Music-Related Expressions in English

Today's episode is about music related expressions in English. I know you guys love expressions, and several of you wrote to me asking for another one of these episodes, so here it is. I like to have themes when it comes to expressions though. I think they work better that way. I think it's easier to learn and remember them when you know where they come from instead of just learning them in a vacuum. I did an episode about sport-related expressions at some point, I think.

So now it's time to do one about music-related ones. So that said, let's start the show. You are listening to episode 104 of English with Dane. Hit it. Something that makes you very happy to hear. Example. When I heard we won first place, it was music to my ears. Did you hear that Anthony Davis was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers? Really? Ah, music to my ears. True story. Next, to strike a chord. Strike is spelled S-T-R-I-K-E, strique. You might have heard this word in a few different contexts.

To be on strike means estar in huelga, and a strike is also when you go bowling and you knock down all ten pins. We also use this word in baseball to talk about the moment in which, in the cual, the batter swings and misses the ball, or the moment in which he doesn't swing, but the ball is thrown within the limits of the imaginary strike rectangle. This use of the word strike, however, is different to all of those. It's a verb in this case, right?

The official definition is to hit forcibly, golpear con fuerza, and deliberately on purpose, with one's hand or a weapon or other implement. It's never wepon weapon. I guess in Spanish it just translates to golpear. So to strike a chord. A chord as in un acorde. C H O R D. This means to cause someone to feel sympathy, emotion, or enthusiasm. Examples. Movies about lost animals usually strike a chord with almost everyone. Those lyrics really struck a chord with me.

It's an irregular verb, as you can see. Strike, struck, struck, with a U and a CK. Let's move on to the next one. It takes two to tango. This one is fun because of the alliteration, because of all the T's, right? It takes two to tango. Try it. Say it out loud right now. You use this when you want to emphasize that both people that were in a situation or an argument, una discussion, are equally responsible for it.

So both people are to blame because both people need to be willing to participate for that situation to occur or happen. It takes six people to build a house. I don't know. That's a weird one, but you know what I mean. There are a bunch of jokes that you may have heard that start like, how many blah blah blah does it take to screw in a light bulb? Para cambiar una bombilla or un foco, as we would say in Peru. Like, how many psychologists does it take to screw in a light bulb? Only one.

But the light bulb needs to really want to change. Or how many programmers does it take to screw in a light bulb? None. That's a hardware problem. Okay, enough of that. It takes two to tango is what you need to remember. Moving on. Next one, and all that jazz. This one maybe sounds weird to you, but it's pretty common. It just means and other similar things. Examples. That new store or shop that opened sells TVs, radios, and all that jazz.

I'm not too familiar with coding and programming and all that jazz. So, and all that other stuff like that. I like this one the most maybe. Next up, to jump on the bandwagon. Bandwagon is one word, by the way. A bandwagon is a wagon, uncarrobar you want to call it, used for carrying a band in a parade, un desfile, or procession. I looked up how this expression originated, and this is what I found.

The phrase jump on the bandwagon first appeared in American politics in 1848, when Dan Rice, a famous and popular circus clown of the time, used his bandwagon and its music to gain attention for his political campaign appearances. So to jump on the bandwagon means to join an activity that has become very popular or to change your opinion to one that has become very popular so that you can share in its success and suxito.

In sports, if you are a bandwagon fan, you like the team that is popular at the moment. Like when the Golden State Warriors were the best team in the NBA and suddenly everyone was a Warriors fan. I know that's the second basketball reference in this episode, but hey, that's how I roll. Moving on to the last one. Tone deaf. Tone as in dono, T-O-N-E, and deaf as in sordo, spelled D E A F. Not death with a T H like muerte. This is D E A F. Tone Deaf.

This isn't really an expression, I guess, but I wanted to include it anyway. To be tone-deaf means to be relatively insensitive to differences in musical pitch and tono and variaciones de tono. So your friend, Genoafina, who can't sing in tune, is tone-deaf. However, there's another use which I think is cooler. We use tone-deaf to say that someone doesn't understand how people feel about something or what is needed in a particular situation.

Someone who is not good at reading the room, for example. If you are good at reading the room, if you are not tone-deaf, you understand what is appropriate and therefore, porlotanto, inappropriate to say in any given context. Some people are not good at that. Those people are tone-deaf. Imagine you're at work, for example, and someone makes a comment that makes people feel uncomfortable and maybe even offended. That was probably a tone-deaf comment.

Or maybe it was a great joke and they just have a bad sense of humor. I don't know. Either way, you know what I mean. The ultimate example, though, the epitome or the pinnacle of being tone-deaf is my favorite character in television, Michael Scott from The Office.

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