Jiaying Welcome to The English We Speak with me, Jiaying…
Neil … and me, Neil.
Jiaying Are you OK, Neil? You look really tired.
Neil I am – my best friend is living with me and he’s a nightmare. He never does the washing-up, and he plays his guitar all day – which he’s rubbish at! I’m just so stressed – I can’t relax.
Jiaying Sounds like he’s living rent-free in your head.
Neil What? No Jiaying, rent is important – and he pays that. He’s just annoying to live with. Why do you think he doesn’t pay rent?
Jiaying No, Neil, I said ‘live rent-free in your head’. We use this expression to say we can’t stop thinking about something or someone. It can be used to talk about things or people you love or that annoy you. It commonly relates to thinking about something or someone to the point of becoming obsessed.
Neil Ahhh that makes sense. I thought you were saying I have a big head and someone could live in it. I didn’t think that comment through.
Jiaying Well – now you know. We can talk more about it after these examples.
Examples Juan loves Kika so much. She lives rent-free in his head.
The moment we lost the football final lives rent-free in my head. I can’t stop thinking about what could have been.
You need to stop thinking about your argument with him. He’s living rent-free in your head.
Jiaying You’re listening to The English We Speak from BBC Learning English, and we’re talking about the expression ‘live rent-free in one’s head’. We use this expression to talk about something or someone we can’t stop thinking about.
Neil Yes – for example – I became totally obsessed with videos on decorating cakes and they lived rent-free in my head. I loved it so much.
Jiaying Instead of saying ‘live rent-free in your head’, you could say ‘can’t get something or someone out of your mind’.
Neil Like my best friend – I can’t stop thinking about him!
Jiaying Yes – he’s really annoying you – have you decided what to do with him?
Neil I have – I told him your address, and now he’s coming to live with you.
Jiaying Oh no! Then he’ll be living rent-free in my head!
Neil Just joking – I would never do that.
Jiaying Bye, Neil.
Neil Bye.