10 "TIP" Expressions in English

Learn 10 common English expressions that use the word "tip". You can start using these expressions in your English conversations immediately. We'll go over the different meanings of "tip", and I'll teach you some common collocations with this word. By the end of this English lesson, you will improve your vocabulary, learn useful expressions, and understand how the expressions are most commonly used. I'll teach you the meaning of "tip of the iceberg", "generous tipper", "tip of my tongue", and many more!

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TRANSCRIPT

Doo-doo-doo-doo-doo. What's the name of that director? It's just on the tip of my... Oh. Hi. James from engVid. Today I want to teach you about a word "tip". We use this word a lot in English, and I am going to teach you what it means, some collocations-and collocations are words that are found together generally, you know, a lot-and a few idioms. If you're ready, we'll go to the board, visit Mr. E and start our lesson. Let's go.

So, E has "tip", he's pointing to his tongue and he's pointing to these icebergs, and he's pointing to the tip. So I've got an idea that "tip" has something to do with the edge or the pointed part of something. Hmm? Well, here's our word: "tip". For pronunciation, you go: "t-ip". Right? "ip", "tip", like: "dip" or "sip". So that's pronunciation. I think it's very important that you not only know what the word means, but how to say it or how to recognize it when you hear it. So that's our lesson for the day.

The two basic meanings of "tip" are: A) a gift of money for service. Not everywhere in the world this happens, but in North America and in England, if you go to a restaurant, when you... Oh, sorry. Not England. [Laughs] In North America, which is Canada, the United States, not including Mexico, but in these two countries after you finish a meal you are kind of obligated to leave a little extra money if the service is good. So if you liked the waiter or waitress, they do a good service, you leave money and it's called a tip. It's a gift for good service, like: "Thank you. I really appreciate it. Here you go." We also do this for taxis. All right?

Now, the pointed end of something... Here's my tongue and the tip, the tip of my tongue. That's the tip of my tongue, ah. But also with this marker, that's the tip of the marker. It's pointed and it's the very end. And that should help you understand why E was pointing to the tip of the iceberg which is pointed and the tip of his tongue. With these two ideas we're going to now move into how we can use "tip" like a native speaker, and some idioms as well. Okay? To make English fun and understandable.

The first one we talked about, "tip" at a restaurant. Money. But do you know "tip" is also for information? Remember we said it's the tip or the pointed end? Well, it's the beginning of something. When someone gives you a tip, they might come to you close and go: "Hey. I've got a hot tip." So, "tip" here could also be hot, and that means like it's special information, important information. Something they want to tell you that's going to benefit you. "Hey, I got a hot tip about a car selling for a really cheap price and it's in really good condition." It's special and it's for you. It's pointed to you. All right?

This one's a funny one. If you... [Laughs] Another meaning for "tip" is to make something... If it tips it will fall over. So it means on an angle to fall. Right? It tipped over it went: "Wuh, boom". It tipped. "Tip" means to fall over, but in North America there's a little habit people have of cow tipping. I don't suggest that you do it, it's not funny because the poor cows, they sleep standing up. And some people will go to farms and they will push the cow, and the cow will fall over, wake up. "Moo. Who mooved me?" It's not nice. Don't do it. All right? That's number three. So, "tip" here also means to make fall over.

So these are three basic pieces of information about "tip". One is tip given for service; two is for information that you give to someone, especially a hot tip; and three if something's tipping over like a book or a glass, it's going to fall. All right? And we did talk about the pointed end of something, and that's where we lead to here. "Tip of the iceberg". See how big icebergs are? Okay? Well, they're very tall. If you look here you see this part here, yeah? Well, that's a smaller part of something larger. So if someone tells you something, like: "And then he did that, and that's just the tip of the iceberg", that means that small part is nothing compared to how much more is coming. There's an enormous or a great amount of information, or other things about to happen. Right? So: "We went to the party, and we got shrimp to eat. But that was the tip of the iceberg. Then there was lobster, there was a pasta dish. It just went on and on." And you're like: "Wow! That's a lot!"