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Today's episode is about animal related idioms in English. Last episode was about idioms with GET, and you guys seem to really enjoy that one. And some of you asked me to do another episode on idioms, so here it is. I've made a list of animal related idioms that I actually use, and I thought we could go over them together. So here it is. You are listening to episode 108 of English with Dane. Hit it. I don't know why, but we usually use this idiom with the verb address.
So to address the elephant in the room, to talk about the elephant in the room. Here's an example from the 2013 comedy This is the End. Guys, listen, listen, I I think we need to address the elephant in the room. Well, Jay, you don't talk about Craig. I'm not calling Craig an elephant. Moving on. The next one is a one-trick pony with a hyphen between one and trick. Con un guión entre one y trick. It's a compound adjective.
So a one-trick pony, as you have probably guessed, is a person or thing with only one special talent, feature, or area of expertise. A pony that only knows one trick, right? An actor or actress who is only good at one type of role is a one-trick pony. Jason Statham. A politician who always talks about the same thing is a one-trick pony. Your friend who's learning the guitar but only knows how to play Wonder Wall, and he plays it when girls are around, is a one-trick pony. You get it. Next one.
A fly on the wall. I love this one. A fly on the wall is an unnoticed observer, someone who can secretly see and hear what happens. So imagine a fly, una mosca, on a wall in una pared, just watching what happens in a particular situation. Example time. Imagine your favorite artist, musical artist that is, and your second favorite artist announced that they will be getting together to produce a new album.
You'd say something like, Oh, what I'd give, lo que daría, ojo esa de, what I'd give to be a fly on the wall in those studio sessions or whatever. Next, eager beaver. I love this one too. It's pretty silly, so it makes it really fun to say. Let's break it down. To be eager, spelled E-A-G-E-R, means to strongly want to do something, estar ansioso por hacer algo in Spanish.
And then beaver, spelled B-E-A-V-E-R, is that animal that lives in rivers with the big flat tail that builds dams que construye presas, uncastor in Spanish. So it's like calling someone uncastor impaciente, but since it rhymes, it's okay. When your friend arrives at a party and starts doing shots straight away, he or she is an eager beaver. Next, a sitting duck. So a person or thing with no protection against a source of danger.
This one comes from duck hunting, as you would imagine, because ducks that were not moving were very easy to hunt. As you know if you're old enough to have played duck hunt on the original Nintendo Entertainment System. Next one, to put out feelers. This one you might not have heard before, but it's a good one. To put out feelers. Feelers, what are feelers? To feel, as in sentir, by the way. F-E-E-L-E-R-S.
Feelers are animal organs like antenna used to touch or palp to test their surroundings, right? Sus entornos or search for food. So if you put out feelers, you are testing the waters. You are making comments to see how people would feel about something. Example. Why don't you put out some feelers to see if anyone is interested in buying your car? So why don't you mention it and start to see how people react? Okay, two more. A wild goose chase.
Wild as in salvaje, goose as in ganso, and chase as in una persecution. It's a classic movie thing. A detective gets sent on a wild goose chase by the killer before actually catching him later on. So there's a joke that says, where does an 800-pound gorilla sit wherever it wants? So an 800-pound gorilla is a person or organization so powerful that it can act without regard for others or the law. Someone or something so dominating or uncontrollable because of its great size or power.
Example, Facebook is the 800-pound gorilla of the tech industry. Alright, a quick recap before we finish. The elephant in the room, the obvious problem or situation that people don't want to talk about. A one-trick pony, a person or thing with only one special talent, feature, or area of expertise, a fly on the wall, an unnoticed observer, someone who can secretly see and hear what happens, an eager beaver, someone who really wants to do something and shows their excitement about it.
A sitting duck, a vulnerable and easy target, to put out feelers to test the waters and see how people feel about something. A wild goose chase, or to be on a wild goose chase, so to be pursuing something that is difficult to find or obtain to the point that it feels like a waste of time. And finally the 800-pound gorilla. Someone or something so dominating or uncontrollable because of its great size or power. Alright, that's it for this episode of English with Dane. Thank you for listening.
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