Read along to practice your English and to learn the English phrases CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE and MIDDLE-AGED

In this English lesson, I wanted to help you learn the English phrase "caught in the middle." When you are caught in the middle, it means that two people aren't getting along and you're not one of them. Let me give you a better example. Let's say that your sister and your brother are fighting. Your sister and your brother are arguing. And you really like your sister, and you really like your brother. And they keep telling you to tell the other one something for them. So you're caught in the middle. Maybe your sister says, "Hey, you need to call our brother "and tell him that he's not being nice to me." And then you call your brother, and your brother says, "Well, tell her that she's not being nice to me either." So you would definitely, in that situation, be caught in the middle. Sometimes you're caught in the middle at work. Maybe two coworkers don't get along, but certainly being caught in the middle is not an enjoyable place to be.

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The other phrase I wanted to teach you today also has the word "middle" in it, and it's the phrase "middle-aged" or the term "middle aged." Now, I am a middle-aged man. When you are middle-aged, you are over the age of 40 or 45 and you're probably younger than 60 or 65. You're somewhere in that area. I would be described as a middle-aged man because I'm older. I'm almost 50. My hair is a little bit gray. Maybe it's more gray than I think, but I would definitely describe myself as being a middle-aged man. So I am in my late 40s. That makes me middle-aged. I'm still trying to believe it because I still think, in my mind, I still feel like I'm 25.

So to review, when you are caught in the middle, it means that two people aren't getting along or two groups of people aren't getting along and you're kind of the person that acts as a go-between. There's another English phrase for you. You're the one who tries to make peace or help those two people communicate. And if you are middle-aged, it simply means that you're older than the age of 40 or 45 and you're younger than 60 or 65. It's kind of a vague age range. It's not an exact age range.

Let me get my comment out here. You'll notice that I'm not complaining that it's cold today, but it's cold. It's just not windy. That makes it a lot nicer. The windier it is when it's cold, the harder it is to be outside. This comment is from Julia. Julia says, "Hi, dear teacher. "Two months ago or so, I made it a resolution not to eat "and drink after six in the evening, "and I'm still kicking butt, "but there were several times when I quit, "so I had a good reason to kick myself, as well." And my response was, "That's a good thing to do. "I try not to eat after supper, but it doesn't always work".

Well, thanks, Julia, for that comment. Nice use of the phrase "kicking butt" and the phrase "to kick yourself" or "to kick oneself." Yes, I do the same thing. I try not to eat after supper. They say that it's not good to eat after your last meal of the day, but it really depends for me on what day of the week it is. A lotta times on Friday and Saturday evenings, we have supper and then the kids and I will watch a movie. Right now, we're rewatching all of the Marvel movies like, let me see, "Ant-Man". The last one we watched was "Captain America: Winter Soldier." And then we usually have chips. Sometimes we have ice cream.

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Learn the English Phrases CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE and MIDDLE-AGED