English Idioms for Everyday Conversation — Under the Weather, Second-Guess Yourself and Over the Moon
Welcome to Episode 6 of No Pressure English — where we will explore three essential expressions that will help you sound
more fluent and natural. In this episode, we cover “under the weather”, “second-guess yourself” and “over the moon” — practical idioms used in real everyday English that intermediate and advanced learners can start using immediately.
What you’ll learn today:
- 3 practical idioms used in everyday conversation
- When and how to use each idiom naturally
- Vocabulary related to health, emotions and decision-making
- Clear contextual examples to improve your listening
- Under the weather — feeling unwell
- Second-guess yourself — doubting your decisions
- Over the moon — extremely happy
Here is this episode’s free transcript →
Episode 6: Idioms for Everyday Life
Hello and welcome to this week’s episode of the podcast. This podcast is for intermediate and advanced learners. The focus of the podcast is for natural language acquisition, so I recommend listening to this podcast two or three times, even with the transcript, which is available in the description.
You can read along, which is a chance to get some free active speaking practice as well. Okay, so today we’re going to talk about idiomatic expressions. Because we are getting to that season, or we’re in the thick of it—we’re in the middle of the season of sickness, which is a common state to find yourself in at this time of year—this brings us to our first idiom…
Idiom 1: Under the Weather
So I’m going to give a couple of examples, but essentially we use this to say that we’re not feeling very well, we’re feeling unwell.
It’s usually used for things like head colds, stomach bugs, or the flu— and the general symptoms you may have when you are sick. You might have chills or aches and pains. Maybe a sore throat, headaches, a runny nose, or a blocked nose, etc.
So we kind of use it as a global term, just feeling under the weather. But you can also use it, I should say, if you’re kind of a private person and you don’t really want to reveal if you have more serious health concerns. So it can be and is used in that way as well.
If you don’t want to talk about an illness you may have—maybe you don’t know the person who’s in front of you, and you just don’t feel comfortable sharing any information—similarly, it can be used with reference to mental health issues.
A couple of examples would be:
I can’t come into work because I’m feeling under the weather. I’m feeling terrible!
I can’t make it to the wedding because I’m feeling under the weather. I’m in bits!
This is a very common one in Ireland. It could also mean you’re hungover, depending on the situation.
It can be a good excuse as well to avoid doing something. If somebody asks to meet up with you around Christmas, and for some reason, everybody does feel under the weather at Christmas, you might say, “No, I can’t meet up this weekend because I’m feeling under the weather,” or “Everyone’s sick in the house; everyone is under the weather.”
So it’s a very useful and versatile expression. It’s often used just to answer the question, “How are you?”
A simple response could be “Not so good. I’m feeling a little bit under the weather.” It’s very non-descriptive, in terms of not giving too much information away, but it’s perfect because the person you’re speaking with understands that, look, it’s probably not the best day to talk politics with you, or to talk about anything serious.
They might just stick to a work topic, or they might leave you alone if that’s what you need—if you need to go and have some Panadol, some paracetamol.
Idiom 2: Second-Guess Yourself
All right, so let’s move on to our second idiomatic expression, which is to second-guess oneself, or to second-guess yourself. I just love this idiom, because I do it.
This means that you doubt a decision that you’ve made, or in general, you doubt decisions that you make, but it’s kind of that feeling immediately after you make a decision when you have that feeling of doubt… in your chest… that feeling of, “Oh, maybe that wasn’t a good idea.” So yeah, you second-guess yourself.
So, a couple of examples here. A couple of weeks ago, I bought a new laptop, and I just wasn’t sure about what type of one I needed. To be honest, I don’t need much. I just need some RAM to keep it alive and to keep things moving.
In the end, I got a refurbished laptop. I thought that it was a good idea environmentally speaking, and well, they’re cheaper, which is good too. There’s no necessity for me to deplete the already depleted stock of microchips in the world.
Anyway, I had chosen one, and then I started second-guessing myself. I’m not great at making decisions, and there’s too much choice out there. Then I chose another one, and then I was second-guessing myself about that. I ended up using ChatGPT to make the decision and make sure that it was the right one for me. But yeah, I was second-guessing myself a lot in that situation. I was continuously doubting my decision, or my decision-making skills, but it worked out in the end.
You can second-guess yourself over small things as well. It could be over what to order in a restaurant—something as small as that.
Maybe you order carbonara in an Irish restaurant, and you think, “Maybe I should have chosen something else. I’m kind of second-guessing myself now. Maybe I should have got the fish and chips,” because that’s done well in Ireland, but maybe carbonara is not done in the classic way.
But it’s often used as well for big decisions, like purchasing a car or a house. You might buy a car, an electric car, for example—it’s quite common. And then if you face some issues, you might start second-guessing yourself because there’s not a mechanic in the area that’s specialised in dealing with electric vehicles. I think most people second-guess themselves when trying out new technology, but the support systems usually arrive quite quickly afterwards, which is great.
Idiom 3: Over the Moon
Okay guys, and this is number 3 – and that’s a magic number. Idiom number 3 is over the moon. To be over the moon means that you feel elated, you feel absolutely delighted about something, you’re exceptionally happy.
So I don’t know, I always think about music when I think about being over the moon. If you have just been to a concert and you feel that feeling, that energy after the concert, where you’re just over the moon—it was a wonderful gig, the adrenaline is there, there’s a bit of a love buzz, a general happiness to have shared a moment with a group of strangers where everybody’s feeling the same kind of emotions about the gig or the concert.
And so you might be over the moon after a concert.
But it’s often used to refer to the outcome of things as well. For example, I was over the moon because my team won the match. I was delighted. I didn’t think they were going to win. It was a difficult game, but they succeeded in winning and getting it over the line.
Maybe also if you receive a nice gift. My wife got me tickets to a concert, or flight lessons, to fly a plane. I was over the moon because I’ve been meaning to do that for years, or I’ve been wanting to do that for such a long time.
All right, guys, those were three idiomatic expressions. I hope you find them useful and that you can incorporate them into your speaking practice. It’s been a pleasure. I hope you have a great week, and take care of yourselves.
Ciao. Take care. Ciao!
Comprehensive Glossary
acquisition (noun) – the process of learning or developing a skill, especially language, naturally over time
we’re in the thick of it (idiom) – we’re in the middle of something; deeply involved in a situation
to feel/to be under the weather (idiom) – to feel unwell; to be slightly sick (not seriously ill)
unwell (adj) – not feeling healthy; sick
chills (noun) – sudden feelings of cold, often with shivering, associated with fever
aches and pains (noun phrase) – general bodily discomfort; soreness in muscles and joints
runny nose (noun phrase) – when liquid flows from your nose due to a cold or allergies
blocked nose (noun phrase) – when your nose is congested and you cannot breathe through it easily
global term (noun phrase) – a general expression that covers many situations
hungover (adj) – feeling ill after drinking too much alcohol the previous day/night
non-descriptive (adj) – not giving much detail; vague
Panadol (noun) – brand name for paracetamol/acetaminophen (pain relief medication); common in Ireland, UK, and Australia
idiomatic expression (noun phrase) – a phrase whose meaning cannot be understood from the individual words; an idiom
to second-guess oneself/yourself (phrasal verb) – to doubt or question a decision you’ve made
RAM (noun) – Random Access Memory; computer memory that determines processing speed
refurbished (adj) – restored to good condition; renovated (often used for electronics)
deplete (verb) – to reduce or use up; to exhaust a supply
depleted (adj) – reduced in quantity; exhausted
specialized (adj) – having specific expertise or focus in a particular area
over the moon (idiom) – extremely happy; delighted; elated
elated (adj) – extremely happy and excited
gig (noun) – informal term for a live musical performance or concert
love buzz (noun phrase) – a feeling of excitement and happiness; euphoria (informal)
getting it over the line (idiom) – completing something successfully; finishing the job
**Alternatively, you can watch the video below and turn on the subtitles by clicking the CC button in the top right corner:
If you liked this episode, you may enjoy the following:
https://nopressureenglish.com/podcast/episode-3-how-old-are-you-in-english/
https://nopressureenglish.com/podcast/episode-4-understanding-mustnt-vs-dont-doesnt-have-to/
Want to explore more English idioms? The Cambridge English Dictionary has an excellent idioms section with clear definitions and examples.
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/idiom
