English expressions about snow, ice and coldness are often used to talk about difficult or unfriendly situations. Here are just a few of them.
If you "give someone the cold shoulder," then you are being unfriendly to them. You might not do or say anything really mean, but you make it clear that you're not happy. For example, you might just nod, or give a fake smile in reply to a "hello".
If you have to speak in public or to someone who makes you nervous, you might "freeze up," or become too scared to speak, or forget what you wanted to say. You could always tell a joke to "break the ice," which means to say or do something to get everyone to relax in a social situation.
And something that is said or done to make people relax in a social situation is called an "ice-breaker."
If it's not the perfect time to do something, you might "put it on ice" — just like a person selling perishables might do with their products to keep them fresh — and take care of it later.
However, you should be careful not to put it off for too long as you might get "snowed under". This phrase is used to say that you have a lot to do, and it's going to be challenging, like trying to get out from under a lot of snow!
Practice sentence building by using the following:
*break the ice
*ice-breaker
*give the cold shoulder
*freeze up
*put it on ice
*snowed under
Discussion:
Have you heard or used any of the phrases in the article?
Have you ever frozen up in a social situation?
Are you generally good at breaking the ice?
When was the last time you were snowed under at work?
Are there any expressions in your language related to snow and ice?
Would you rather live in a country that experiences very hot or very cold temperatures? Why?
What are the coldest parts of your country? Have you spent much time in them?
What's the coldest month of the year where you live? How cold does it usually get?
Do you play any winter sports? If so, which ones? If not, which would you like to try?
There's no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing. — Alfred Wainwright. What do you make of this statement?
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