Three useful words for the ESL student (5)

 

a red flag – when you say something is or was a red flag, you are saying it points to a problem or indicates a problem. The term is often used after something happens. i.e. Jane should have known that Bob would cheat on her. The fact that he was always smiling when he received text messages was a red flag that he was chatting with many women. Or: I should have known that Joe would not be a good friend. The fact that he liked to gossip about people he knows was a red flag that I missed.

to pig out – to eat way too much at one time, just for the fun of it. I have been under so much stress that last night I went out with some friends and we just pigged out on pizza and pasta. I think I ate three pizzas. Or: I was on a diet for several days, but I was so hungry that I couldn’t help myself. Last night I pigged out at the KFC. I must have eaten 12 chicken wings and 4 orders of French fries.

to hog something – if you hog something you take too much of something or use something too much so that other people can’t use it. A hog is a pig. So if you are at a party and somebody is hogging the wine, they are drinking too much of the wine so that there might not be enough for everyone. i.e. I am really upset with Joe in our office because he hogs the printer and I can never get anything printed when I want to. Or: At our company dinner, Bob hogged the chicken wings. I got zero chicken wings because he was hogging them.