AEE 2688: Come in Guns Blazing With These English Idioms

This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 2688. Come in guns blazing with these English idioms. Welcome to the All Ears English Podcast, downloaded more than 200 million times. Are you feeling stuck with your English?

We'll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing on connection, not perfection with your American hosts, Aubrey Carter, the IELTS whiz, and Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer. coming to you from Arizona and Colorado, USA. And to get your transcripts delivered by email every week, go to allearsenglish.com forward slash subscribe.

Don't be gun shy about improving your English. Today, find out how and when Americans use gun related terms in English conversations. How many more conversations in English will you sit through feeling like a quieter, flatter version of yourself? You don't need more idioms or even better grammar.

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Go to allearsenglish.com slash S O C I A L. Hey, Lindsay, how are you today? Good, Aubrey. How's it going? What's happening with you? I am great. I have a question for you.

When you were a kid, when you were growing up, who always called shotgun or did you fight over it? I mean, both of us did, right? So yeah, there was a period of time, I think when I was like a young teenager, both of us were constantly, my brother and I always wanted shotgun. Of course, you want to sit in the front seat and

If you're a kid, right? I'm in this phase right now phase. I'm in a phase right now where my kids all want to be shotgun. Okay. If my husband's driving or if I'm driving and one of us, they want us to sit in the back.

And for a while we're like, no, we're sitting up front. But then it's actually more peaceful if one of us is in the back. So I'm like, I would actually rather ride in the back, have no one fight. Interesting.

Oh, so you mean you can keep the piece in the back? I can keep the piece in the back and let one of them sit in the shotgun. I see. Okay, interesting.

Well, hey, whatever works, whatever works. I wonder if our listeners are wondering, shotgun, what does it have to do with the front seat? Well, if so, you guys missed a recent episode. We're going to give you that number really quick.

That came up in a previous episode. 2585 was Beat the Light, How to Connect Over Risky Driving. But we promised a follow-up from with more gun phrases because we were realizing how many phrases like shotgun we use that are like you would think they're about guns, but they're not.

We use them to mean something totally different. Yeah. And I mean, this is, you know, for better or for worse, usually for worse, frankly, guns are a huge part of our culture, right? They have been historically.

And maybe we'll touch on some of the issues that we do have with guns in our culture. But to actually refer to guns in these idioms, Aubrey, is it okay? Would you say? I mean, despite all the problems we have with school shootings, we have violence in the US with guns.

That's what's really interesting is... that just the word gun has been adopted into so many phrases where native speakers don't think about guns when they use these words. So shotgun is a good example. We only think of the passenger front seat of a car.

We're not thinking about where this idiom came from and what it has to do with guns. And all of today's phrases are like that as well. They're casual. They're playful.

You're going to hear them. You can definitely use them. They don't actually have anything to do with actual guns. Yeah. I mean, they obviously, you know, etymologically speaking, they probably, I'm guessing, I don't know, I didn't look it up, but I'm guessing shotgun came from the days of the Wild West, you know, pioneers.

When someone was actually in the front holding a shotgun, probably. Sure, sure. I'm sure it was. Or are other examples of that, but we don't think about it that way now.

So don't get it confused between saying that anyone's carrying a gun in the front seat. Definitely not, right? Exactly. We're just talking about the front seat.

So let's get into it with that in mind, Aubrey. Yeah. All right. And be sure to hit follow, guys, wherever you are listening to the podcast. If you missed that episode, 2585, you're likely missing a lot of amazing episodes because we have five new episodes every week.

Right, Lindsay? Yeah. I know. We love publishing episodes here at Dollar's English and don't miss a single one. A lot of our listeners have told us that once they got into the habit of listening to the show five days a week, they built that fluency because it's fun.

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Yes, absolutely. Okay. Let's dive into our first phrase here, which is gun it. Also about driving, which it means to accelerate suddenly and go really fast if you gun it, right?

You press on the accelerator and the car shoots forward. Yeah. So a lot of times your friend might tell you, come on, gun it. Let's make this light. And that's probably what we talked about in that episode, right?

We didn't. This is what, yeah, where we're like, oh, that's one of the ones that has to do with driving. And then we started thinking about, huh, there are so many. Exactly.

Yep. Exactly. So we might say this, right? Let's do a little role play. All right. I'll start us out. We're going to miss the light. Just gun it. Come on.

Right? So I encourage you to go faster. You want me to speed up. Yeah, exactly. Or... Or how do you always win these arcade games? As soon as the race starts, I gun it.

That's my strategy. So this would mean just going fast, right? A lot of games, things where you just have to go at a high speed. It's not always about driving.

You can say gun it. If someone's even just like walking behind you and you want them to speed up and catch up to you, you could say gun it. Yeah, I guess you could say that. It's most commonly, I guess, in a car with a brake pedal or a gas pedal.

But I guess you could say, come on, gun it. Let's go. Which means speed up. Interesting. Yeah. And then the word gun shy. What does this mean, Aubrey?

Yeah. Yeah, this means hesitant or nervous, usually because of some kind of past bad experience, right? We sometimes will use it for emotional or psychological, you know, if you're just like, oh, maybe even like roller coasters. If you were on a really scary roller coaster, you could say you're now gun shy.

And that's why you don't want to write on them because they, you know, you're afraid now. Yeah, exactly. So again, it does have kind of an emotional, excuse me, my voice, I'm getting over a cold here, Aubrey.

An emotional connotation to it, psychological, right? As you said, very important. We think about it in dating, business, life, right? So for example, are you going to start dating again?

Yeah, maybe eventually. I'm still a little gun shy after my last relationship. So yeah, we would definitely use it this way. We're like, I need some time.

I'm hesitant for whatever reason. We'll use this phrase, I'm gun shy. Or why won't he invest in another restaurant? Oh, he lost a lot of money before.

So now he's gun shy. This can totally happen to investors, right? You're all excited. The investment doesn't go well, you might be gun shy next time. Yeah.

So I mean, yeah, there's, yeah, interesting. Exactly. So you're afraid to move forward to take that leap, that step, or to shoot for it, in other words. Right.

There's more than just these idioms, right, out there in the English language, for sure. But we also say coming in with guns blazing. So this is entering somewhere aggressively or maybe full of energy or opinions. Right.

We use this to talk about how someone enters a discussion sometimes or maybe a meeting or negotiation. It can be negative or it can just be adding drama. Right. Yeah.

It's distinctive. Yeah. Yeah. Let's do a little role play here. Yeah. How was that meeting you were dreading? Oh, not great. The boss came in guns blazing.

So what would that mean, Lindsay? Yeah, it just means he came in and made a big appearance and in a dramatic way and something changed. Like he did something. dramatic, I guess.

Yeah, this is interesting. Because if I'm saying not great, I'm probably going to give more information here, right? Because guns blazing isn't negative on its own. It doesn't mean that someone came in yelling.

It's like they were a big presence. Maybe they did come in making lots of demands, yelling, who knows, whatever they did, if they came in guns blazing, they were like, ready to make waves. Make waves. Exactly.

Maybe your boss came in with a new policy of like work from home is over, right? Everyone has to be in the office on Monday morning. That would qualify, don't you think? Exactly.

Yeah. Something like that. Something big, some kind of big action. Yeah. I mean, with this one, I usually say with guns blazing, but I guess you can also say the boss came in guns blazing too, right?

You can drop the with. Yes, either works. I've heard both for sure. One of those where we might drop a word just to make it faster, but I've also heard it with as well coming in guns blazing or with guns blazing.

Here's another little mini role play if we just say she came in guns blazing and started criticizing everyone immediately. yikes that sounds scary right yeah yeah so this is it's interesting because often we do try to enter a discussion or a meeting gingerly right we're trying to like oh what are you talking about or but if we don't someone might say this like wow she came in guns blazing if you are like not trying to do that if you're just immediately a big force Yeah, if you're not following kind of the social script of what you're expected to do to come in lightly and sort of gradually open up to something and use all the phrases we've taught our listeners to open up something, right?

Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. Do you replay conversations in English after they end? Maybe you think of what you should have said or wonder if you missed a signal, interrupted or came across the wrong way.

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Don't miss your chance to join us at allersenglish.com slash social. All right, Aubrey, we are here for the last couple of them, which is jump the gun. I love this one. This is interesting, right?

To do something too early. I think this probably goes back to horse racing or something is my guess. Probably, right? Because they often will. They still often start a horse race with a gunshot.

And that will probably spook the horses a lot. Right. So, yeah, I think it does come from racing. It's about being impatient, doing something before you should probably.

And it often is used to talk about something bad happening because you didn't wait long enough. Right. Have you ever been to Churchill Downs? Have you ever been to Louisville?

No, the only horse races I've been to were in Wyoming. So it was very country. It was not like the mint juleps and the beautiful hats. It was like cowboys racing horses.

It was more like a rodeo. A rodeo. Okay. Yeah. But I guess not. I mean, because it was the track and people were betting on the ponies and there were people there that were more like that vibe, but because it's Wyoming, it's still pretty country.

They were just riding Western style, right? Yeah. I guess. Yeah. interesting i love it all right well here's a couple of role plays here we go so aubrey did you already tell everyone about the promotion yeah maybe i jumped the gun a little i'm not even sure if i got it oh that would be jumping the gun if you tell people you got a promotion when it's not for sure that would not be good yeah for sure like that's the plot of a lot of tv shows and movies when someone jumps the gun totally about some kind of announcement and then it turns out it's not happening

Or they think they're getting married and they hadn't proposed yet and the person wasn't going to say yes or something, right? Yes. It's great. Did you see Jury Duty with James Marsden?

There's a part two. I think it's called Company Retreat. And there's a big part of the plot that is that. Someone's planning on proposing and he's assuming she'll say yes.

And he tells everyone. He's so excited. He does it in front of everyone. And he definitely jumped the gun. Oh, my gosh. Are we even dating? Yeah. That's hilarious.

Certain things you should not do out of order. OK, exactly. Right. Or you could say I ordered the furniture before measuring the apartment. Oh, you really jumped the gun on that one.

Yes. Right. We need to know the spaces first before we can order the furniture. Yeah. Like we said, the connotation here is being impatient, being overly eager, moving too fast, being a little too genuine in what you're doing.

And then our last one is stick to your guns, which is refusing to change a decision or an opinion. But it's pretty positive. It really means that you're sticking with your intuition. You're doing what you know is right.

Yeah, exactly. That does have a positive connotation. It really shows confidence, conviction, just having a backbone, right? This is interesting because often stubbornness is really not respected, right?

So it's interesting how some phrases, if you're calling someone stubborn, it is a negative connotation. We wouldn't use that for this. It doesn't mean someone's stubborn. It means they're sticking to their convictions.

Yes, exactly. So for example, did you finally agree to lower your prices? Nope. I stuck to my guns. Yeah. So didn't do it. And then maybe you succeeded in the end, right?

Usually, usually you would have to have succeeded to say it that way because it does have that positive sense. Or at least that you don't think it was a bad idea already, right? If you're kind of still like, let's wait and see. I think I'm right to stick with my prices.

If I have now declared bankruptcy and closed my business, I probably wouldn't say that because I'm like, that would be true delusion. Yeah. I stuck with my guns and now I'm getting a job cleaning streets. Exactly.

Here's another one. I know everyone disagreed with her, but she stuck to her guns. I respect that. And this is at least in American culture, we really respect someone having conviction.

It is there is a fine line between like being stubborn, and even in the face of evidence to the contrary, and then sticking with convictions, even if people disagree with you, and you have either evidence or proof, right? So that's really interesting. Yeah, really interesting. But again, this gun theme does come up.

We do use it all the time. The other one that I always hear is the name Gunner. So the name Gunner is a friend of mine has a dog named Gunner. And a Gunner, I'm just looking it up now, is broadly defined as a soldier or airman who operates or aims a gun, right?

But a lot of people have – that's a dog's name in American culture or maybe a person's name in some – Yeah, I think I've met people named Gunner. Not very many. It's a rare name, but I could totally see someone being named Gunner. A nickname especially, right?

A nickname. Interesting. So it's everywhere. We haven't even scratched the surface there. We could do a follow-up episode on this, Aubrey, potentially.

Yes, there are more. Absolutely, right? We are not shy about throwing gun into the language and we don't think about it, right? Even someone who is really opposed to gun ownership would still use these phrases because we're not thinking about real guns.

Exactly. Let's do a role play here, Aubrey. So here we're friends. We're on our way to a concert together and you are driving. So here we go. All right.

Hurry up. The concert starts in 20 minutes. I'm driving as fast as I can. Well, you better gun it. We're going to miss the opening act. Okay. But last time I got a speeding ticket, so I'm a little gun shy now.

Fair enough. Wait, did you buy the ticket? You did buy the tickets, right? Oh, yeah, I bought them ages ago before I knew you could even come. I was worried I jumped the gun.

Well, luckily I'm here. And shoot, the guy behind you is driving like a maniac. Yeah, he's coming in guns blazing. Oh, wow. Now he's getting pulled over.

See, aren't you happy I wasn't speeding? I'm very happy I stuck to my guns there. We got a little pun in there, too. And shoot, the guy behind you is driving like a maniac.

Yeah, maybe even accidentally. Oh, shoot, the guy behind you is driving like a maniac. That wasn't meant to be in there. All right. So here first I asked you to drive faster, right?

I said, you better gun it. You better step on the gas. Yeah. And that's, it really is sort of a more friendly way of asking someone to speed up, right?

Oh, gun it. We're going to get late or we're going to be late because this is, it's kind of an awkward thing to ask someone if you're like, can you speed up please? Like this is a more playful way that you could say that. Exactly.

Sometimes when you're being direct like that, we need to play around. We need idioms. And we've talked about that so much on this show. Yes. It takes a lot of the awkwardness and the formality out of it.

So then it doesn't feel so direct. Direct. Exactly. And then you said last time I got a speeding ticket. So I'm a little gun shy now. So you're afraid.

And this is so right after you get a speeding ticket, you're gun shy. You're like driving so much more carefully because you don't want it to happen again.

You kind of lose your confidence a little bit, right? Yeah. What else? I said, I bought the tickets ages ago. I didn't even know if you could come yet.

I was worried I jumped the gun. This is a perfect use for this, right? I didn't wait to make sure someone could come. Maybe I got a deal. So I'm like, I'm going to buy these and just hope I can find a friend to come with me.

So I definitely jumped the gun. Yeah. And then I said, and shoot, the guy behind you is driving like a maniac. So that's kind of a fun pun. Guys, we're talking about guns.

So the word shoot came out and that wasn't something we've taught. But we do say shoot instead of the expletive, four-letter word. And I say this a lot, right? Darn it, shoot.

These words where we adjust it so that we're not cursing. Yes. Exactly. Maybe Gen Z doesn't say that. I don't know. But... I know. Me neither. Well, they do around me anyway, but I don't know what they say when they're not around their mom, right?

Right. Who knows? Who knows? And then you said, yeah, and he's coming in guns blazing, meaning he's driving really fast, right? So if someone's tailgating you or if they blow right past you going a lot faster than you, you could say that like, wow, he's coming in guns blazing.

Yep, exactly. And then you said, oh, see, aren't you happy I wasn't speeding? Happy I stuck to my guns there. So you were wise to not go fast. Yeah, I insisted on going the speed limit.

So I stuck to my guns, meaning I didn't let you influence me. Like I decided to go the speed limit anyway. And then we see someone else get pulled over. So I'm like, well, glad I stuck to my guns.

Exactly. All right. So really good. So remember, guys, this doesn't directly talk about – we're not talking about holding guns or shooting guns here. These are idioms, right?

And I think a lot of our listeners in their native languages, they have idioms like this that go back to the history of a country. And the way a country developed, our country developed with a lot of guns, I think, for sure. Yeah, it's really interesting. And yeah, this no one's thinking about guns, we're thinking about that we did something earlier than we should have, or that we stuck to our convictions, right?

The meaning of the idiom is what you is what we think about when someone uses these for sure. Yeah. So don't be afraid to use them, right? Put a little color, a little creativity into your language and come up with one of these.

Aubrey, there was a part one of this series. Where should our listeners go to experience part one? Yes, it was over on the Business English Podcast. It was episode 619.

We're pulling out the big guns today. These are idioms we use both at work and in everyday conversations. So go check out that episode if you missed it.

All right. Sounds good. Thanks for being here, Aubrey. And I will see you very soon on the next episode. All right. Take care. See you guys next time.

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