Learn English with Bob the Canadian

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases TO PLAY DUMB and DUMB LUCK.
TRANSCRIPT:
In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase to play dumb. In English, when you play dumb, it means you pretend you don't know something when you actually do. The most common example would be when someone does something they're not supposed to, and then when asked about it, they might play dumb.
If you watch a TV show and the cops arrest the criminal, the criminal might play dumb and say, I don't know what you're talking about. I didn't steal that car. As a teacher, sometimes I'll catch students doing something, and then when I ask them what they were doing, they play dumb.
They pretend that they didn't do what I saw them do. The other phrase I wanted to teach you today is dumb luck. Dumb luck simply means that something happens to you that's good and it's not because of anything that you've done to make it happen.
So a great example of this would be you suddenly, let me see. I'm trying to think. A good example of dumb luck would be you're driving along and you lose control of car in the snow, but you don't go in the ditch. But it has nothing to do with you steering properly or anything.
It's just dumb luck. You didn't go in the ditch because of dumb luck. So to review. To play dumb means to pretend you don't know something when you actually do, usually when someone's accusing you of doing something wrong. And dumb luck simply means to be extremely lucky.
And you had no... not because of anything that you did. Sorry, I'm a little distracted with all the traffic this morning. I'm doing this during morning rush hour in my town. But, hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. This comment is from Tammy.
Yes, my son likes to use the expression, oh, shoot from time to time. Thank you. And my response is it's better than the alternative, which is kind of a minor, vulgar, word. And then Tammy says, you can say that again. Great use of the phrase. You can say that again, Tammy.
And thanks for the comment. So, yes, I am here in my local town. You can see behind me. Let me get you guys a little further away so you can see a bit more. You can see behind me that, well, there's a school bus over there because kids are getting picked up for school.
As you know, I teach in the afternoon now, so I'm here in the morning shooting my video. Yes, I did leave my tripod all by itself over there on the sidewalk. We're hoping no one takes it. And this is what I look like.
There I am in the window, shooting my video on a nice quiet morning here in town. I do have to admit a couple of things. One, in spite of the fact that I love winter, I do find it way easier to make videos when the weather's a bit warmer.
You can see that I'm just wearing a jacket right now. Actually, these... These windows really do help. You can see I'm just wearing a light jacket right now. You can see that people are out and about, just wearing a ball cap instead of a winter hat.
There's even just people standing, checking their phones. Like, even just last week or a week and a half ago, that would not have been happening. It was far too cold for people to be outside and being somewhat leisure or to be moving at a slower pace.
So in spite of the fact that I love winter, I must admit, it is much nicer being out here today. I am putting my hand in my pocket occasionally, though, just to warm it up a little bit. But, yeah, this is just much nicer than it was.
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this little English lesson, and I'll, see you next week with another one. Bye.

In this English lesson I'll help you learn vocabulary that describes those days when the sun isn't shining. You’ll learn words and phrases like overcast, drab, dreary, gloomy, blah, glum, and miserable so you can describe the forecast and your feelings with confidence.
In this English class you’ll hear clear explanations, simple examples, and natural sentences so you can use these words in everyday conversation. Whether you're talking about the weather, your mood, you’ll sound more fluent and expressive.
I hope you enjoy this English lesson about a dreary day!

In this English lesson, I will help you learn some verbs we use to talk about buying and selling. These verbs are perfect to use when talking about shopping, business purchases, and online orders.
In this English lesson, you will learn these verbs: to buy, to sell, to purchase, to pay, to charge, to spend, to afford, to order, to refund, to return, to make an offer, to accept an offer, to negotiate, to discount, to resell, to trade, to invoice, and more!
By the end of this free English class, you will be able to talk about prices, payments, orders, and simple business situations with more confidence and accuracy. I hope you enjoy this English lesson about buying and selling.

Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases "to shoot for" and "Oh, shoot!"
TRANSCRIPT:
In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase to shoot for. When you shoot for something, it means you're planning to do that. If you were to ask me, Bob, how many videos, how many English lessons are you going to put out on this channel? I'm going to shoot for one per week.
I'm going to try and put out one video per week. I know in the past, I was putting out two per week, but I feel like as I relaunch this channel, I think I'm going to shoot for one English lesson per week. And I will probably shoot for putting that English lesson out on Wednesdays.
So it's Tuesday right now, if you haven't figured it out. So when you shoot for something, it means you plan on doing that. The other phrase I wanted to teach you today is the phrase oh, shoot. And this is just a really nice way of saying a different word so that you don't say that word, which is kind of a curse word or swear word.
When you say oh, shoot, it's an exclamation that you make when something goes wrong. If I dropped this paper, I'd be like, oh, shoot. But if I wanted to say something a little bit more crude, if, I wanted to use a swear word, I would use the word that starts with the same two letters and ends with the same letter, but instead of two O's, it has an I in the middle.
And I think you know what I'm talking about. It's not a super, like, bad swear word, but it is a swear word. So. So when you say oh, shoot, it simply means, something just went wrong. So to review, when you shoot for something, it means you are aiming for that, you are trying to accomplish that.
And when you say oh, shoot, it's the same as saying oh, sh. Maybe I'll just switch and go to a comment from a previous video instead of actually saying that word. Let me get the comment out. This comment is from Judit or Aerosmith77.
It was a really good start with two videos. Do I remember well, your videos were cut for 4 minutes and 8 seconds. This video lasted 4 minutes and 18 seconds. Is it planned this way also? Thank you for the video and my response. I used to stop at exactly four minutes, but now I tend to go over a bit if I go too long the transcript doesn't fit in the description box below the video.
There is a 5,000 character limit, so I shoot for four minutes. So thanks, Judit. Thanks, Aerosmith77 for that comment. So, yes, if I talk for too long or if I talk too fast, then, the transcript doesn't fit in the description below the video.
So I usually try to aim for about four minutes, because that's kind of like the sweet spot. I guess I say about 5,000 letters or that many words. Hard to kind of explain this. I say about 5,000 letters in about four minutes.
This is getting boring. I should show you something exciting. Let me switch quickly and say, here is a camper van, or more of a camper. I guess it's a little big to be called a camper van. I'm not sure what this is doing in my local town.
It is not camping season. I also think there's a dog inside, so I'm not going to go close to that at all. If you remember, a few years ago, I had a bad experience with two dogs running out, and, they were pretty vicious. Not from a camper, but, while I was walking down the road.
But, I'm not sure what that's doing out and about. Oh, like, I got 30 seconds left. I have to be careful here. I... I'm not sure what that's doing out and about in February, but, as you can see, I have no winter hat and no gloves because I think it might actually be one degree now, I thought earlier it was minus two or minus one, but, man, it feels a lot warmer than that.
So, anyways, thanks for watching this short English lesson, and I'll have another one ready for you, in a week. Bye.

In this English lesson I will help you learn about regional differences in the English language. What might seem like a mistake in one place, might actually be fine in another.
In particular I talk about the verbs to bring and to take, which to native English speakers in my area can be used interchangeably in different situations.
I hope you enjoy this English lesson. Have a great day!