The English We Speak: The flip side
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Hello and welcome to The English We Speak, where we explain phrases used by fluent English speakers so that you can use them too. I'm Feifei and I'm here with Beth. Hi everyone and hi Feifei, how are you today? I'm OK, but the weather is miserable. Non-stop rain. I know, I hate it too. But on the flip side, we're inside so we can't actually get wet and at least it's warm. It is. And the

And the flip side is the expression we're learning in this programme. The flip side means the opposite or another side of something, like showing both pros and cons. Yes, the flip side is a way of introducing the opposite perspective of something. So you said it's raining, but I turned it round and said we're inside, so at least we're warm. Think of it like turning something over to reveal the other side, like a coin.

So I could say I spent the whole Sunday cooking this one dish and the kitchen was a mess and I was exhausted. Oh dear. But on the flip side, at least you tried a new recipe and you got some good food.

Yeah, I suppose. Yeah, and I could say that I've been working from home a lot recently and I don't really like it. I prefer being in the office. And I could say, on the flip side, Beth, you don't have to travel on crowded trains. That is very true, yes. Well, here are some more examples of the expression the flip side. The flip side.

I went for my first long run the other day and it was so nice to get out in the fresh air. But on the flip side, I ended up with really achy muscles. Oh, I really don't like this time of year. It gets dark so early and it's so cold. But on the flip side, I'm catching up on loads of TV series I'd missed out on. I went to a new beach the other day. It was absolutely beautiful. But on the flip side, it was also really crowded. Music

In conversation, the flip side is very often used to try and cheer someone up, especially if they are complaining. So, Feifei, if I said to you, oh, I've got so much work to do today... Then I could say, yes, but on the flip side, we're going out for drinks later. That's very true.

So, to recap, we've learnt the flip side, which means introducing a contrast to change someone's perspective on something. And that's all from us. We'll be back next time with another useful English phrase. See you then. Bye! Thanks for listening to Learning English Conversations. Have you tried our Learning English Stories podcast? In each episode, we tell a different classic story in English you can understand.

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