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The idiom for this week is for something to “go to someone’s head”. It is used when we want to talk about a person who becomes conceited because of some success they have had or some accomplishment they have done. For example:

Winning the bowling tournament last week has really gone to Jim’s head. Now he thinks he’s the best bowler in the world!

Don’t give Patty a compliment about the way she looks. It will just go to her head.

Richard got a promotion last year, and it really went to his head. Now he thinks he’s so much better than everyone else.

I’m happy that you were successful with this project, but I hope you won’t let it go to your head.

So, as you can see, we use the accomplishment or success as the subject in the sentence. By the way, if you don’t know what the word “conceited” means, you can check my blog for last Wednesday. I write about it in more detail there.

We can also use this expression to talk about a situation in which a person is easily and quickly affected by drinking alcohol. For example:

I haven’t eaten anything all day, so this beer is going straight to my head.

My boyfriend is a weak drinker. If you give him anything with alcohol in it, it goes straight to his head.

Beer doesn’t affect me so quickly, but wine goes straight to my head.

As you can see from my examples, we usually use the word “straight” in these sentences.

I found myself using today’s idiom in a conversation last week. It is to “cross that bridge when we come to it”. It is used to talk about a difficult situation or problem that will happen in the future, but it hasn’t happened yet; we don’t want to think about how to solve that problem yet because it’s still in the future. So in this idiom the “bridge” represents the problem and “crossing” it represents solving it. Therefore this idiom means we will think about how to solve that problem when it happens, but not now. For example:

A: I have to move  in September, but I don’t know where I can find a good place to live.

B: Well, you should cross that bridge when you come to it. There’s no point in worrying about it now.

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A: Our parents are healthy now, but what are we going to do when they get older and start to become weak?

B: Let’s cross that bridge when we come to it. I’m sure that won’t happen for many years.

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A: We have so much to do this week. We have to finish the report and plan the presentation. Also, next week we have to plan a meeting to discuss the budget. Where are we going to have that meeting?

B: Let’s just cross that bridge when we come to it. Right now, we need to concentrate on our tasks for this week.

Right now, I’m still in high school. I don’t know where to go to university, but I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. I can’t worry about it yet.

So, as you can see from my examples, the word “we” can be changed depending on who is speaking. We always use this expression to talk about the future, but we can’t use it talk about the past. Therefore, it sounds strange to say, “I crossed that bridge when I came to it.”

Today’s idiom is “not by a long shot”, and it is used when we want to talk about a competition between two or more people or groups and we think one of them has no chance of winning. For example:

A: Do you think the Giants will win the baseball game against the Red Sox?

B: No, not by a long shot! The Red Sox are a much better team, and they’ve won every game this season!

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A: Do you think Colin will get the promotion?

B: Not by a long shot! He’s only been working here for a year, and he still has a lot to learn.

The new movie directed by Sam Peters is nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars, but it won’t win by a long shot.

I’m going to play tennis with my friend this afternoon, but she used to be a professional player, so I won’t win by a long shot.

As you can see from my examples, we can either use this expression as a response to someone’s question, as in the first two examples, or we can make a sentence with it using “won’t win by a long shot”.

In this expression, I think “long shot” represents a slight chance of winning, so when we say “not by a long shot”, we mean that even a slight chance of winning doesn’t exist.

We can also use it when we want to say that a certain situation is not even close to being finished yet. For example:

A: Do you think the storm is over now?

B: Not by a long shot! These storms usually last for at least 12 hours.

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A: Do you think your mother is finished being mad at you?

B: Not by a long shot! She’ll stay angry for at least another three or four days!

I may not have gotten promoted yet, but this isn’t over, not by a long shot! I’ll keep working hard until I get a promotion.

My daughter asked me to buy her a computer. I said no, but I know her and this isn’t over by a long shot. She’ll keep asking me until I say yes.

Again, this expression can be used as a response, as in the first two examples, or in a separate sentence, as in the last two examples.

In this case, “long shot” represents the chance that something is over. So, in this case, the expression means that there is no chance that something is over.

This week’s idiom seems like it’s about doctors and hospitals, but actually it’s not. The expression is to “give someone a taste of their own medicine.” It means to do something negative to another person because they have done the same thing to us or someone else, and we want them to know how it feels. For example:

Julia often ignores people at the office that she doesn’t like. Let’s give her a taste of her own medicine and ignore her all week!

Frank often calls me terrible names, so yesterday I gave him a taste of his own medicine and called him “shorty”. He didn’t like it at all.

If we want to stop bullying in schools, I think people need to get together and give the bullies a taste of their own medicine. Then, maybe they would stop.

My supervisor is always making me work on Sundays. Well, he finally got a taste of his own medicine last week when his boss made him do the same thing! I couldn’t stop laughing!

In my final example, I’ve changed the expression slightly to “get a taste of his/her own medicine”. This is the way we use this expression in the passive voice.

In the second example, the slang term “shorty” refers to a person who is short in height. It’s considered very insulting to people who are not tall.

This week’s idiom is to be “a broken record”, and it is used when we want to talk about a person who says the same thing again and again. For example:

My friend is always telling the story about how we met. He’s such a broken record.

My wife keeps reminding me to buy milk. I wish she would stop being such a broken record.

Charlie’s girlfriend is always asking him to take her out dancing. That’s all she wants to do. What a broken record she is!

I don’t like that TV personality because he always talks about the same things. He needs to stop being such a broken record!

My mother is a broken record about marriage. She’s constantly asking me when I’ll get married!

As you can see from my examples, we often put “such a” in front of the term “broken record”.

As you can imagine, we use “broken record” to talk about people who repeat the same things all the time because if a vinyl record is scratched, it will repeat the same thing again and again.

The idiom for this week is often used to talk about customer service. It is to “go the extra mile”, and it is used to talk about a person who gives someone service that goes beyond expectations. For example:

I really like the service at this store. They really go the extra mile for their customers.

Brenda is the best salesperson on our staff because she always goes the extra mile when serving her customers.

ABC Company is a very important client for us, so I want you to go the extra mile for them.

John was the most popular teacher at this school because he always went the extra mile for his students.

This expression always uses the word “mile” even in countries that use the metric system. Therefore, we NEVER say to go the extra kilometer.

Today I have two idioms for you which are very similar and which have the same meaning. They are to “hit the sack” and to “hit the hay”. The meaning for them is to go to bed. For example:

I have to get up early tomorrow, so I’m going to hit the sack now.

It’s after midnight, so I think it’s time for us to hit the hay.

If I don’t want to be too tired tomorrow, I’d better hit the sack now.

I’m going to hit the hay now. I’ll see you tomorrow morning.

A: Where’s Jake?

B: He hit the sack about an hour ago. He was really tired.

We usually use these expressions to talk about our intention to go to bed now or if we think we should go to bed now. It’s possible to use them in the past tense, as in the last example, but, in my opinion, this is less common.

This week’s idiom is to be “on the blink”. We use it when we want to talk about a machine which is not working. For example:

Can I come over and do my laundry at your house? My washing machine is on the blink right now.

A: Is your stereo still on the blink?

B: No, I got it fixed, so we can listen to music now.

Nobody can reach Glen right now because his phone is on the blink.

A: Can I use your computer?

B: I’m sorry, but it’s on the blink. I’m going to take it in to get fixed tomorrow.

We usually use this expression to talk about machines that use electricity. Also, we usually use this expression to talk about personal machines that we own but not about public machines. If it’s a public machine such as a vending machine or a pay phone, we usually say “out of order”.

If you or your friends tend to drink a lot, today’s idiom will be very useful for you. It’s to be “three sheets to the wind”, and it is used to talk about a person who is very drunk. For example:

Debbie has been drinking martinis all night, and now she’s three sheets to the wind.

Don’t go near Tom now. At the moment, he’s three sheets to the wind, and he looks like he might be sick.

A: Where are Jack and Ben?

B: They’re down at the bar. I’m sure they’re already three sheets to the wind by now.

Did you see Luke at the party last night? He was already three sheets to the wind when he arrived!

I had to look up the reason why “three sheets to the wind” means very drunk. Apparently, it’s a sailing term; if a boat had three sails (or sheets) up, the wind would cause the boat to roll and rock. This is similar to the way a person moves when they are very drunk.

We usually use this expression only to describe people who are very drunk at the present moment or in the past.

Today’s idiom is based on sports. It is to “be a whole new ball game”. We use it when we want to talk about when we have a bad situation and then change it in some way. Then, this change results in an improved situation. For example:

I used to hate going to work, but my old boss left the company a few weeks ago. After that, it was a whole new ball game.

My husband and I had a lot of problems in our marriage, so we went to a marriage counselor. Since then, it’s been a whole new ball game. We are much happier with each other now.

My class has the lowest grades in the whole school, but it’s because we had a terrible teacher. Now, we have a really good teacher, and it’s a whole new ball game.

Jeff wasn’t a very good athlete, but he’s been exercising a lot lately so it’s a whole new ball game.

If the situation has just changed and the improvement hasn’t yet happened, but we think it will happen in the future, we say “It’s a whole new ball game.” with the present tense. If the improvement has already happened, we say, “It was a whole new ball game.” with the past tense.

I think this idiom is based on the idea in sports, especially baseball, when a team is losing a game. Then, they change the players and suddenly they start to win. I hope this is clear to everyone.