This mini episode teaches you the useful idiom “hit it off.”
Episode 219 of the Everybody ESL podcast is a mini episode that teaches you the useful idiom “hit it off.” Send your questions about English and your suggestions for future episodes to EverybodyESL@gmail.com! (And let me know if you’d like to record the introduction to a future episode.)
Intro
“Hello, everyone. This is Shuang, from Anhui, China. And you are listening to Everybody ESL.”
Welcome to episode 219 of Everybody ESL, the podcast for everybody who wants to improve their English, practice their English, or just learn more English. My name is Ben, and I have a mini episode for you today, where I am going to teach you about one English topic. You can subscribe to the Everybody ESL podcast at Apple podcasts, on the Stitcher app, and wherever you find your podcasts. If you like Everybody ESL, leave it a good review so other people can find out about it too. And if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for me, please send an email to everybodyESL@gmail.com. Okay! Let’s get on with this mini episode.
The episode
The topic for this episode is an interesting and useful idiom. And that idiom is hit it off. Hit it off. That’s hit: h-i-t. It: i-t. Off: o-f-f. Hit it off.
What does hit it off mean? Hit it off means “to get along with somebody very well, especially when you have just recently met them.” We use this expression when we are talking about people who have just met, but already they are good friends, or they feel very close, or they are very comfortable with each other, or they have a good time together. That is what hit it off means.
Here is an example of a situation where somebody might use the idiom hit it off:
“I just introduced my old friend to my new friend from work, and I see that they really hit it off.” I just introduced my old friend to my new friend from work, and I see that they really hit it off.
In other words, even though they just met, they already feel like friends. They already get along well, and they feel very comfortable.
I referred to this as an idiom. Do you remember what an idiom is? An idiom is a phrase or expression that must be learned or understood as one whole unit. You cannot understand an idiom by looking at each of the parts and knowing what each of the parts means.
For instance, with hit it off, you might be asking, “Well, what does hit mean? What are people hitting when they ‘hit it off’? And what do you mean by off? Where are they hitting this thing, whatever it is?”
Because this is an idiom, those questions don’t really make any sense. Instead, you should just think about hit it off as one complete unit on its own. You just have to learn and understand it as one thing: hit it off.
And that is hit it off, a useful and interesting idiom that I think you should know.
Outro
We have reached the end of episode 219 of Everybody ESL. Remember: if you have any questions about English, or if you have comments or suggestions about the podcast, or if you would like to record an introduction that I can use at the beginning of future episodes—the same way Shuang recorded the introduction you heard at the beginning of this episode—send an email to everybodyESL@gmail.com. I’ll be back soon with another episode, and until then, keep going, keep practicing, and keep learning. Goodbye! I’ll see you soon.