Eye Idioms — BBC Learning English (The Teacher)

Hello. I’m a very interesting and intelligent man.

And today these eyes and I will be getting together to teach you some English idioms.

These eyes and 'eye'! Get it? These eyes and EYE! Ha! These eyes and 'eye'! I’m so funny. 'Eye' am so funny, ho ho!

Anyway. Enough of that.

Today I have to do something very difficult.

It’s… a baby.

My boss’s wife is sick so he's had to bring his baby into work.

But now he’s gone out for lunch so he's asked me to keep an eye on the baby.

Cootchie coo…

In English, if we want someone to look after something or to watch it closely, we say «keep an eye on something».

To keep an eye on something.

Well, here I go…

And now for…our next eye idiom.

But first you’ll have to stop messing around and start paying attention.

You think because I’m not facing you that I can't see what you're doing… but you’re wrong!

I’ve got eyes in the back of my head.

In English, if someone knows everything that’s happening around them, even though they can’t see it, we say they have eyes in the back of their head.

To have eyes in the back of your head.

Ah, that’s better.

My boss is a little… fat.

He thinks eating a lot makes him a real man. Yesterday for lunch he ordered bread, soup, fish, steak, pork, potatoes, pasta, cake, and pie…

But he couldn’t finish it all. That’s right… his eyes were bigger than his stomach.

In English, if someone takes too much food and then can't eat it all, we say «his eyes were bigger than his stomach».

His eyes are bigger than his stomach.

His eyes were bigger than his stomach. Not like me…