Oh! I have to tell you this last night I had such a ball. Now what does that mean? Does
that mean I went and bought myself a Basketball or maybe Volley ball or a Tennis ball? Well,
to find out you’ll just have to stay with me.
Hello once again and welcome to yet another
interesting, exciting lesson. My name is Rima and today I have for you different phrases
from the English language, which have the word Ball in it. Now normally all of us since
childhood have played with balls you know be it Cricket, be it Baseball, be it Basketball,
Tennis, Volley ball, Throw ball, whatever you want to play is always a ball and it’s
in different shapes and sizes. But today I have different phrases for you, which actually
use the word ball, but basically have nothing to do with playing or sport. So well the first
one coming right up. Now this one is have a ball. This one is pretty much my favorite
that’s right because have a ball actually means to enjoy yourself or have a party. Now you could use this is in a sentence
by saying something like, Last night at the party, I had a ball! Which means I thoroughly
enjoyed myself at the party or you could use this in a sentence by saying something like,
We all decided to have a ball. Which means we decided to enjoy ourselves or we decided
to have a party. So that’s how you could use the phrase have a ball. Moving on I have
for you, Get the ball rolling. Which means get the process started, so if you have a
plan or a project that you’ve been wanting to execute or do for a long time, you should
just get the ball rolling. Which means you should get the process started, so that’s
how you would use this phrase in a sentence and I hope you have looked at the next one,
because this one is quite complex, the meaning of it. The ball is in your court. This is
a full sentence within itself and it actually means it’s your turn for action. If you have a business negotiation
that’s going on and the other party has put forward their terms and now it’s your
turn. So you can use this phrase in a sentence by saying, Well, now the ball is in our court
and we must decide how to take this forward. Which means it’s actually your turn to take
action or to do something, because the other person has already put forward their plans
or ideas or terms. So that’s the meaning of, the ball is in your court and the next
one, a ball park figure. This one’s fairly simple it means the approximate figure or
number. Now let’s say you’re buying something, something huge like a property or a house
and you know, you’re probably asking someone, can you give me a ball park figure for this
property, which means can you give me the approximate figure or approximate value or
approximate number for the price of this property. So it could mean approximate figure, number
or value. So you know, you could use this in terms of property or also in terms of space.
If there’s a large ground, you could say something like, what is the ball park figure
of the number of people that can fit in this space. So that means the approximate number
of people, who can actually be accommodated in that space. So that is what ball park figure
actually means, moving on, let’s play ball. This sounds a lot of fun and actually it is.
So let’s play ball actually means, let’s compete. Now imagine you and your friend have
laid a bet on something related to sport or a game. So it could be any game, but before
starting the contest or competition, you can just challenge your friend by saying, all
right dude let’s play ball. Which means alright friend lets compete, lets find out
who is the better of the two. So very simple let’s play ball actually means, lets compete,
the challenge is on. Moving on now his one kind of makes me laugh its slime ball.Now
all of us know what slime is, that slimy, dirty, greasy thing. Slime is basically dirt,
which gets accumulated on anything. So slime ball does not have to do with a dirty ball.
It actually is a negative adjective for a person, slime ball, so if you’re calling
somebody a slime ball. It means that the person is not trust worthy or has a bad character.
If you have encountered somebody, who you find to be not trust worthy, untrust worthy
or somebody whose character is not the best and you are in a mood to be slightly rude
and you’re quite angry, you could just say, Oh , you know Anna’s husband, he’s such
a slime ball. Which means he is not to be trusted. So yes it’s definitely not a compliment,
when you call somebody a slime ball. It’s a hugely negative comment on the way they
are as a person. Moving on I have for you is, a different ball game. Yes I know all
of us are used to playing different games, which involves balls like Tennis, Table tennis
or Football. This actually means a different situation. So you could use this in a sentence
by saying something like , well running your own company, now that is a different ball
game altogether . Which means running your own company is a different situation altogether,
so whenever you are faced with a situation that’s not familiar or is quite challenging,
you could use this phrase and say, well marriage? Now that is a different ball game altogether.
Of course you will only say this, when your marriage is a new marriage and as time passes,
I hope for your sake that you have mastered the ball game. So that is the way you would
use a different ball game. Now moving on, a ball of fire , which means someone who is
very very energetic , enthusiastic or lively, so if you have a colleague or a friend , whose always really lively , you
know up for a party, very loud vivacious. Then you could just say, Oh you know Susan
from my office, she’s like of ball of fire, she’s such a ball of fire. Which means she’s
so full of energy. It’s as if you know like this flame that keeps dancing, so that’s
how you would use a ball of fire. Then eye on the ball, now this one’s very very important
specially if you are working, coz this one means focus. So let’s say you are working
and you’re getting many distracting phone calls, possibly personal phone calls and your
boss just passes by and in passing makes a comment saying, hello eye on the ball, which
means, hello focus, focus on your work. That’s right so eye on the ball means keeping your
eye on the ball or on the process or the thing that you are currently doing, task at hand.
So that’s right meaning of eye on the ball is focus. And the last one is, drop the ball,
which means falter or make a mistake. So imagine that your boss gives you an instruction saying,
when it comes to this project, we are relying on you, so please be careful not to drop the
ball. Which means please be careful, not to make a mistake or not to falter or not actually
get all of us into trouble, because you are the person that we are relying on, so dropping
the ball means to falter or make a mistake. So these were the phrases, which had the word
ball in it, but they had nothing to do with the world of sport. They were actually different
ways to express different things in the English language. I hope you’ve really enjoyed this
lesson and if you have found it a bit tough, make sure that you keep practicing, so you
get very good with it. If you want access to many more interesting videos such as this
one, make sure you subscribe to our channel. And if you want to say something to me write
in the comment box below, I’ll be sure to reply. So this is me Rima signing out, saying
thank you. Bye bye and take care.