The English We Speak: Off base

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Hello and welcome to The English We Speak, where we explain phrases used by fluent English speakers so that you can use them as well. I'm Feifei and I'm joined by Beth. Hello, Beth. Hi, Feifei. Something embarrassing happened to me recently. Oh, really? I want to hear all about it. Well, my cousin asked me if I'd bake her daughter a princess birthday cake, and I thought I could.

Turns out I was completely off base. I can't decorate cakes at all. It was awful. Ah, you were off base. You were wrong. Why was this cake decoration so bad? Well, let's just say the cake looks more like a monster than a princess. If someone is off base, it means they're mistaken or their guess or opinion is far from reality. I thought I could decorate well.

But I can't. It happens to all of us. Well, the other day I was trying to make a costume for my son for World Book Day. But it turned out I got all the measurements wrong. The costume was too small. It didn't fit. I was way off base. Oh dear, that does not sound good. Let's listen to more examples of off base.

I've got this feeling that Georgie is annoyed with me today. What do you think? Am I off base? I thought I could fix the toilet, but that was totally off base. I can't. And now there's water coming through the ceiling. The critics said the film was rubbish, but I think they're completely off base. I loved it.

So off base is like saying you've got the wrong idea or you're mistaken. And we often add totally or completely before it, like we've heard in examples in the programme. It's also common to add the word way before it, which is... an informal way of saying really. Beth, you don't like chocolate, right? What? You are way off base. I love chocolate.

I think it's interesting knowing where this expression comes from. Do you know, Feifei? Yes, it's originally a phrase from baseball. If you're off base in baseball, you're standing somewhere that's vulnerable. you're in the wrong place. Exactly right. Well, we'll be back next time with another useful English phrase. See you soon. Goodbye.

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