July 2, 2025 • 12 mins
Roger Basick and Gillian Woodward share a few interesting English idioms that have to do with plants.
https://spotlightenglish.com/how-to-learn-english/english-idioms-plants/
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https://spotlightenglish.com/how-to-learn-english/english-idioms-plants/
Download our app for Android at http://bit.ly/spotlight-android
Download our app for iOS at http://bit.ly/spotlight-apple
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/spotlightradio
Are you learning English? Are you looking for a way to practice your English? Listen to Spotlight to learn about people and places all around the world. You can learn English words, and even practice English by writing a comment.
Visit our website to follow along with the script: http://spotlightenglish.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Spotlight Advanced. I'm Roger Bassick and.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
I'm Gillian Woodward. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting.
It is easier for people to understand no matter where
in the world they live.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
We will begin this program by hearing from one of
our writers.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
When I was younger, my mother told me that I
liked plants more than I liked most people. She was
partially right. I loved my friends, but I also loved
spending time at the park, watching bugs and flowers. I
used to sit in a tree for hours reading. Being
around these things put me at peace.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Not everyone likes being around plants as much as our
writer friend does, but plants have been important to people
throughout history. Some of the oldest writing in the world
is about plants. A poem from the Chinese Tang dynasty
uses grass and trees to describe how lonely a wife
feels while her husband is away at a war. In Yan,
(01:23):
the grass is blue as the bluest silk thread in Chin.
The branches of the mulberry tree are low and green.
Does a husband think of returning home the moment his
wife is heartbroken? The beauty of plants has been a
constant subject of poetry for generations.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
It is no wonder, then, that people talk about plants often.
This is true in every language, including English, but you
may have noticed that many of these sayings make no sense.
A Native English speaker may talk talk about hitting plants
with no other plants in the conversation, or he may
(02:05):
call someone a flower when she is clearly not a plant.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Native English speakers often use idioms in their speech. Idioms
are words and sayings for which the meaning is not
clear from the individual words. These are simply expressions that
Native speakers say that makes sense to other Native speakers,
but these expressions are difficult for non native speakers to understand.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
In this week's Spotlight Advanced, we're exploring six common plant idioms.
Most are not about plants at all, but using these
phrases will help you learn new words and sound like
a Native speaker.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Our first plant idiom is the saying that someone is
pushing up daisies. It means that someone has died. A
mother might warn her son, if you keep driving that fast,
you will be pushing up daisies sooner than you wish,
meaning that speeding might cause her son's death. In a
(03:25):
traffic accident.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
People often use this expression in a light or humorous way.
A daisy is a flower with white petals and a
yellow center. These flowers grow in fields in places with
bright sunlight. Symbolically, daisies represent innocence and purity. This idiom
came into common use during World War One in Europe.
(03:50):
Perhaps saying pushing up daisies offered a less grim way
for soldiers to speak of their comrades who had died
in battle. So pushing up daisies means saying that someone
is dead. But this idiom is best used in informal conversations,
not informal situations.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Our second idiom is said differently depending on where you live.
In the US, a person might say that someone cannot
see the forest for the trees. In the UK, people
would say that a person cannot see the wood for
the trees. Each expression has the same meaning, but the
(04:35):
word for a group of trees differs.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
This idiom means that a person is so concerned with
small details that the person cannot see the more important,
bigger picture or purpose of something.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Imagine that a woman is working on part of a project.
She is very good at refining her work but she
does not exactly understand what the purpose of the project is.
She provides a good result, but her work does not
improve the project as a whole. Someone might comment that
she could not see the forest for the trees.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Looking at only the colorful circles of paintbrushstrokes might distract
the viewer from seeing the people on the lawn. In
George Surat's painting A Sunday Afternoon on the island of
La Grange Jette, the viewer might miss seeing the forest
the big picture for the trees the tiny dots.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Have you ever grown flowers? Then the next saying to
nip something in the bud may be familiar to you.
A bud is the start of a plant's flower. Nipping
is a way of saying to cut. Nipping a bud
means cutting a beginning of a flower. This stops the
flower from grow.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
But when people nip something in the bud, they are
not usually talking about a plant. They mean that they
want to stop something. At an early point.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Maybe a man notices his son has started smoking. The
father knows this is dangerous. He takes away his son's
cigarettes and explains the health issues to his boy. He
would be nipping his son's drug use in the bud.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Our fourth plant idiom is to beat around the bush.
Do not worry. This idiom is not as violent as
it seems. When someone beats around the bush, she avoids
talking directly about a subject. Often someone may beat around
the bush about a subject because it is difficult or
(06:59):
painful to speak about a subject. Someone might tell this
person to stop beating around the bush and tell me
what you mean.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
For example, a husband who resigned from his job on
Friday may avoid speaking about this to his wife. He
tells his wife that he does not need to go
to work on the coming Monday. But Tuesday morning, when
he does not go to work, she may say, why
did you beat around the bush the whole weekend and
(07:31):
not tell me that you had resigned. Avoiding a difficult
truth is one of the reasons to beat around the bush.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Beating around the bush has interesting origins. English hunters used
servants to hit the branches of large plants or bushes
to force birds or animals to come out so the
hunters could catch these creatures. People beat around the bush
so the indirect action might bring about the direct result.
(08:05):
The meaning of the saying shifted over time as people
forgot about this custom from hunting. Today, it shows the
value that English speakers have for talking directly about a subject,
even a difficult subject.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Our fifth English idiom is to hear it through the grapevine.
This saying may seem funny at first. You cannot hear
anything through a grape plant, but the expression means to
hear through rumors or from another person. Imagine a woman
hears from her friend that her boyfriend is seeing another woman.
(08:43):
She will clearly be angry, but since she heard it
through the grapevine, she cannot be sure it is true.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
The saying also has little to do with plants. In
eighteen fifty nine, a new telegraph line ran from Placerville, California,
to Virginia City, Nevada. Operators use trees and fences to
keep the wires above ground. These telegraph wires looked like grapevines.
Getting a message on this new telegraph was called getting
(09:15):
the message through the grapevine. Soon after this, during the
American Civil War, hearing something through the grapevine described the
informal communication or rumors about the war. This information spread
from one person to another person to another person, rather
(09:37):
than hearing an official announcement.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Our sixth plant idiom is a thorn in one side.
A thorn is a small sharp part of some plants.
Touching a plant with thorns is difficult and painful, but
not deadly. When something is a thorn in some way
on side, it is a small sharp pain that is
(10:03):
difficult to get rid of.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
You will often hear this expression. In films. An evil
villain may call the hero a thorn in his side
whenever the hero stops the villain's plans. The villain is
insulting the hero, calling him a small pain, but the
villain means the hero is a problem. You have been
(10:26):
a thorn in my side for too long.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Many other plant idioms exist in the English language. These
are some of our favorites. Using them might not help
you talk about plants themselves, but these expressions will help
you sound more like a native speaker. Practice them as
much as you can, and use them with your friends.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
What interesting plant idioms do you have in your language?
Which plants are commonly used in these expressions? You can
leave a comment on our website at www dot spotlight
English dot com. You can also find us on YouTube, Facebook,
TikTok and x. You can also get our programs delivered
(11:20):
directly to your Android or Apple device through our free
official Spotlight English app.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
The writer and producer was Dan Christman. The voices you
heard were from the United States and the United Kingdom.
All quotes were adapted for this program and voiced by Spotlight.
This program is called English Idioms Plants.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
We hope you can join us again for the next
Spotlight Advanced program. Goodbye,
Welcome to Spotlight Advanced. I'm Roger Bassick and.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
I'm Gillian Woodward. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting.
It is easier for people to understand no matter where
in the world they live.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
We will begin this program by hearing from one of
our writers.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
When I was younger, my mother told me that I
liked plants more than I liked most people. She was
partially right. I loved my friends, but I also loved
spending time at the park, watching bugs and flowers. I
used to sit in a tree for hours reading. Being
around these things put me at peace.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Not everyone likes being around plants as much as our
writer friend does, but plants have been important to people
throughout history. Some of the oldest writing in the world
is about plants. A poem from the Chinese Tang dynasty
uses grass and trees to describe how lonely a wife
feels while her husband is away at a war. In Yan,
(01:23):
the grass is blue as the bluest silk thread in Chin.
The branches of the mulberry tree are low and green.
Does a husband think of returning home the moment his
wife is heartbroken? The beauty of plants has been a
constant subject of poetry for generations.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
It is no wonder, then, that people talk about plants often.
This is true in every language, including English, but you
may have noticed that many of these sayings make no sense.
A Native English speaker may talk talk about hitting plants
with no other plants in the conversation, or he may
(02:05):
call someone a flower when she is clearly not a plant.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Native English speakers often use idioms in their speech. Idioms
are words and sayings for which the meaning is not
clear from the individual words. These are simply expressions that
Native speakers say that makes sense to other Native speakers,
but these expressions are difficult for non native speakers to understand.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
In this week's Spotlight Advanced, we're exploring six common plant idioms.
Most are not about plants at all, but using these
phrases will help you learn new words and sound like
a Native speaker.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Our first plant idiom is the saying that someone is
pushing up daisies. It means that someone has died. A
mother might warn her son, if you keep driving that fast,
you will be pushing up daisies sooner than you wish,
meaning that speeding might cause her son's death. In a
(03:25):
traffic accident.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
People often use this expression in a light or humorous way.
A daisy is a flower with white petals and a
yellow center. These flowers grow in fields in places with
bright sunlight. Symbolically, daisies represent innocence and purity. This idiom
came into common use during World War One in Europe.
(03:50):
Perhaps saying pushing up daisies offered a less grim way
for soldiers to speak of their comrades who had died
in battle. So pushing up daisies means saying that someone
is dead. But this idiom is best used in informal conversations,
not informal situations.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Our second idiom is said differently depending on where you live.
In the US, a person might say that someone cannot
see the forest for the trees. In the UK, people
would say that a person cannot see the wood for
the trees. Each expression has the same meaning, but the
(04:35):
word for a group of trees differs.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
This idiom means that a person is so concerned with
small details that the person cannot see the more important,
bigger picture or purpose of something.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Imagine that a woman is working on part of a project.
She is very good at refining her work but she
does not exactly understand what the purpose of the project is.
She provides a good result, but her work does not
improve the project as a whole. Someone might comment that
she could not see the forest for the trees.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Looking at only the colorful circles of paintbrushstrokes might distract
the viewer from seeing the people on the lawn. In
George Surat's painting A Sunday Afternoon on the island of
La Grange Jette, the viewer might miss seeing the forest
the big picture for the trees the tiny dots.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Have you ever grown flowers? Then the next saying to
nip something in the bud may be familiar to you.
A bud is the start of a plant's flower. Nipping
is a way of saying to cut. Nipping a bud
means cutting a beginning of a flower. This stops the
flower from grow.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
But when people nip something in the bud, they are
not usually talking about a plant. They mean that they
want to stop something. At an early point.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Maybe a man notices his son has started smoking. The
father knows this is dangerous. He takes away his son's
cigarettes and explains the health issues to his boy. He
would be nipping his son's drug use in the bud.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Our fourth plant idiom is to beat around the bush.
Do not worry. This idiom is not as violent as
it seems. When someone beats around the bush, she avoids
talking directly about a subject. Often someone may beat around
the bush about a subject because it is difficult or
(06:59):
painful to speak about a subject. Someone might tell this
person to stop beating around the bush and tell me
what you mean.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
For example, a husband who resigned from his job on
Friday may avoid speaking about this to his wife. He
tells his wife that he does not need to go
to work on the coming Monday. But Tuesday morning, when
he does not go to work, she may say, why
did you beat around the bush the whole weekend and
(07:31):
not tell me that you had resigned. Avoiding a difficult
truth is one of the reasons to beat around the bush.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Beating around the bush has interesting origins. English hunters used
servants to hit the branches of large plants or bushes
to force birds or animals to come out so the
hunters could catch these creatures. People beat around the bush
so the indirect action might bring about the direct result.
(08:05):
The meaning of the saying shifted over time as people
forgot about this custom from hunting. Today, it shows the
value that English speakers have for talking directly about a subject,
even a difficult subject.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Our fifth English idiom is to hear it through the grapevine.
This saying may seem funny at first. You cannot hear
anything through a grape plant, but the expression means to
hear through rumors or from another person. Imagine a woman
hears from her friend that her boyfriend is seeing another woman.
(08:43):
She will clearly be angry, but since she heard it
through the grapevine, she cannot be sure it is true.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
The saying also has little to do with plants. In
eighteen fifty nine, a new telegraph line ran from Placerville, California,
to Virginia City, Nevada. Operators use trees and fences to
keep the wires above ground. These telegraph wires looked like grapevines.
Getting a message on this new telegraph was called getting
(09:15):
the message through the grapevine. Soon after this, during the
American Civil War, hearing something through the grapevine described the
informal communication or rumors about the war. This information spread
from one person to another person to another person, rather
(09:37):
than hearing an official announcement.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Our sixth plant idiom is a thorn in one side.
A thorn is a small sharp part of some plants.
Touching a plant with thorns is difficult and painful, but
not deadly. When something is a thorn in some way
on side, it is a small sharp pain that is
(10:03):
difficult to get rid of.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
You will often hear this expression. In films. An evil
villain may call the hero a thorn in his side
whenever the hero stops the villain's plans. The villain is
insulting the hero, calling him a small pain, but the
villain means the hero is a problem. You have been
(10:26):
a thorn in my side for too long.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Many other plant idioms exist in the English language. These
are some of our favorites. Using them might not help
you talk about plants themselves, but these expressions will help
you sound more like a native speaker. Practice them as
much as you can, and use them with your friends.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
What interesting plant idioms do you have in your language?
Which plants are commonly used in these expressions? You can
leave a comment on our website at www dot spotlight
English dot com. You can also find us on YouTube, Facebook,
TikTok and x. You can also get our programs delivered
(11:20):
directly to your Android or Apple device through our free
official Spotlight English app.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
The writer and producer was Dan Christman. The voices you
heard were from the United States and the United Kingdom.
All quotes were adapted for this program and voiced by Spotlight.
This program is called English Idioms Plants.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
We hope you can join us again for the next
Spotlight Advanced program. Goodbye,
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