The English We Speak: Kick the can down the road

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• 00:00

  Hello and welcome to The English We Speak,

• 00:02

  where we explain phrases and expressions used by fluent English speakers so that you can use them too.

• 00:10

  I'm Feifei.

• 00:11

  And I'm Phil.

• 00:12

  You were a bit late.

• 00:14

  Yeah, I'm sorry, I've been getting my car fixed.

• 00:17

  It's very old and it wouldn't start.

• 00:19

  Oh, not again.

• 00:20

  Why don't you just get a new car?

• 00:23

  I mean, I probably should, but it's very expensive.

• 00:26

  So I'm going to kick the can down the road and just keep getting it fixed.

• 00:31

  I can probably make it last a few more years.

• 00:34

  And you'll end up spending as much as you would on a new car.

• 00:39

  Anyway, let's learn that expression you just used.

• 00:43

  Kick the can down the road.

• 00:45

  Yes, when we talk about kicking the can down the road...

• 00:49

  It means we delay doing something.

• 00:52

  It might mean that we'll have to deal with it in the future or we might be able to delay it long enough that it becomes someone else's problem.

• 01:01

  Yes, for example, if you know you're leaving a job,

• 01:06

  you might want to delay some problems for someone else to deal with.

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