Easy English Expression 0465 to sneeze at something

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But for sure in the winter. No, you can use it any time of year. Enjoy the podcast. Let's go back in time. Today we have a very useful expression to sneeze at something.

To sneeze at something. So normally sneeze, S-N-E-E-Z-E, this is sneeze. To sneeze. That is a sneeze. Don't worry. I did not actually sneeze. Anyway, to sneeze at something, however, means to think of something as not important or not very good.

It's something that doesn't deserve your attention. So for example, I offered to sell my bicycle to someone for $100. And that guy said, $100? Nah, no thanks.

The guy's crazy. My bike is worth much more. I bought my bike for much more than $100. I could easily get $300, maybe $400 for my bike. I gave him a great opportunity, a really good price, and he sneezed at it.

Maybe he made a sound. He might have gone, Nah, no thanks. This is the idea to sneeze at something. You've been presented with an offer, but you don't think it's anything.

Whatever. Now, we also use this expression like this. Don't sneeze at it or it's nothing to sneeze at. And what that means is don't disregard it. Don't ignore it.

You should pay attention to it. So I'll give you an example. It's August 2015 in America right now. Donald Trump, who's a businessman and he has a reality TV show.

Come on. He's a joke. But many Americans like him. Donald Trump is nothing to sneeze at. People think, oh, come on. He's a TV guy. He's a business guy.

He says really bad things. We can ignore him. He's nothing. But I don't think so. He's actually pretty powerful. Many people like him. He is nothing to sneeze at.

Just because we don't like him doesn't mean we can ignore him. We better watch him very, very carefully. This is the idea to sneeze at something and to not sneeze at something.

Do you understand? The simple meaning is ignore or disregard something. Let's check out a dialogue. Sean is an English teacher. Why? He's American. They speak American, not English.

Oh, God. Don't sneeze at American English. Yes, I have several British friends. They speak the Queen's English. Oh, yes, their English pronunciation is truly wonderful.

They have the Oxford accent and they truly sound very, very intelligent. And they're always, with their words, they're very polite. But actually, I think sometimes they're not being very polite to me.

Because as an American, they think of me as uneducated, with no culture, a country boy with guns. That's what they imagine, eating hamburgers with my fingers, drinking beer.

Yeah, that may be true. I eat hamburgers with my fingers and I do eat, I do eat, no, I do drink beer. But hey, don't sneeze at Americans and don't sneeze at American English.

Damn it. It's true. I love British English. I do. I actually like British English, especially the Oxford accent. It sounds truly wonderful. It's very intelligent sounding.

However, I'm sorry, Queen. What's her name? Liz. I'm sorry, Queen Liz. Queen Elizabeth. I have to be nice. Yeah, the American television show. Movies, television shows, music.

Yeah, it's all over the world. Because of TV, because of the internet, the American pronunciation, I'm sorry, it's just more beneficial to students around the world. It is. I'm sorry.

Now, of course, if you're going to be living in the UK, then you'll definitely want to have a British accent. And in fact, if your company is a British company, you might want to have a British accent because British people do sneeze at the American accent.

But anyway, believe it or not, I do have many students who live in the UK, who live in Australia, who live in Hong Kong, who live in Ireland, who live in Europe, and they absolutely want to learn the American English. They are smart.

They know not to sneeze at the American English. There you go. So yeah, once again, I don't care what kind of English you speak, but it is true if you have a good American English pronunciation, that type of style of speech –

People around the world will understand you because of Hollywood, not because of me, not because it sounds good, because of Hollywood, the pop songs, the movies, the television shows, even British actors and Australian actors and Irish actors and New Zealand actors and actresses, of course, when they want to be in a Hollywood film.

they generally have to change their accent to an American accent. So Hollywood, it's pretty powerful. Yeah. The culture in Hollywood, not too cool. But thanks to Hollywood, American English is everywhere.

All right. Don't sneeze at American English. What are things that you might sneeze at? Or perhaps what is something that we should not sneeze at? Leave me a message.

I want to hear from you on Twitter, at Coach Shane, on Facebook, ESL Coach Shane. And yeah, just leave a message. Say hi, and I'll be very happy. Thanks a lot, you guys.

Have a fantastic day. Listen to the dialogue two more times, and together, let's master English. Sean is an English teacher. Wow. He's American. They speak American, not English.

Oh, God. Don't sneeze at American English. Sean is an English teacher. Why? Oh, he's American. They speak American, not English. Oh, God. Don't sneeze at American English.

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