Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Idioms 286. The idiom today could be said
actually three different ways. It could be said as no skin off my nose. No skin
off my teeth or no skin off my back. Okay. Let's look at the note here. All three of
these phrases basically mean that a certain issue or matter would not affect
one adversely. So it won't affect you in a negative way or in a bad way. In a way
you are saying you are neutral and don't really care because it won't hurt you. So
that's kind of what you're saying when you say this phrase. With any of these
three words at the end. All right. Let's continue. The first thing to note is that
the phrase no skin off my nose tends to be more used in the UK. So yeah. As an
American I don't remember hearing this one too much, but yeah and I've seen
online that's what they mostly say. So this one's mostly a UK phrase. No skin
off my teeth is more common in the US and this one actually might seem strange
to people in the UK. And it's also even a little strange in the u.s. because of
course your teeth have no skin. So how can you... how could something be no skin off
my teeth. Now. Of course your teeth are attached to your gums which go up but I
don't even know if we really consider the gums as skin either. So but anyway
it's it's still a common phrase. It's and it has basically the same meaning it's
no skin off my nose, and no skin off my back.
All right. And no skin off my back could be used in both either in the UK or in the
US. All right. Let's continue. Some believe no skin off my nose may have come from
the world of boxing. It seems to have appeared in the early 1900s
and the idea alludes to a boxers vulnerability of being hit
in the nose. Yeah. If you're a boxer, they hit you in the face a lot. So the nose is the
thing that's pointing out more. So I don't know will they really take you
some skin off. I don't know sometimes they might bleed , but that's the idea.
Okay. No skin off my back is more clear. It is believed to come from the practice
of disciplining sailors by flogging them. So basically whipping them. If one is
whipped it will literally take off the skin on one's back. We've probably all
seen movies where somebody's being whipped. And then you, you see that it
does or at least it's supposed to take the skin off ... you see the the red scars
or the red marks of them being whipped. Okay. If you are not the person being
whipped, well at that point it was no skin off your back because you know, well I'm
not being whip, so it's not hurting me. I guess that's the idea behind it. All
right. Good. And. Yeah. No skin off one's teeth may have been a mix of the phrase
by the skin of one's teeth which , which actually now that has a different
meaning. That means barely or hardly like you,
you, you just barely got by. By the skin of your teeth. Only by a very little
amount. And the skin off one's nose. Somehow they might have joined together
and , the skin off one's teeth. That's what a
lot of people think. All right and we give three examples of how it's used
even though with all these examples you could really trade any one of those
endings. So here's number one. I don't care who wins. Either way it is no skin
off my nose or you could have says no skin off my teeth. No skin off my back.
All right and number two here. Whether they find him innocent or guilty ,
it's no skin off my teeth. And the third one here. Whether that company goes
bankrupt or not, it's no skin off my back. So you're saying well it's not going to
hurt me. It's not my problem. Okay. Anyway, I hope you got it. I hope you
found it informative. Thank you for your time. Bye-bye.