The last eight idioms are about talking itself — going straight at a point or walking in circles around it, saying the honest thing, hearing the thing nobody said out loud, and knowing how much of it to believe.
1. Just tell me the number
Anja: So the thing about the quote is that prices have moved, and materials
Piotr: Anja. Stop beating around the bush. How much?
Anja: Nine hundred more than we said.
Piotr: Thank you. That took four seconds.
Anja: It took me two days.
2. Twenty minutes in
Ceri: He'd been talking for twenty minutes.
Dov: About what?
Ceri: Nobody knew. I asked him to get to the point.
Dov: Out loud?
Ceri: Politely. He thanked me afterwards.
3. The real reason people leave
Esme: Somebody in the meeting said it's not the pay, it's the manager.
Finn: Who said that?
Esme: The quietest person in the room.
Finn: They hit the nail on the head.
Esme: Nobody argued. That's how you know.
Finn: Write it down before it's forgotten.
4. What the email didn't say
Marta: She said the timing isn't right.
Hal: That's all?
Marta: That's all she wrote. But read between the lines — they've chosen somebody else.
Hal: You don't know that.
Marta: I've had four of these.
Hal: Then you probably do.
5. Somebody had to say it
Ilse: You were the only one who said anything.
Juan: Somebody had to.
Ilse: The rest of us looked at the table.
Juan: I'd rather speak my mind and be wrong.
Ilse: You weren't wrong.
Juan: Then it cost me nothing.
6. How the car got to Wales
Kemal: How did the car end up in Wales?
Suzy: Long story short, my sister borrowed it and met somebody.
Kemal: That is short.
Suzy: The long one takes an hour and you'd stop me halfway.
Kemal: Probably.
7. He already knew about the party
Cato: He knew about the party.
Nadira: Who spilled the beans?
Cato: His own daughter. Tuesday, at breakfast.
Nadira: Six weeks of planning.
Cato: He's pretending he doesn't know.
Nadira: Then so will we.
8. One review out of four hundred
Orson: There's a one-star review.
Pilar: Out of how many?
Orson: Four hundred. The rest are fine.
Pilar: Then take it with a grain of salt.
Orson: It's very detailed, though.
Pilar: So was the last one you worried about.
Words to know
| beat around the bush | to avoid saying the thing you actually mean Stop beating around the bush. How much? |
| get to the point | to say the main thing without the long introduction Nobody knew. I asked him to get to the point. |
| hit the nail on the head | to say exactly the right thing about a problem They hit the nail on the head. |
| read between the lines | to understand what somebody meant but did not say But read between the lines — they've chosen somebody else. |
| speak your mind | to say honestly what you think, even when it is unwelcome I'd rather speak my mind and be wrong. |
| long story short | used before giving the short version of something complicated Long story short, my sister borrowed it and met somebody. |
| spill the beans | to tell a secret you were supposed to keep Who spilled the beans? |
| take it with a grain of salt | to not believe something completely Then take it with a grain of salt. |
Quick practice
Complete each sentence with an idiom from the conversations above. Change the form if you need to.
1. Anja explained prices and materials instead of giving the figure, so Piotr told her to stop ________.
(avoiding the real thing)
2. After twenty minutes nobody knew what he was talking about, so Ceri asked him to ________.
(say the main thing)
3. The quietest person said it was the manager, not the pay, and nobody argued. They ________.
(said exactly the right thing)
4. The email only said the timing was not right, but Marta could ________ and see they had chosen somebody else.
(understand what was not said)
5. Everyone else looked at the table, but Juan said he would rather ________ and be wrong.
(say honestly what he thinks)
6. One review out of four hundred was bad, so Pilar told Orson to ________.
(not believe it completely)
Show the answers
1. beating around the bush 2. get to the point 3. hit the nail on the head 4. read between the lines 5. speak his mind 6. take it with a grain of salt
Common mistakes
Not: Stop beating around the bushes and tell me.
Say: Stop beating around the bush and tell me.
One bush, singular. The picture is a hunter hitting the ground around a single bush instead of looking inside it — many bushes would be a different, and much longer, job.
Not: You hit the nail in the head with that comment.
Say: You hit the nail on the head with that comment.
On, not in. A hammer lands on the flat top of the nail. In would put the hammer inside a head, which is a far less pleasant sentence than you meant.
Not: Long story shortly, we missed the flight.
Say: Long story short, we missed the flight.
Short, never shortly. The phrase is a shortened form of to make a long story short, so the word is still the adjective describing the story.
Your turn
Say each answer aloud before writing it. This is the last lesson in the pack, so try to use an idiom from an earlier lesson in at least two answers.
- Think of somebody who always beats around the bush. Write the long version of what they say, then the one-sentence version.
- Describe a time somebody hit the nail on the head about a problem at work or at home.
- You get a short, polite message turning down a request. Write what it says, then write what you read between the lines.
- Tell a complicated story from your week in three sentences, starting with Long story short.
- Name one thing online you would take with a grain of salt, and say why.
Quick review
Two of these push a conversation forward: get to the point asks for the main thing, and beat around the bush is what the other person is doing instead. Two are about honesty: speak your mind is choosing to say the hard thing, and hit the nail on the head is what people say when you were right. Two are about information moving: spill the beans lets a secret out, long story short cuts a story down. And two are about listening rather than talking: read between the lines finds the meaning under the words, and take it with a grain of salt decides how much of it to believe. That is eighty idioms across ten lessons. You will not use all of them this month — but you will now hear every one of them, and hearing them is where using them starts.