In this mini episode, you will learn the expression “to learn the ropes.”
Episode 390 of the Everybody ESL podcast is a mini episode that teaches you the expression “to learn the ropes.” 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! This is Marcin from Poland. And you’re listening to Everybody ESL.”
Welcome to episode 390 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 useful and interesting expression. The expression is “to learn the ropes.” To learn the ropes. That’s l-e-a-r-n, t-h-e, r-o-p-e-s. To learn the ropes.
What does it mean to learn the ropes? “To learn the ropes” means to learn how to do something. And usually, when we use this expression, we are talking about how to do a certain job. Usually, we are talking about learning all of the procedures that you will need to know in order to do a job properly. All of the things you need to know how to do.
You will often hear this expression used in sentences like this:
“I just started my new job, and now I am learning the ropes.” I just started my new job, and now I am learning the ropes.
In other words, I just started this new job and now I am learning all of the things I need to know. I’m learning how to do my job properly, how to do my job correctly, how to do my job well.
Something that I think is interesting about this expression, and about this use of the phrase “the ropes,” is that when we are teaching somebody else how to do something correctly—when we are teaching somebody else how to do a job right—we do not say that we are teaching someone the ropes. We can learn the ropes, but we don’t say that we are teaching someone else the ropes.
How do we say that we are teaching somebody what they need to know to do a job right? Instead of saying that we are teaching someone the ropes, we say that we are “showing” someone the ropes. Showing, from show: s-h-o-w. “I am going to show the new employee the ropes.” “Don’t worry—I will show you the ropes.”
So we can learn the ropes. Or we can show someone else the ropes.
You might be wondering where this expression comes from. Why do we use “the ropes” to mean “all of the things that you need to know in order to do a job”?
Like many strange expressions in English, this comes from the world of sailing and big sailing ships.
If you were a sailor on one of those old ships, you needed to know a lot. It was very important that you knew how to do your job. Many people needed to do their job properly in order to make the ship work, in order to make the ship go, in order for everyone to be safe on the ship. And one of the things you needed to know was how to use, how to work, how to handle all of the ropes—all of the ropes that controlled the sails, and all of the ropes that people would climb to reach different parts of the ship.
So if you had learned the ropes, that means you had learned how to operate the ship. You had learned how to do your job on the ship properly.
English gets many phrases from the world of ships. We also get a lot of phrases from baseball. Baseball and ships. Those are the sources of many interesting expressions in English.
That is “learn the ropes,” an interesting and useful expression that I think you should know.
Outro
This is the end of episode 390 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 use at the beginning of future episodes—the same way Marcin 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!