An old hand: The English We Speak

Feifei: Hello and welcome to The English We
Speak. I’m Feifei.
Neil: And I’m Neil. Hey Feifei, shouldn’t
we be celebrating?
Feifei: Why?
Neil: Haven’t we presented a hundred of these
The English We Speak
programmes together?
Feifei: A hundred? Oh no, we’ve done way more
than that. I could
present these programmes
standing on my head!
Neil: That I would love to see!
Feifei: Not literally. I mean do it easily
– without difficulty.
Neil: I know that Feifei – but you probably
could present this programme standing on your
head because you’re an old hand at this.
Feifei: Excuse me? I may have presented this
programme for many years but I do NOT have
old hands. How rude!
Neil: Don’t worry, I wasn’t referring to your
hands – they look lovely. If you are an
old hand at doing something, it means you
are very skilled and experienced. It was a
compliment!
Feifei: Oh right. Thanks. Let’s hear some
examples of this phrase in action…
Examples: Let’s get Mike in to solve our IT
problem, shall we? He’s an old hand
at fixing computers.
Miguel is an old hand at map reading, so let’s
make him the leader on
our mountain trek.
I can see you’re an old hand at project management;
it would have taken me days to create a spreadsheet
like that!
Feifei: This is The English We Speak from
BBC Learning English and
we’re learning about
the phrase ‘an old hand’, which describes
someone who is skilled and
experienced at
doing something.
Neil: It’s a handy phrase, isn’t it! But come
on Feifei, as you are such ‘an old hand’,
why not have a go at really presenting
standing on your head?
Feifei: OK Neil, as you’re paying me a
compliment. Here goes… give a hand…
Feifei: Ouch!
Neil: Are you OK? I think you should stick
to doing what you are most
skilled and experienced at.
Feifei: You mean not listening to
your silly suggestions.
Neil: I’m an old hand at
making silly suggestions, Feifei!
Feifei: Hmmm, let’s forget our celebration
shall we? Bye!
Neil: Bye.