In this mini episode, you will learn the useful phrase “one for the books.”
Episode 451 of the Everybody ESL podcast is a mini episode that teaches you the useful phrase “one for the books.” 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 Hyeonjeong, from Seoul. And you’re listening to Everybody ESL.”
Welcome to episode 451 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 phrase.
The phrase is “one for the books.” One for the books. That’s o-n-e, f-o-r, t-h-e, b-o-o-k-s. One for the books.
What does this phrase mean? When do we use it? We use “one for the books” when we want to say that something is remarkable, or unbelievable, or historic in some way. If something—especially some event—is very, very interesting, noteworthy, remarkable, special, you can refer to it as “one for the books.”
Maybe this comes from the idea of history books, books that record all of the very important events that happen.
Or maybe it comes from the idea of a book of records. That is, examples of things that are the most of something—the biggest, the fastest, the best in some way. I’m not exactly sure where this phrase comes from, but the important thing is that you know what it means and how to use it.
How do we use this phrase? We usually use it as a part of this sentence: “That is one for the books.” Or “It is one for the books.” Or you could also say, “That (or it) was one for the books.”
Here is an example of a situation where you might hear someone use the phrase “one for the books”:
Imagine that two older people are sitting and talking about some huge snowstorm, a snowstorm that happened many years ago. They remember it from their childhood. And in this storm, so much snow fell. It was just amazing. One of these people might say, “That snowstorm was one for the books.” That snowstorm was one for the books.It was a remarkable, or historic, or very unusual, or memorable, or wonderful thing.
Here’s another example to show how we use this phrase:
Imagine that there is a student who is not a very good student. He doesn’t study, he doesn’t work hard, and he does not get good grades. Now let’s say that on this one very important exam, that same student did very well. In fact, he had the highest score in the school. This is a very strange thing. This is remarkable! No one thought that student could get a grade like that. He was never a good student before, but now, just look! He did very well. Someone could say about this strange event, “That is one for the books.”
In other words, that student’s performance on the exam is really remarkable. It’s historic. That is something that everyone will remember. It’s one for the books.
When we say that something is or was one for the books, we usually use it in a positive way, but not always. You could think that something negative was so amazing or strange or remarkable that it also is one for the books.
I said that we usually use this phrase when we are talking about events, but not always. You could also use it to refer to things or even people.
And that is “one for the books,” a useful and interesting phrase that I think you should know.
Outro
This is the end of episode 451 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 Hyeonjeong 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!