ESL Blogs

John, Markus and Linda planned an excursion to a place located at the outskirts of the city a month ago. Finally, the day came and all of them were excited about it. But out of the blue, they came to know that their driver took French leave. After contemplating a while they came up with a solution that John and Markus would drive the car alternately. This way John could take rest while Markus is driving and vice versa.  It went on smoothly until John and Markus indulged themselves in a polemic talk about the political issues and upcoming elections in their country and it seemed to be the Mexican standoff as neither of them agreed with each other’s opinion. Later, they both decided to quit the topic and had a good time travelling together.

They reached the destination after a long journey of 4 hours. Luckily it was Indian Summer and it bought a big smile on the faces of John, Markus and Linda. They preferred to have lunch immediately after reaching because they were starving to death. They grabbed the chairs and placed the order and were waiting for the meal to arrive. All of them were students so mutually they decided to go Dutch.

“The news made me really upset, Professor Brown is resigning soon and going to move to Chicago, ” Linda said to John.  Markus interspersed “Linda, Don’t worry, It is just Chinese whisper, there is no truth in it.” 

  A beautiful lady caught Markus’ attention he felt he had fallen in love at first sight with her.  John and Linda backed Markus up to initiate the talk with that lady. Markus was so nervous but finally, he drank some whisky to get the Dutch courage. He got up and approach the lady. John and Linda had their eyes on Markus. They were pretty sure that the duo (Markus and the girl) will get along easily and can talk for England.

Markus didn’t take long and came back, seemed sulking. Linda and John were confused and it was all Greek to them.

Markus came to them and said sadly “Guys it’s not going to work anymore” He made John and Linda curious they ask immediately ” Why? what’s the matter ?”

“She is German, doesn’t understand English……not even a single word”  replied Markus and let out a long sigh :(

Meaning of the idioms:

1. Take French leave

To leave work without permission

2. To go Dutch

To split the bill in a restaurant between everyone who ate together.

3. Dutch courage

Drinking a little alcohol to give you courage (bravery/confidence) before you have to do something.

4. It’s all Greek to someone

this phrase is used when don’t understand or have no knowledge on a topic.

5. Chinese whispers

This expression originally comes from a children’s game. It is often used as a metaphor for mistakes and inaccurate information which comes from rumours or gossip.

6.A Mexican Standoff

This is expression is used when two groups cannot agree on what to do next

7. Talk for England

When someone can talk for hours and hours

8. Indian summer (UK)

A period in late autumn when the weather is unusually warm

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P.S    Thank you In advance for reading the blog :)

Please feel free to correct grammatical mistakes. :)))