How to call someone STUPID, SMART, or CRAZY in English
You don't have to be nice all the time! Improve your vocabulary and learn how to insult someone creatively in this video. I'll teach you expressions to talk about how smart someone is too, so it isn't all negative. English is very creative when it comes to insults and praise. In this lesson we'll look at some interesting ways to say someone is dumb as well as ways to say someone is smart or just plain crazy. Hopefully, you're not out to lunch on this lesson, but are rather on the ball.
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AFTER YOU TAKE THE QUIZ, PRACTICE BY CALLING YOUR FRIEND STUPID IN ENGLISH.
TRANSCRIPT
Hi. Welcome to www.engvid.com. I'm Adam. Today's lesson is a little bit special and a little bit... You have to be careful with it, so I want to give you a little bit of a warning before we even start because I'm going to show you some ways to say: "crazy" and "stupid". I'm going to show you expressions that we use to talk about a person who's a little bit crazy or you think is stupid without actually using the words: "crazy" or "stupid". Now, on the other hand, I'm also going to show you some ways to say a person is very smart or sharp. Now, "sharp" generally means smart, but it could also mean very aware or very in control of a situation. Now, all of these expressions, they're very creative and you can play with them a lot. I'm going to show you basics and then show you how to expand on them, and I want you to understand them because they are very common, and especially if you're watching TV shows or movies... And I get a lot of students say to me: "I can understand all the English, but I don't know what they're saying on... In the movies." Well, the thing you have to remember, in the movies, their audience, their target audience is native English speakers, which means they can use slang, and they can use idioms, and they can use all kinds of cultural expressions that a non-native speaker, that someone who's learning English simply won't understand until it is explained to him or her. So that's what we're going to do here. So we're going to start with "crazy" and "stupid" expressions, and then we're going to look at "smart" and "sharp" expressions. Okay?
Now, a very common expression... And the reason I'm starting with this is because you can be very creative with this one. You are...
"__________ short/shy of __________".
A person is something short of something, or shy of something. Now, before I continue, "shy". Everybody knows "shy" means, you know, you get nervous when you talk to strangers or your face gets red. Shy, "to be shy of" means to have less than complete. Okay? So there's a new meaning of the word "shy" for you. And if... Those of you taking an English test, this is a good word to use in your essay. Keep that in mind.
So let's look at a few examples. "A few cards short of a full deck." So, a full deck of cards has-what?-I think 52 cards, so this person only has 45, so he's not playing a complete game. It means something a little bit missing, so either crazy or stupid-okay?-without actually saying those words, but everybody will understand. Now, this ex-... This structure you can use anything you want on either end, and people get very creative. Some... "That person is a few sandwiches short of a picnic." You can't have a picnic if you don't have all the sandwiches there, so a little bit not 100%. Right? Oh, that's another expression, to say: "He is not 100%." It means something a little bit missing. "A few beers short of a 6-pack.", "A few French fries short of a Happy Meal." The list goes on and on and on and on. You can hear all kinds, just remember this part of it and you'll understand what's going on.
Now, other expressions: "He's not playing with a full deck." So, basically the same meaning as this, but just a different construct. "Oh, that guy's not playing with a full deck. Be careful about him." Means he's a little bit crazy, he's not 100%. Another expression, and this is, again, we use it with these two: "sharpest" and "brightest". Now, "sharp" generally means smart, "bright" also means smart. So if somebody is bright, clever; somebody is sharp, clever. But if somebody is "not the sharpest knife in the drawer", it means he's not very sharp, he's actually quite blunt so he's a little bit stupid. If somebody is "not the brightest star in the sky", same meaning, not very smart, a little bit stupid. Okay?
Other ways: "The lights are on, but nobody's home." So eyes are open, he's alive and seeing everything, but nobody's home, nothing's going on inside the brain. "A person is out to lunch", so the body is here but the brain is outside having lunch somewhere, so not present. You can also say the person "has a loose screw", or "has a few loose screws", means not everything's tight and working properly.