In this mini episode, you will learn the interesting idiom “a far cry.”
Episode 421 of the Everybody ESL podcast is a mini episode that teaches you the interesting idiom “a far cry.” 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
“Hi, this is Shadi, from Iran. And you’re listening to Everybody ESL.”
Welcome to episode 421 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 strange and interesting idiom. The idiom is “a far cry.” A far cry. That’s spelled f-a-r, c-r-y. A far cry.
What does this mean? When do we use the expression “a far cry”?
“A far cry” means more than one thing. But this is the meaning we are going to talk about today: “A far cry” can mean “something that is very different.” And when we use “a far cry” to mean this, we usually use it in the phrase “a far cry from something.” A far cry from something.
When we use it that way, we are using it to mean “something that is very different from something else.”
Let me give you an example of a situation where we could use the idiom “a far cry.”
Let’s say that an author has just published a new book. This is her second book. Her first book was not very popular, and it was not very successful. People didn’t really care very much about her first book. But this book is very different. Everyone is talking about this book. Everyone is very excited about this book. Somebody could say this about the author and her books: “The author’s new book is very exciting. Everybody thinks it is a masterpiece. They think it is a brilliant book. And it is a far cry from her first book.” Her new book is a far cry from her first book.
In other words, her new book is very different from her first book. Her new book is a very different thing.
We are using “a far cry”—or “a far cry from”—to mean “something that is very different.”
Let me give you one other example of a situation where we could use this idiom.
Imagine that there is a singer. Now, this person loves singing, but he only sings in his own home. He sings by himself with no audience. One day, he thinks he has the courage to sing on stage in front of an audience. And after his performance in front of a big audience, he says, “Singing on stage is a far cry from singing alone in my own house.” Singing on a stage is a far cry from singing alone in my house. “A far cry from.” It is very different from. So, you can see that we use “a far cry” when we are describing something that is very different from something else.
And this is “a far cry,” an interesting idiom that I think you should know.
Outro
This is the end of episode 421 of Everybody ESL. Remember: if you have any 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 Shadi 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!