのイディオムで正解したから、

That's actually pretty close.

You hit the nail in the head.

Jun-sensei!

今回は当たらなかったけど。

Hai!

釘死刑ではないです。

What does "hit the nail on the head" mean?

Elvis had left the buildingの意味は？

It means... death penalty.

Elvisさんって誰だっけ？

"Hit the nail on the head", so that's like a human head?

Beat a dead horseは？

Hitting a nail into someone's head.

下種野郎☆

Yeah, that means death penalty.

死んだ馬をいたぶるから？

"So what happened to Jebediah, how'd his court case go?"

最低野郎という意味です

"They're going to hit him in the head with a nail"

まあ、言葉通りだとその通りだよね。

Adjourned!

dead horseには無価値という意味があって、

Oh my god! That's horrible!

この場合は「無駄なあがき（徒労）」という意味です

Who dies by nails through the head!?

なるほど、分かった

Very very heavy penalty

誰かと討論してて、

Nooo. The flat part of the nail, that's called the "head" of the nail.

結局、相手が考えを変えないので諦める。

So when you hit the head of the nail...

そこへ、別の人が同じように討論し始めたから

...you're getting something exactly right.

「徒労になるだけだからやめとけ」

So like for one of these idioms you knew what it was, you guessed it correctly, so you hit the nail on the head with that one.

って使うの。

This one you did not hit the nail on the head.

わかった。

But you hit the nail into the head... and that's horrible.

"Hear something straight from the horse's mouth"の意味は？

Ok Jun. Jun-sensei.

馬鹿

What does "Elvis has left the building" mean?

馬が話すはずないから？

Rachel: "Elvis has left the building." Jun: What's "Elvis"?

馬に聞いたんだ！

Oh my god.

意味は「信頼出来る情報源から聞いた」です

Rachel: Ok Jun. Jun: Hai! Rachel: What does "beat a dead horse" mean?

馬関係のイディオム多くない？

Means you're a jerk.

私達は馬イディオムが好きなの

Means you're a jerk?

他にもあるかな？

Yep. Yep, you're an asshole.

あ、待って、１個知ってるのがある

Because you're beating a dead horse?

horsing aroundは？

Yep, the worst thing you could do.

騒ぐ、とか？

You're the worst, that's what it means.

そう、母親や先生が子供に使ったりする。

You would really be an asshole if you were beating a dead horse.

「そこ、静かにしなさい！」

So the term "dead horse" actually used to mean something of no value.

あ、見てこれ、12個の馬イディオムの由来だって。

So "beating a dead horse" is a phrase that means you're wasting time doing something that has already been done.

じゃあ、これは？

Rachel: So let's say... Jun: Ok, I got it.

Hold your horsesは？

So let's say you have an argument with someone and you try to convince them that you're right.

アメリカ人、馬好きすぎじゃない？

And then you give up, you're done.

馬好き？

And then someone comes over and starts having the same argument...

意味あるの？

...you'd be like "don't bother, you're beating a dead horse", because you already tried that, it didn't work.

結構、使われてる

"Hear something straight from the horse's mouth".

意味は「ちょっと待て」

An idiot.

急かされた時なんかに使う

'cause you're listening to a horse?

分かった

"The horse told me!"

もう馬イディオムはいい？

To "hear something from the horse's mouth" means you're hearing something from the authoritative source.

馬イディオムは聞き飽きたかな

So the person who is authorized to speak on the subject.

No horseの意味は「もう終わり」

Sounds like there are so many idioms about or related to horses.

No horse？

We like our horse idioms

以上です

I wonder if there are any more horse idioms.

終わりです

Oh I know, I know one. I didn't even have to look it up.

No horse!

"Horsing around"

これからそれ使うわ

"Stop horsing around!"

Jun先生、ありがとうございました。勉強になりました。

Like, stop messing around?

象の部屋は狭いとか、

Yeah, this is what like a mom or teacher would say to their kids.

頭釘刑とか

"Stop horsing around over there!"

1番重たい刑罰です

I just found an article that says "The Origin of 12 Horse Related Idioms".

では

Hang on! Ok, I got some more horse ones!

No horse.

"Hold your horses"

Hold your horses...

Hold them...

That means "we Americans love horses".

"Hold your horses" means we love horses 'cause I'm holding a little baby horse.

"Hey little baby horse." I think they were bigger...

Does it mean anything?

Yeah, this one's really common.

"Hold your horses" means hang on, just wait, stop, just wait a minute.

It means someone's rushing

Or someone wants to do something quickly

It's alright, I got it.

So, I think that's enough for horse idioms.

Do you want any more horse idioms?

Jun's had enough horse idioms.

No horse means I'm done.

Rachel: No horse? Jun: Yep. No horse. Rachel: No horse!

"It's over! Get out! No horse!"

I'm going to end every video from now on "no horse!"

Sure.

Thank you. Thank you Jun-sensei for teaching us. I learned so much today.

I'm glad.

Like elephants meaning that places are crowded.

And hitting the nail on the head means you're executing people with nails

Yep, that's the... worst one you can get.

Alright... no horse!

No horse.