Hello this is Simon,<\/p>\n
I often have trouble thinking about what to write about. Every month I tell myself I will make an early start, come up with a topic, and then work on it a little each day. However, it never happens that way. Coming up with a topic always seems to be the sticking point for me. This time was more difficult than ever because I suddenly got really busy for a stretch. It may be just a coincidence but it seemed happen right around the start of the rainy season.<\/p>\n
The more it rained the busier I seemed to get. I got flooded<\/em><\/strong> with work. I’m always happy to have a lot of work, and enjoy being busy, but I was inundated<\/strong><\/em> this time. I went from being up to my neck<\/strong><\/em> in work, to literally swimming in<\/strong><\/em> it. I was thinking to myself “It never rains it pours.”<\/strong><\/em> as I tried to keep my head above water<\/strong><\/em>. I just couldn’t seem to make any progress. I had gotten bogged down<\/strong><\/em>, and before I knew it was completely swamped<\/strong><\/em>. I started to worry for a few days, as I had gotten myself into deep water<\/strong><\/em>. “I’ll be in hot water<\/strong><\/em> if I don’t do something soon.” I thought to myself. It was sink or swim<\/strong><\/em>. So I swam, hard. After a couple of days of it, I was starting to feel a little under the weather<\/strong><\/em>, but I pushed on and little by little started making headway<\/strong><\/em>. Eventually, I made it back onto dry land. It was a difficult few days and seemed to be compounded by all the rain. When it’s sunny I’m very positive and almost nothing can get me down, but it is very easy for me to be negative when the weather is bad. Coming home to my daughter every day helped though. She was like a little ray of sunshine<\/strong><\/em> that kept me going.<\/p>\n Being in this situation got me thinking about some of the expressions we use when we are busy. Words such as “bogged”, “swamped”, and “flooded” seemed to come to mind. I realized that we have quite a few expressions related to water and the weather. Maybe it’s just because its rainy season that got me thinking that way, but I thought I would cobble together some loosely related expressions that sometimes come in handy.<\/p>\n flooded with<\/strong><\/em> inundated<\/strong><\/em> up to ones neck in…<\/strong><\/em> swimming in…<\/strong><\/em> It never rains it pours.<\/strong><\/em> keep one’s head above water<\/strong><\/em> bogged down<\/strong><\/em> swamped<\/strong><\/em> in deep wate<\/strong><\/em>r in hot water<\/strong><\/em> sink or swim<\/strong><\/em> under the weather<\/strong><\/em> make headway<\/strong><\/em> a ray of sunshine<\/strong><\/em> To be honest things didn’t get quite as bad as what I wrote. I took a little creative license in order to introduce a lot of these. I do however remember telling someone I was “swamped” at some point. And, I’m not exaggerating when I say I have a “little ray of sunshine”…<\/p>\n I hope some of these come in handy.<\/p>\n See you next month!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hello this is Simon, I often have trouble thinking about what to write about. Every month I tell myself I will make an early start, come up with a topic, and then work on it a little each day. However…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":8017,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[441,5],"tags":[122,489,460,22],"class_list":{"0":"post-6243","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-word","8":"category-learning","9":"tag-english","10":"tag-489","11":"tag-460","12":"tag-22","13":"article cf"},"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fruitfulenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fruitfulenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fruitfulenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fruitfulenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fruitfulenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6243"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.fruitfulenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6243\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6285,"href":"https:\/\/www.fruitfulenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6243\/revisions\/6285"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fruitfulenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fruitfulenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fruitfulenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fruitfulenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nTo be \u201cflooded with\u201d something means to receive so much that you cannot deal with it. It is often used in the workplace to talk about things like e-mails, telephone calls, orders, claims, complaints etc. (e.g. We were flooded with calls from concerned clients.)<\/p>\n
\nTo be \u201cinundated\u201d means the same as to be \u201cflooded (with)\u201d (e.g. This island will be inundated if the sea level rises any further.) It can be used in the same way as \u201cflooded with\u201d (e.g. We’ve been inundated with complaints since the program was broadcast.)<\/p>\n
\nTo be \u201cup to ones neck in\u201d something means to be overly involved in something, or overwhelmed by an excessive amount of something (e.g. He was up to his neck in crime.\/She was up to her neck in work.\/We were up to our necks in debt.)<\/p>\n
\nTo be \u201cswimming in\u201d something simply means to have too much of it. (e.g. This local government is swimming in corruption.\/He is swimming in money.\/These fries are swimming in ketchup.)<\/p>\n
\nThis is a standalone sentence. It means that unlucky events seem to come all at once, as opposed to being evenly spread out over time.<\/p>\n
\nTo \u201ckeep one’s head above water\u201d means to just be able to manage something. It is often used to talk about having, financial difficulties. (e.g. We have a lot of bills this month but I think we\u2019ll be able to keep our heads above water.\/We had two staff leave this month, so the three of us are covering the workload. We are struggling to keep our heads above water.)<\/p>\n
\nA bog is an area of soft wet earth. It is often very muddy. To \u201cget bogged down\u201d means to be in a situation where something is preventing you from making progress or getting ahead. Picture yourself being stuck in the mud and unable to move.<\/p>\n
\nA swamp is also an area of soft wet earth, which is often very muddy. However, to \u201cbe swamped\u201d actually means the same as to \u201cbe flooded\u201d or to \u201cbe inundated\u201d (e.g. We\u2019ve been swamped with calls since the new campaign started.)<\/p>\n
\nTo be \u201cin deep water\u201d means to be in serious trouble. This can be used in a variety of situations. (e.g. The company was in deep water after the tax audit.\/The recession has put many families in deep water.)<\/p>\n
\nTo be \u201cin hot water\u201d means to be in a very difficult situation. It implies that you are likely to be punished, penalized, or have to deal with some consequences (e.g. The government official found himself in hot water after his comments about women\u2019s rights.)<\/p>\n
\nWe use “sink or swim” to talk about a situation in which we will fail unless we make a lot of effort (e.g. When he left his job to start up his own company, he knew it would be sink or swim.)<\/p>\n
\nTo be \u201cunder the weather\u201d means to feel unwell or be in low spirits. (e.g. I had been feeling under the weather for a few days, and it turned out I had a cold.) It is often used as an excuse for not going somewhere (e.g. I\u2019m sorry I can\u2019t make it to dinner tonight. I\u2019m feeling a bit under the weather.)<\/p>\n
\nTo \u201cmake headway\u201d means to move forward or make progress. (e.g. The boat was making no headway against the current.\/We hope to start making headway with the project sometime this week.)<\/p>\n
\nA \u201cray of sunshine\u201d is a person who brings happiness into people\u2019s lives. (e.g. She is a ray of sunshine. Whenever she is in the office she lifts the mood of the whole room.) It can also be used sarcastically to mean someone who is gloomy and brings down the mood of the people they are with.<\/p>\n