In this mini episode, you will learn two meanings of the word “handy.”
Episode 320 of the Everybody ESL podcast is a mini episode that teaches you two meanings of the word “handy.” Send your questions about English and your comments and suggestions 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 Miso from South Korea. And you’re listening to Everybody ESL.”
Welcome to episode 320 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 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 word that has two different meanings. The word is handy. Handy: h-a-n-d-y. Handy.
As you could probably guess, handy has something to do with your hand. And it has two different meanings that are related, because they both have something to do with a hand.
The first meaning of the word handy that I’m going to tell you about today is “nearby,” or “convenient,” or “easy to use,” or “easy to reach.”
Let me give you an example of a sentence that uses handy with this meaning.
“When I’m watching a movie at home, I always like to have the TV remote handy.” I always like to have the TV remote handy. What does that mean? It means “I always like to have the TV remote near my hand. I like to have the TV remote in a place where I can easily pick it up, or I can easily hold it, or use it. I can easily put my hand on it.”
And now let me tell you the other common meaning of the word handy. Handy can also mean “good at using your hands.”
When we use handy in this way, it usually means that someone is good at using their hands to use tools. A handy person is good at fixing things. Or a handy person is good at building things. A handy person is good at using tools to do different things.
We have a special word for somebody who is handy for their job. Somebody whose job is to make small repairs for people or to build small things for people. We call that person a handyman. Handyman: h-a-n-d-y-m-a-n. Handyman. I think we still use this word even though, of course, it is not only men who can be handy with tools. I think we still use the word handyman even when we are talking about women, but maybe people have started to use other words for that kind of thing now.
There is one more word I want to tell you about. It is related to handy, but it is a little bit different. And the word is handsy. Handsy: h-a-n-d-s-y. Handsy. Handsy also has something to do with your hand, but it doesn’t have to do with being near your hand, or convenient to hold, or able to use your hand to use tools.
Instead, handsy has to do with touching people inappropriately. Touching people inappropriately—that’s what handsy is.
For instance, you might hear someone say to her friend, “I went on a date last night with a new person, and everything was going well. We were having a great time, but then he got a little handsy.”
He got a little handsy. In other words, “He started using his hand to touch me in an inappropriate way. He was touching me in a way that I do not like.”
Handsy is a similar word with a similar meaning, but it’s actually pretty different.
And that is handy and handsy, two common and useful words that I think you should know.
Outro
This is the end of episode 320 of Everybody ESL. Remember: if you have questions about English, or if you have comments for me, or if you would like to record an introduction that I can play at the beginning of future episodes—the same way Miso 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. I’ll see you soon. Goodbye!