Hi everybody, welcome back to Ask Alisha |
the weekly series where you ask me questions and I answer them. |
Maybe. |
Let's get to your first question this week. |
First question this week comes from Vinay. |
Hi Vinay. |
Vinay asked |
Hi Alisha, what is the meaning of sneak peek? |
Okay, great question. |
First, before I talk about the meaning of this phrase |
I want to point out sneak peek is one of the most typo'd expressions in English. |
I swear, it's one of the most typo'd things. |
So sneak, S-N-E-A-K, peek, P-E-E-K, okay? |
So first put that in your head, spelling correct, that's the way to spell it. |
So what is a sneak peek? |
Let's break this down. |
First let's talk about sneak. |
To sneak is a verb which means to creep quietly into some place. |
So like when the house is all quiet and you need to go inside |
or you need to get to the kitchen for a late night snack |
and you don't want anyone to hear you, you will sneak into the kitchen. |
You walk very quietly so you're trying to get to some goal |
or you're trying to reach something without really anyone noticing. |
It's like a secret, right? |
So a sneak peek then, what is that? |
To peek, let's break down the second part of this expression. |
To peek means to look just a little bit. |
So for example, if you want to spy on your neighbor or something like that |
you might have a small gap in maybe the curtains or in the blinds on your window, right? |
So you might go like this with the curtain just to see a little bit |
what are they doing out there? |
So this kind of tiny look is called peeking. |
So when we say to peek at something, |
it means we look just a little bit |
like we maybe look quickly around the corner somewhere. |
It means a really short, quick kind of secret look, okay? |
So we have these two words, sneak and peek together. |
So these are not used as verbs here. |
A sneak peek is like a set expression |
which means like a secret advance, usually look at something. |
So this expression is often used for media that is going to be available soon. |
So for example, a movie that has a release date |
so that means the movie is going to be in the movie theaters |
maybe in one month or three months or something |
might have some kind of sneak peek showing for maybe just a small number of people. |
Like there might be a special sneak peek showing of the movie before it's out in theaters. |
So a sneak peek at something is like a special kind of secret viewing of something before it happens. |
We also see kind of sneak peek clips online a lot. |
Before a movie comes out |
people might share sneak peek clips of parts of the movie |
or maybe a TV show or something like that. |
Some kind of media product usually |
it's a quick, small, kind of secret feeling look at something that is going to come out in the future. |
So you usually see this in advertisements about what's coming. |
They might say, for example, in something they post on Instagram |
here's a sneak peek of our upcoming film. |
Or maybe if it's like one of your favorite YouTube creators |
they might say something in like an Instagram story |
like here's a sneak peek at what I'm working on next. |
So both words in sneak and peek have this feeling of kind of something secret |
or doing something just a little bit. |
You only get to see a little bit of something. |
And that's the feeling with sneak peek. |
They're showing you just a little bit |
or only a small number of people have access to this for just a short period of time. |
So the feeling is that it's kind of special and exclusive to just one group of people. |
So this is how we use the expression sneak peek. |
And again, remember to spell those two words correctly. |
That's a very, very common typo. |
Thanks very much for sending this interesting question along. |
OK, let's move on to your next question. |
Next question comes from Boris. |
Hi, Boris. |
Boris asks, hi, Alicia, what does make no mistake mean? |
I've heard this in movies and sometimes in speeches. |
Yeah, interesting question. |
Make no mistake. |
So make no mistake is usually used in these presentation situations by some kind of official person. |
And it's like saying remove the doubt from the situation |
or don't think that we're not going to be able to do something. |
So for example, I'm sure President Obama said something like this, like make no mistake. |
We're going to get through this problem. |
It means like don't have any doubts in your mind |
or don't think for even a moment that we are not going to get through this problem, |
that we are not going to solve this problem. |
So make no mistake is it's not actually saying you are not going to make a mistake. |
It's like it's like a set expression that means please take your doubts away from the situation. |
Please take your concerns away from the situation |
because we are going to achieve something or we are going to do something. |
So another example might be perhaps in a movie, |
like maybe some characters are getting ready to go to a fight in some kind of battle |
and their leader might say make no mistake. |
This will be a difficult day, but we're going to come out the victors |
which means we are going to win. |
So in that expression, make no mistake, today is going to be a difficult day. |
It means yes, today is going to be difficult |
but we are going to come out winning at the end of this fight. |
So in that situation |
make no mistake comes before today is going to be a difficult day |
which means yes, today is going to be a difficult day. |
So make no mistake comes before that thing that they're like, yes, this is true. |
In my earlier example about the politician's speech, it's like make no mistake. |
We are going to get through this. |
It's like saying there should be no doubts that the next part of the sentence is true. |
That's what make no mistake means. |
So I hope that this helps you understand this interesting expression. |
Make no mistake. |
Thanks very much for sending it along. |
Okay, let's move on to your next question. |
Next question comes from Jose Luis. |
Hi, Jose. |
Jose asked, Hi, Alicia, what does what a ride mean? |
Okay, interesting question. |
So ride here can have a couple of different meanings. |
First, I want to talk about a physical ride. |
So we use this expression when we do something like physically exciting |
like we ride on something, we ride on like a roller coaster |
or maybe a raft, like a kayak or something like that in a river |
or we go in like a really fast car or a motorcycle. |
So we ride something after that experience |
when it was something that we felt was exciting, |
we could say, what a ride like that was so crazy. |
So it sounds kind of like that was a really exciting experience. |
That ride, that experience of riding that thing was very exciting. |
What a ride. |
Oh my gosh. |
We can also use this for intense emotional experiences. |
So if you go to a movie theater and you watch a movie that is so dramatic |
and you feel your emotions going up and down and up and down |
because it's so intense. |
After that, you might think, oh my gosh, what a ride. |
That movie was so intense. |
So you did not ride anything, there's no motorcycle, right? |
But emotionally, it was like a roller coaster, right? |
So we can have the same kind of feeling, like in our hearts |
kind of, is the way to think about it. |
So it's like a ride for your emotions. |
We might also say, wow, that movie was such a ride |
like I couldn't believe what happened. |
Like that expresses an intense emotional experience. |
So this expression is something that you can use when you have like a fun physical ride, |
and we can also use it to talk about having those intense emotional experiences. |
But usually with media |
or maybe if there's a really intense personal experience you have |
I suppose, we tend to use it more with media. |
But if maybe you have a really like crazy relationship with somebody |
they have all kinds of crazy stories up and down |
something crazy happened to them that weekend, whatever, |
you might be like, wow, what a ride at the end of your friend's story. |
So that's possible too. |
So we use it in these two ways for intense emotional experiences and stories |
and for fun physical experiences as well. |
Thanks very much for sending this question along. |
All right. |
That is everything that I have for this week. |
Thank you as always for sending your great questions. |
Thanks very much for watching this episode of Ask Alisha |
and I will see you again next time. |
Bye. |
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