Episode 43 Phrases from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Part 1

Today we are going to review some of the phrases that appear at the beginning of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. None of the vocabulary from this week is magical and many of these phrases are commonly used by native speakers. Vocabulary 'Just don't hold with such nonsense.' - You disagree with or don't approve of something 'They didn't think they could bear it' - When you can't cope or manage your extreme feelings about something we say you 'can't bear it'. 'Good-for-nothing' - a derogatory phrase used to describe a person who does not fit societies standards of success, often used to describe underperforming teenagers and unemployed people. 'Have a tantrum' also 'throw a tantrum' - a tantrum is when (usually) children get upset and scream and shout and try to get their own way. We can use it to describe adults who react badly when they don't get their way. 'A trick of the light' - we use this when we think we have seen something but it turns out not to be what we thought. It's a way to excuse or explain what we saw. 'Drills were driven out of his mind' - in this case we are using this phrase to mean something else has caught your attention so what you are thinking about has been pushed out of your mind. However we also use the phrase to describe someone we think is crazy. 'The get-ups you saw' - 'get-up' means costume or clothing that doesn't fit with society's expectations and is considered outlandish or wild by the observer