5 Common Direction Phrases in English: UPSIDE DOWN, INSIDE OUT...

I have put together a vocabulary lesson on five phrases of direction in English. I will teach you the meaning of “inside out”, “round and round”, “flip-flop”, “upside down”, and “tip top”. Phrases of direction are useful because they express the direction of moving objects, but can also express the way in which abstract ideas change. For example, a fish will “flip-flop” on the ground, and you may flip-flop on choosing a restaurant for dinner. This means it is difficult for you to decide. I am here to help you make sense of this topsy-turvy topic. Watch all the way to the end because there will be two bonus phrases for you to learn that will help you sound like a native English speaker.

Don't forget to take the quiz on this lesson at https://www.engvid.com/common-direction-phrases-in-english/

After that, watch my lesson on common DOWN phrasal verbs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EneAhyJI96M

TRANSCRIPT

I'm having a hard time reading this book, E. It's all upside down. Oh, you're having the same problem. Hi. James from engVid. E and I are having a problem because he's looking at himself in the mirror, and his head is in the wrong place. His head should be here, but it's on the bottom. And I'm reading this book and I don't understand the words, because the words are in the wrong place; they're all upside down. You know what? That's probably one of the phrases that we use in English that confuses many people who are learning the language, because the words are all, well, kind of topsy-turvy. You know? Don't make sense.

Today's lesson, I'm going to show you five common things that we say, and they are direction related, which they do give us an idea of what direction things are going in, except we often say it without thinking that you won't understand because we use them only in this manner, in a certain way. Let's go to the board and take a look.

E's having problems because his picture or his mirror is upside down. My book was upside down. What does that mean, exactly? Let's start with the first thing. I've got one "inside-out". Here's my shirt. I was going to wear it, but you can see it. This is the right way to wear the shirt. When it's inside-out, you will notice... There we go. Now it's the wrong way because you can see the label. Have you ever worn your shirt inside-out by accident, and someone has to go: "Ahem. Your shirt's inside-out"? You're like: "Oh god! It is! It's terrible! I never thought about it!" it means the in part is on the outside.

Funny enough, this is usually when people wear their clothes incorrectly, but we have another way of using it. When you say: "I know something inside-out", it means: I know everything about it because I know every small part, from the inner part - the smallest part to the bigger part. So, I say: "I know this book inside-out." I know everything about this book. So, listen for context, because if they: "Hey, son. Your underwear is inside-out", it doesn't mean: You know everything about underwear; it means you should take it off and put it on properly. Okay? But if you know a book inside-out... You see this? This is the outside of the book; this is the inside of the book. So, when saying: "I know this book inside-out", it means I know all of the information on the inside, right to the outside. Cool, huh? One thing and you've learned two things. Let's see what else we can learn. So, listen for that when English people speak. They go... If they say to you: "I know everything about this company inside-out; I know everything about this company, from the floor, who cleans it, how they make the money - I know everything." But if my shirt is inside-out, I need to go home and change. I like that one.

Let's look at number two. Round and round you're calling me, doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo. Dah-dah-dah-dah. Dah-dah-dah... Yeah, it's an old song. Yup. Anyway, that's a song. "Round and round", it means to go in a circle, moving in a circle. If you say: "We've had this conversation for, like, 20 minutes, and we're just going round and round the same things", it means the conversation isn't getting any... Nothing new is coming; we're just talking about the same things again, and again, and again. Like a CD. Hopefully you know what a CD is, because everyone streams now. Or a DVD, it goes around and around. So, a lot of times, in English, people go: "We've been through this before; we just go round and round the same conversation." It means: Nothing is new; we just move in a circle, like my poor dogs who are confused and going in different directions. And they're like: "Round and round. No, that's not round; it's the..." Yeah. You got it. Okay.

Number two. So, things, when you hear a Canadian or a Canadian English person... English speaker go: "Why are we going around and around the same thing?" They should say "round in a circle". They won't say "circle", usually; they'll just say "round". […]