#64- 18 Phrasal Verbs, Idioms and Slang Words for Body Language

Welcome to Episode #64 of The Real Life English with Gabby Podcast.

 In this episode, you’ll learn 18 fun and useful English slang, idioms, and phrasal verbs for things like rolling your eyes, giving someone the cold shoulder, and even making eyes at someone. People don’t always say what they’re feeling… but their body language gives it away! Body language is an important topic to know in every culture that you interact with and English is no different. 

And the best part? You can get the free Study Guide to go with this episode! It’s packed with:

• All the new words and definitions
• Easy-to-follow example sentences
• The full transcript
• Practice exercises so you can actually use what you learn

Click HERE For the Study Guide

Listen now—and start speaking English confidently!

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Transcript

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[00:00:00] On this episode of the Real Life English with Gabby podcast, I'll be teaching you 18 phrasal verbs, slang words, and idioms—all about body language. You'll be learning vocabulary like brush off, give someone the finger, stand tall, get in someone's face, and more. Let's get to it.

Hey there! Welcome to the Real Life English with Gabby podcast. I'm your host, Gabby—your fun and friendly English teacher from the one and only New York City. My goal is to teach you phrasal verbs, idioms, and slang that will help you speak English confidently and understand real American conversations.

Are you ready to improve your English skills? Let's jump right in.

Hey, hey, hey! Welcome to episode number 64. Greetings from New York City. Here in New York City, as I've been talking [00:01:00] about the past two episodes, my family and I are just busy getting everything ready for our new baby girl that is arriving very shortly.

Before I continue, I just wanna remind you that very soon I will be taking about four weeks off from the podcast once my little girl is born, just to rest and relax. If I end up feeling good and things are going well, maybe I'll start back up early, but more than likely, I'll be taking four weeks off. I believe next week's episode, episode 65, will probably be the last episode until September—but I'll keep you posted. If you're on my email list, I will definitely keep you posted. So let's see what happens.

Today's episode is all about body language, and I've been wanting to do an episode on body language for a while now. Body language [00:02:00] is so incredibly important. Have you ever had a conversation where maybe you didn't understand every word that someone’s saying, but you still knew exactly what they were trying to say? You knew exactly what they meant? More than likely, you knew by their body language—the way they looked at you, the way they moved their hands, the angle of their body. That's all body language, and it's things that we use all day, every day, even without thinking about it.

If you're learning English, understanding English body language can really help you read between the lines—meaning it can fill the gaps in what your words, what your language, doesn't understand. It can help you respond naturally, can help you feel more confident, even when you don't know what to say.

[00:03:00] Body language is difficult to communicate in a podcast. However, we have a lot of body language expressions that we use in our speech—and that's what we're focusing on today.

Sometimes learning a language isn't just about grammar and vocabulary. It's about knowing how people act, not just what they say. For example, someone rolls their eyes, shrugs, walks away, gives you a weird look. What does all that really mean?

The reason why I really like this topic is because in my 13 years of being a teacher, and also being a world traveler, I've noticed that every country has different body language and gestures. So there are some things that are universal[00:04:00]. But offensive things are definitely different in many countries.

I remember one of the first countries that I traveled to when I was like 19—I think it was the second or third international country that I had been to—it was Brazil. And I remember I traveled with a group; it was a humanitarian trip. Two Brazilian friends were the leaders of the trip. They were leading us to their hometown to help out in some of the favelas and neighborhoods and things. And they were telling us, “Hey, be careful with the ‘okay’ sign. Be careful with some other types of body language because these are offensive in Brazilian culture.” And I found that so interesting.

And so now with my students, I always do a lesson on offensive gestures and body language in their cultures, and then we talk [00:05:00] about the American ones, because body language is so important. I mean, in some countries, shaking someone's hand with your left hand versus your right hand can be offensive. Making deep eye contact can be offensive. So when you are dealing with a lot of international people, it is very important to know body language.

So anyways, English isn't just something that you speak—it's something that you show. And in today's episode, I'm not gonna show you body language, but I'm gonna tell you popular expressions and vocabulary that we use to describe body language, because some of these you're gonna hear all the time.

Let me introduce you to the words and expressions that you're gonna hear in today's episode:

Roll your eyes, make eyes at someone, to bat your eyelashes, to give someone a dirty look, to lean [00:06:00] in, to brush someone off, to get in someone's face, to back off, to wave someone off, give someone the finger, keep a straight face, hold your head high, give someone the cold shoulder, stand tall, have a poker face, freeze up, shrug something off, and wear your heart on your sleeve.

Before we get to the story, I just wanna remind you that there's a study guide waiting for you that goes with today’s episode. It has everything that you need to remember the words that I teach you in this episode. It has the story, the words, definitions, example sentences. It has practice activities and the transcript. If you wanna get that study guide, just click the link in the episode description, [00:07:00] and then once you get the link, once you have access to the folder—and you can access the folder at any time.

It's a Google Drive folder, and you can go in there and get any study guide from all 64 episodes and future episodes. So again, just click the link in the episode description.

All right, now let's get to the story.

It was Halloween, and Amanda's rooftop party was packed. Music played, lights glowed, and all of her friends laughed while drinking and snacking on good things.

A few of Amanda’s friends stood in a circle near the bar, chatting about all the other people who attended the party.

A guy named Rico, who wasn't very well liked, walked into the party with a new girlfriend—again. [00:08:00] Jamal rolled his eyes and said, “Rico always has someone new.” Even though Rico was with another girl, he looked at Jamal's friend May and started making eyes at her while batting his eyelashes like he was in a movie. May noticed and turned away quickly.

“Nope, not interested in someone who flirts with me while he's with another woman.”

Then Rico came over and gave Jamal a dirty look.

“Hey, May,” Rico said smoothly, trying to lean in and talk to her. May brushed him off politely and took a step back, but Rico still tried to get closer.

May's friend Tyler stepped in and got in his face.

“Time to back off, man.”

Rico laughed and waved him off like he was nothing, and then gave him the [00:09:00] finger as he walked away.

“Just ignore him, Tyler. He's not worth it,” said May.

Meanwhile, across the party, Layla spotted her ex, Noah, talking to another woman. She tried to keep a straight face, but it was hard. Her friends walked over and said, “Don't let it get to you. Hold your head high.”

Layla nodded and stood a little taller. “You're right. That's exactly what I should do.”

Noah walked by and completely gave Layla the cold shoulder, but she tried to stand tall and give her best poker face.

Just then, someone tapped Layla on the shoulder. She saw that it was Marco, a sweet and handsome guy she used to work with.

“Hey, long time, no see,” he said, smiling.

Layla suddenly [00:10:00] froze up.

“Uh, hey...”

“Are you okay?” he laughed.

“Yeah, I'm okay. I'm just surprised and happy to see you,” she said, starting to blush. She was really excited and nervous to see him, but tried to shrug it off.

“Let's get a drink, Marco.”

Her friends watched her and laughed, and Priya commented quietly, “Layla always wears her heart on her sleeve, doesn’t she?”

As the night went on, everyone seemed to be having a good time—aside from the small drama happening between some of the guests.

“Honestly,” Jamal said, watching all of them, “this party has everything. Flirting, drama, rejection, and awkward tension. It's perfect—just how every party should be.”

The [00:11:00] end.

Now that you've heard all of the words in real-life contexts, let's go through the definitions and give some examples.

First up, we have to roll your eyes. It says that Jamal rolled his eyes. Rolling your eyes in English is when you move your eyes upward, and you do it to show annoyance, boredom, disbelief—something's happening that you don't like—and so you roll your eyes.

You can roll your eyes in general. You can do it at a specific person, like if you're trying to send a message. But rolling your eyes—we say that all the time. “Don't roll your eyes at me,” or “Oh, she rolled her eyes at you.”
 For example:
 She rolled her eyes when her brother started telling the same story again.

Next, we have the [00:12:00] expression make eyes at someone. So Rico was making eyes at May and batting his eyelashes. So let's go through both of these expressions.

To make eyes at someone means to look at someone in a way that shows romantic or flirtatious interest. So basically, you're trying to get someone's attention with your eyes. You are flirting with your eyes.
 For example:
 He kept making eyes at the new girl sitting by the window.

Batting your eyelashes is when you blink your eyes in a flirty way or a playful way, and it's typically used to get attention or sympathy. So making eyes at someone is about the look that you give them. Batting your eyelashes is like blinking your eyes very playfully. So they're both ways of flirting with someone [00:13:00] using your eyes, but they look different.
 For example:
 She batted her eyelashes at the waiter when she asked for a free dessert.

Next up, we have a very, very popular expression: to give someone a dirty look. This is to look at someone in a very angry way, or to look at them with disapproval. You don't like what someone's doing? You don't like them? You're gonna give them a look that is just dirty. You're gonna show your anger, your disgust—and we say this very often. It's very common, like roll your eyes, like “Oh, she's giving you a dirty look.”
For example:
He gave her a dirty look when she interrupted him during the meeting.

Next up, we have the phrasal verb lean in.
 Lean in is when you move your body forward toward someone or something, often to show [00:14:00] interest or get closer.
 For example:
 She leaned in to hear what he was whispering over the loud music.

Next up, we have another phrasal verb: brush off—but in this context, brush someone off.

To brush someone off means to ignore someone. You also treat them like they're unimportant. So if someone doesn't like you and you're trying to talk to them or you comment, they're just gonna brush you off. They're either gonna ignore you or they're gonna treat you like you are extremely unimportant. Maybe they're gonna act like you're not even there.
 For example:
 He tried to apologize, but she brushed him off and walked away.

Next up, we have to get in someone's face.
 To get in someone's face is to confront someone in a very aggressive way—an angry way. Basically, you are invading [00:15:00] their personal space. This is definitely an act of aggression that's seen as being very disrespectful.
 For example:
 The two hockey players got in each other's faces during the game.

Next up, we have the phrasal verb back off.
 Back off is something that we say when we want someone to move away or to stop bothering us. Physically, it's when someone is too close and we want them to take a step back. So if someone's having an argument, I’d say, “Jenny, you really need to back off.” I'm telling her to stop bothering someone. Maybe they're too aggressive, they're too close to a situation—but in the context of body language, it's physically being too close to someone and then moving away by taking steps back.
 [00:16:00]
 For example:
 You need to back off and give her some space to breathe.

Next up, we have another phrasal verb: wave off.
 To wave someone off is to dismiss someone with a hand gesture. You take your hand and you dismiss them. You wave them off. It's like the back of your hand is pushing the air. You are showing this person that you don't wanna deal with them—you’re dismissing them.
 For example:
 He tried to give her advice, but she waved him off and kept walking.

Next up, we have a really funny one—very popular.
 This is as popular as saying someone rolled their eyes or saying that someone gave a dirty look. It's to give someone the finger. One thing that I find really interesting, that I mentioned in the intro, is that countries all have different hand gestures. So I've [00:17:00] gone to different countries and been told that certain American hand gestures are rude in that country—or hand gestures that are normal to them are offensive to us.

One of the hand gestures, I think in most countries, that's offensive is when you stick up the middle finger on either hand. This is very rude, very offensive. It's basically like cursing at someone. So we call this to give someone the finger. We also say to flip the bird. These are two ways to express that someone stuck up their middle finger at you.
 For example:
 He got cut off in traffic and gave the driver the finger.

Next up, we have the expression to keep a straight face.
 This is to avoid showing any emotion. Now, oftentimes this is equated to trying not to laugh. So let's say that you're at a concert and [00:18:00] someone is really bad, or you're at a comedy show, someone’s really bad, and you really wanna laugh at them or you wanna laugh at something funny—but you don't wanna be rude. You say that you have to keep a straight face. Your face can't show emotion because of the situation. This can be used for any emotion, but often it's used specifically when you're trying not to show that something is funny.
For example:
I tried to keep a straight face during the performance, but I almost lost it.
(Lost it, meaning lost control.)

Next up, we have the expression or the idiom to hold your head high.
 This is to stay proud, stay confident—especially when something is difficult or embarrassing. You're in a really difficult, tough situation. You wanna stay proud, stay confident, and you don't wanna show people how you're struggling.
 So we say, [00:19:00] “You better hold your head high.”

In the story, she sees her ex-boyfriend flirting, and her friends say, “Keep a straight face. Don’t show emotion. Hold your head high. Don’t show that it’s difficult for you.”
 For example:
 Even after losing the game, she held her head high and congratulated the winner.

Next up, we have to give someone the cold shoulder.
 This is an idiom. It's extremely common. I'm sure you've heard it before, and I believe we've even talked about it on the podcast.
 To give someone the cold shoulder is to intentionally ignore someone as a way of showing anger—showing that you're rejecting them. You are upset about someone, and you want them to know, so you're giving them the cold shoulder. You are intentionally ignoring them because you want them to know how angry you are with them.
 For example:
 After their argument, he gave her the cold shoulder for the [00:20:00] rest of the night.

Next up, we have "to stand tall." To stand tall—similar to "hold your head high." If you're sad, your body language is gonna slouch a little bit, like your back might not be straight. You might have your head on your hands.
 And so, when we say "stand tall," we are telling people, Hey, you want to appear confident. You want to appear proud. It's a tough situation, but you want to show the world that you're still proud of who you are.
 For example: She stood tall as she walked into the interview room.

Next up, we have the very common idiom: "have a poker face." Years ago, Lady Gaga had a song called Poker Face, and this expression became very well-known internationally. So a lot of my students know poker face.
 To have a poker face means to show no emotion, to hide your true
 [00:21:00]
 feelings. It's like when you're playing poker at a casino—you don't want people to know if you're happy or sad about the cards that are in your hands.
 This is where it comes from. We want a poker face. We want to keep our face neutral—no emotion—people can't see how we're feeling.
 For example: He had a poker face during the negotiation, so no one knew what he was thinking.

Next up, we have the phrasal verb: "freeze up."
 To freeze up is when you're unable to move, unable to speak, unable to act due to being nervous or being afraid.
 Maybe you don't like public speaking, so when you have to get up in front of people and speak, you freeze up, and you don't know what to do.
 For example: I completely froze up when it was my turn to present in front of the class.

Next, we have another phrasal verb, which is: "to shrug off."
 To shrug
 [00:22:00]
 something off is to ignore something, pretend it doesn't bother you.
 When someone insults you, but you don't want to show them how much it bothers or hurts you, you just shrug it off.
 You move your shoulders up and down, which is called a shrug. I don't care. It is not affecting me.
 For example: He shrugged off the criticism from his coworker and focused on improving.

Lastly, we have: "to wear your heart on your sleeve."
 If you don't know what a sleeve is, the sleeve is the part of your shirt that covers your arm.
 So when you wear your heart on your sleeve, it means that you openly show your emotions, or you wear your emotions for everyone to see.
 You're very honest about how you're feeling. Everyone always knows how your emotions are.
 This is the opposite of having a poker face.
 [00:23:00]
 For example: She wears her heart on her sleeve, so it's easy to tell when she's upset.

Well, guess what? You just learned 18 popular body language expressions and words in English.
 You should be very proud of yourself.
 Now though, I'm gonna give you some homework because I want you to remember that if you hear new words, that's often not enough. Your brain needs six to seven times of being exposed to new vocabulary in order to really remember it and take it in.
 This is why I created the study guide—because it gives you multiple points of exposure.
 So in this podcast, you hear every word about two or three times. You hear it in the story, you hear the definition, and then you hear the example.
 And then on the study guide,
 [00:24:00]
 you'll read it again. You'll read the example sentence, and then you'll get practice activities.
 So with the study guide, it'll really help you to remember this vocabulary so that you can start using them naturally and confidently when you speak in English.

So for homework:
 Step one — download the study guide.
 Step two — pick about seven to ten of the vocabulary words and expressions from this episode and commit to using them this week.
 You can use one word per day until the next episode airs, or you can use two or three—whatever you feel comfortable with.
 The higher your English level, the more words you should be committing to use.

No matter how you decide to use these words, the most important thing is that you use them.

Well, that’s a wrap for today’s episode of The Real Life English with
 [00:25:00]
 Gabby podcast. Be sure to download today’s study guide so that you can learn how to use this vocabulary confidently.
 If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe for more weekly adventures in English learning.
 Also, I’d love to hear from you, so please leave me a review.

Thanks so much for tuning in.