'Blue moon' and 'lip closure': best phrases to learn before moving to New York
'18.10.2021'
Nurgul Sultanova-Chetin
Author of the channel "50 shades of New York" on the portal Zen.Yandex shared some spoken English phrases that everyone living in New York needs to know. The author talks about interesting phrases that at first glance seem meaningless, but in fact will help avoid conflict and make your speech understandable and pleasant to Americans.

“We are not talking about the results of the presidential elections, this is a hot potapo (hot potatoes),” my husband warned me when we were heading to visit our friend. It turned out that the American woman's husband was a passionate adherent of Biden, and the mistress herself preferred his rival, Donald Trump. But what does the potato have to do with it, I didn’t understand, ”the author admitted at the beginning of the blog.
For the first time, the author learned about hot potatoes from her American friend. He explained that hot potatoes stay hot for a long time after boiling, so they should be eaten carefully. Thus, when you are told about hot potatoes, know that this is a hot topic.
Turnip turns into pie with a slight movement of the lips
If you want to say about a business that it is as easy as shelling pears, then in Russian it sounds like “simpler than a steamed turnip”. But the Americans say that this is a piece of cake (piece of cake!). Indeed, there is nothing easier than getting a piece of the pie. Therefore, they talk about something that does not require special preparation, like eating pie.
"Blue moon" and "flying pigs"
A New Yorker who wants to say that an event is extremely rare will probably use the phrase “once in a blue moon”. In Russian speaking, it is "after the rain on Thursday" or "when the cancer whistles on the mountain."
The expression “when pigs fly” has the same meaning. Even visualizing this picture is quite difficult.
On the subject: How and where immigrants in New York can learn English for free
What a rose to an American is a raspberry to a Russian
The author also quotes a beautiful phrase "bed of roses" (bed of rosesmeaning something hassle-free and enjoyable. Russians would say “name day of the heart” or “life is raspberry”.
But the turnover "ten cents for a dozen" (At ten cents for a dozen) is nothing more than evidence of inflation constantly occurring in the world. Scientists believe that at the end of the XNUMXth century, prices for fruits or bunched vegetables were exactly the same, perhaps this is where the phrase came from. A saying means a lot of something ordinary and not too valuable. In Russian - "a carriage and a small cart".

"Button your lips"
Chatterboxes who accidentally raised a personal question in conversations, that is, "hot potatoes", Americans may suggest “Zip the lip”. In Russian translation, phraseological unit means something like "keep your mouth shut."
But the phrase "there is a silver lining" is associated with the name of the poet and priest James Hervey. Blessing in disguise is a blessing in disguise. For example, a person was not hired, and he began to search even more actively. As a result, an unpleasant refusal turned into the fact that the applicant got a really profitable, and even promising job.