Learn the English Phrase "to edge out" and "a double-edged sword"
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- In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase to edge out. When you edge someone out, it means you pass them. Maybe at work, you and a colleague are both trying to get a promotion, but there's only one spot. And maybe because you know a bit more, you can edge out your colleague because you're just the better choice.

Sometimes when teams are playing towards the end of their season, they edge out someone who's kind of at the same spot as them. They win a game and the other team maybe in a different city loses a game and that helps them edge out the other team. It helps them surpass them. The other term I wanted to teach you today is a double-edged sword. So of course a double-edged sword would be a sword.

That is sharp on both sides. But in English, we use this to describe a situation

that both benefits the person but also is negative in some way. The classic example is always to say fame is a double-edged sword. Being famous is a double-edged sword. Sure, you have lots of money and you can do whatever you want, but you can't just go to a normal grocery store because people all want your signature. So fame is a double-edged sword. It has an advantage, it has a lot of advantages probably,

but it also has a disadvantage in that you can't do what normal people do in life. So to review, to edge out means to surpass. I think that the best example is the sports team. You know, they can edge out the competition and then maybe finish in a better spot. And a double edged sword is any situation where there's both like a positive or many positives and negative and a negative or many negative aspects to it. But

But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video. This is from Cecilia. Good luck, Bob. And then a nice four-leaf clover emoji. Thanks, it went extremely well. So Cecilia is referring to the fact that yesterday,

I'm gonna stop trying to do this yesterday or two days ago for you, was the first day of second semester for me. And it went really well. In fact, it's Thursday morning right now as I record this, and I'm realizing that it's very enjoyable to get up, to go for a walk,

and then to make an English lesson for all of you. I think I'm at my best in the morning. I think this time of day right now, it's about quarter to nine, I think. I think this time of day is just a better time of day for me. And for a full year, I've been teaching in the morning and then coming home to make YouTube videos and lessons for you in the afternoon.

And now I'm realizing that I get to get up and when I'm fresh, when I have lots of energy, that's when I'll be making YouTube lessons. So I think that this is a win-win for you guys. I think, I don't know for sure, but I think the English lessons will get better. I think I'll be a little more creative. I have plans to still make sure I do one of these short lessons in town once a week.

But I just feel a bit more relaxed. In fact, I keep looking at the clock this morning and realizing it's way earlier still than I thought it was. For some reason, I was getting ready to go to work and I had this kind of feeling like I was late for some reason, which I'm not at all. I think I'm actually going to get to work earlier today than I need to. I

I probably need to be at work around 10:30 every day. As many of you know, I'm 70%, so I don't work full time. So yeah, I'm gonna get up, work on YouTube. You might see me replying to comments at a different time of day on this channel, but either way, I think it should be for the best. Anyways, thanks for watching. I'll see you in a couple days with another short English lesson, bye.

Hi, Bob the Canadian here. Thank you for listening to this English podcast lesson. If you would like to support me in the work that I do as an online English teacher, please visit patreon.com slash bobthecanadian.