In this mini episode, you will learn the fun idiom “small potatoes.”
Episode 272 of the Everybody ESL podcast is a mini episode that teaches you the fun idiom “small potatoes.” 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
“Hi, everyone. I am Gulden, from Türkiye (Turkey). I hope you enjoy Everybody ESL.”
Welcome to episode 272 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
In this episode, I am going to teach you a fun and interesting idiom. And this idiom is “small potatoes.” Small potatoes. That’s small: s-m-a-l-l, potatoes: p-o-t-a-t-o-e-s. Small potatoes.
What does this mean? When do we use this idiom, small potatoes? The idiom means “something that is unimportant” or “something that is unimpressive.”
Before I give you some examples of how we use this expression, I need to tell you two important things:
The first thing is that we always use the adjective small. It’s always “small potatoes,” not “little potatoes” or “tiny potatoes” or “unimportant potatoes.” It’s always “small potatoes.”
The second important thing that you need to know about this expression is that we always use potatoes in the plural form. We always say, “Potatoes.” Never “potato.” Never just one potato. It is always “small potatoes,” just like that.
How do we use this expression? What kind of thing can be small potatoes? Well, anything. You could have a sentence where you said, “I am small potatoes” or “He is small potatoes.” “She is small potatoes.” “It is small potatoes.” “This is small potatoes.” “This thing is small potatoes.”
Let me give you a couple of examples of sentences or situations where somebody might use the idiom small potatoes.
“He says he’s the most important person in the school. But actually, he’s small potatoes.” He says he’s the most important person in the school. But actually, he’s small potatoes.
In other words, he says that he’s the most important person in the school, but actually, he’s not very important. He is insignificant. He is small potatoes.
Or how about this one:
“My new part-time job is small potatoes, but at least I earn a little bit of money.” My new part-time job is small potatoes, but at least I earn a little bit of money.
And what this means is “My new part-time job isn’t very big or impressive. It isn’t very important, but at least I earn a little bit of money.”
And that is small potatoes, a fun and interesting idiom that I think you should know.
Outro
This is the end of episode 272 of Everybody ESL. Remember: if you have questions about English, or if you have comments or suggestions for the podcast, or if you would like to record an introduction that I can play at the beginning of future episodes—the same way Gulden recorded the introduction you heard at the beginning of this episode—send an email to everybodyESL@gmail.com. I’ll be back soon with a new episode, and until then, keep going, keep practicing, and keep learning. Goodbye! I’ll see you soon.