Episode 40 • Eye
See eye to eye
Without batting an eye
Turn a blind eye
Give someone a black eye
Cry your eyes out
Story
Teacher: Don’t you feel like sometimes it’s really hard to be a teacher?
Colleague: Why? What happened?
Teacher: Well, we had a test today. My student Mark, you know him, right? Well he got an A. Only… later I checked his test and realized he’d copied the whole thing… Now I don’t know what to do…
Colleague: Listen… I know we don’t always see eye to eye but maybe you shouldn’t say anything this time.
Teacher: What are you saying?! I should give him his A without batting an eye?!
Colleague: I’m saying maybe you could turn a blind eye, just this once. Mark is a good kid.
Teacher: No, I need to go talk to him…
[Time passes]
Colleague: So what did you do in the end?
Teacher: I gave him a black eye.
Colleague: Wait-what? You hit him?
Teacher: No, not really. I confronted him and he began crying his eyes out. I couldn’t resist it. I felt so guilty for making him feel that way. So I went to hug him, only I didn’t see his backpack on the floor, I fell and accidentally hit him in the eye.
Colleague: Geez! So what happens now?
Teacher: Well, what am I supposed to do? Obviously, I’m going to give him an A+!
Questions
I'm pretty sure this teacher is not going to get the teacher of the year award. Anyway, let's take a look at today's expressions and let's begin with expression number one, see eye to eye. I know we don't always see eye to eye.
See eye to eye
'I know we don’t always see eye to eye.'
• If you don’t see eye to eye with someone, do you generally have the same opinion on things or not?
No, if you don't see eye to eye with someone, it means that you generally have different opinions, but that can be on only certain things. Maybe you agree on some things and then you don't see eye to eye on other things.
• Can you think of someone you don’t see eye to eye with?
I think probably my friend Tom is a good example because we're friends and we do get along, but there's, I don't know. We just don't see eye to eye on so many things, from like how you should live your life and how you should deal with relationships and friendships. We just have very, very different opinions. We do not see eye to eye, yet we get along.
Without batting an eye
'I should give him his A without batting an eye?'
• If you do something without batting an eye, do you show any emotions? Which ones?
If you do something without batting an eye, you're absolutely like still you show no emotion. It seems like you're not feeling anything. It's usually used for in situations where you should really feel something like you should be scared. Imagine you see a ghost and you're supposed to like scream or run away, but you just stand there and you're fine. That means that you saw the ghost and didn't bat an eye.
• Imagine you’re at the restaurant and they bring you snails, would you eat them without batting an eye?
They bring you spaghetti, fine, I'll eat it, no problem, without batting an eye. Do they bring you snails, do you have the same reaction? I know I wouldn't. I know some people that wouldn't bat an eye because they like this type of foods. Personally, I've never eaten a snail in my life and I would not want to do it. I would actually have a pretty strong reaction at the restaurant. Maybe I would make a weird face or something like that.
Turn a blind eye
'I’m saying maybe you could turn a blind eye.'
• Do you turn a blind eye when you are aware someone did something good or something bad?
You turn a blind eye when you know you are aware that someone did something bad, something wrong.
• And if you turn a blind eye on it, do you address the situation or ignore it?
If you turn a blind eye, you ignore this bad situation, this wrong thing that this person has done.
• Why would you do it?
That depends. Maybe they're a friend of yours and you want to pretend like nothing happened because you don't want to get them in trouble or maybe you can't be bothered. You don't want to tell anybody because then you're going to be responsible for what happens next. There could be various reasons but that's turning a blind eye.
• Can you think of a time when you turned a blind eye on something?
I think I've already touched on this. When we talked about shoplifting, but once I was at the supermarket and I realized that this older man was stealing some things, was shoplifting. I decided to turn a blind eye on it and I didn't say anything. I was aware he was doing something bad, but in order to protect him and also because in a way, it's not in my business, I decided to turn a blind eye.
Give someone a black eye
'I gave him a black eye.'
• How can you give someone a black eye? By punching them, slapping them or coughing on them?
This is not instructions, don't go ahead and do it. By punching them, by slapping them, or coughing on them. If you punch or slap someone really hard and maybe you got a ring or something, you could give them a black eye. Now, coughing on them, not really sure. I'm not sure how powerful your cough needs to be for you to give someone a black eye. I don't think that's technically possible. Maybe the wolf from The Three Little Pigs.
• Have you ever given someone a black eye or has somebody ever given you a black eye?
I've never given someone a black eye. I would never do it. If it were to happen, it wouldn't be on purpose. Nobody has ever given me a black eye, but I did have a black eye once. That was because when I was younger, I had this balloon and I thought it was a fun thing to chase it around the room. I would throw it up in the air and I will run after it and catch it. Then I thought it was a good idea to do the same thing, only with my eyes closed. Guess what? It was not a good idea. I ended up tripping, falling, and hitting my eye and it got really swollen and I had a black eye for a while.
Cry your eyes out
'He began crying his eyes out.'
• If you cry your eyes out, do you cry a lot or just a little?
Just picture it for a second. Imagine it, imagine the situation literally, to cry your eyes out. First of all, that's disgusting. Second of all, yes, you do cry a lot.
• When was the last time you cried your eyes out?
It was probably very recently. I'm a crier. I cry a lot. That's just how I process my emotions. I think the last time was probably two weeks ago because I got into a fight with my boyfriend. Again, that's just what I do. I cry a lot. When I cry, oftentimes I cry my eyes out.
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