Rob Welcome to The English We Speak, with me Rob…
Jiaying And me, Jiaying.
Rob Here’s an idiom to use when you want to say you admire someone because they’ve done something impressive – it’s ‘hats off’.
Jiaying ‘Hats off’. But we don’t physically take our hat off to someone – it’s metaphorical, isn’t it?
Rob It is, although the origin of the expression is from when a person would raise their hat to show respect to someone. But don’t worry, Jiaying, if you’re not wearing a hat, you can still say it.
Jiaying Good. So, ‘hats off’ to you, Rob, for telling us about this phrase.
Rob Thanks. And hats off to you Jiaying – I hear you won a cake-making competition. Impressive – It’s not easy to make good cakes. I can’t even bake!
Jiaying Thanks. I might let you try some later. So, you’re saying ‘hats off’ there to mean ‘congratulations’ as well?
Rob Yes, because it’s a great achievement – I can’t even bake! Let’s hear some more examples of ‘hats off’.
Examples Hats off to you for completing your first marathon – what an achievement!
I take my hat off to anyone who works full time and manages a family as well.
Hats off to my brother for getting top grades in all his exams. I’m proud of you!
Jiaying You’re listening to The English We Speak from BBC Learning English, and we are learning the expression ‘hats off’, which is an informal way of expressing your respect or admiration for something someone has done. It can also mean ‘congratulations’.
Rob It’s not a new saying, but it still gets used today. And of course, it refers to people not things – so, we don’t say ‘hats off to the new computer system’.
Jiaying But we could say ‘hats off to the person who installed the new computer system’.
Rob Yes, and when we say ‘hats off’ to someone, it’s probably because they have achieved something that you could never do. Like making an award-winning cake!
Jiaying Ah yes, would you like to try some now?
Rob Sounds like a good idea. See you next time!
Jiaying Bye.