8 IDIOMS ABOUT TALKING

You're in the middle of a lecture and for a second you look around to see if people are paying attention. It turns out you've been talking to yourself for hours and no one in the room is even making an effort to even pretend they're listening. You get so irritated you start screaming into the microphone: I'M TIRED OF BEATING MY GUMS HERE AND YOU WON'T LISTEN TO A WORD I SAY. I NEED RESPECT!

You get home and you still can't forget how disrespectful those people at your lecture were. You're trying to go over your lecture in your mind word by word and see if part of their behavior was reasonable, but it's far from it. People were having bull sessions in each corner of the room as if there was no one in need of attention. They should have tried somewhere else to chew the fat. You were definitely not the problem there. Now you're so mad it seems you have diarrhea of the mouth. You go around looking for people to dish out insults, but there's no one to be found. You need to phone some friend to get that anger off your chest. You call a friend and ask her to come over. She rings the bell and starts to talk to you. But there's something wrong. Even she doesn't seem interested in your talking. It seems she's too busy with the things in her own mind to give you any kind of attention. Here's what you say:

WHAT'S HAPPENING TO EVERYONE TODAY? IT FEELS LIKE TALKING TO A BRICK WALL!

Your friend can't believe how insensitive she's been to you and in an attempt to apologize she makes matters even worse: I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you. But you were running off at the mouth. I thought you wanted me here to just shoot the breeze, but I see the vibe is so much more stressful. I gotta go.

Idioms used in the story:

2. Bull session: a rambling group conversation

4. Diarrhea of the mouth: excessive talking

1. Beat (one’s) gums: to speak excessively and aimlessly

5. Dish out: to deliver critical comments
3. Chew the fat: to chat

7. Run off at the mouth: see “beat (one’s) gums”

6. Like talking to a brick wall: said of trying unsuccessfully to persuade or reason with someone

8. Shoot the breeze: to chat

QUIZ

1. My co-workers and I like to have ______________ in the restaurant after we close for the 2. night.Wow, he talks so much! Does he ever have ___________________!

3. You're just _________________. No one is listening.

4. She ____________ insults as easily as some of us dish out praise.

5. We spent the evening watching the TV and _______________.

6. He's just another one of these politicians who ______________ and have no attitude.

7. I've tried to discuss my feelings with her, but it's like ________________.
8. We spent the entire afternoon just __________________.

ANSWERS

1. bull sessions
2. diarrhea of the mouth
3. beating your gums
4. dished out
5. chewing the fat
6. Runs off at the mouth
7. like talking to a brick wall
8. shooting the breeze