1.
Listen and read.
17
R
L
Bedtime English! By John Sanchez, English teacher
I love teaching English, but more than that, I love sleeping. Last night, as I was lying in bed ready to nod off, I thought about the interesting expressions in the English language for going to bed and sleeping. For example, I like the expression “catch some Zs.” It means sleep and comes from cartoons where people have the letter Z above their heads to show that they’re sleeping. If you’re sleeping, you’re catching Zs. I love that. Here are two more expressions for sleep. People used to sleep on top of bags – or sacks. They had hay, a kind of dry grass that horses eat, in them. When you’re tired and want to go to bed, you can say, “I’m going to hit the sack,” or “I’m going to hit the hay.” They’re both very common expressions in English. Sometimes you’re really tired and you “sleep like a log.” That means you sleep a lot and don’t wake up easily. You really sleep! Someone can ask you in the morning: “How did you sleep?”, and you can answer, “I slept like a log.” Say it! You’ll sound American. When I was a kid, my parents used to say something strange when I went to bed: “Sleep tight, and don’t let the bedbugs bite.” Lots of people say this, but what does it mean? Sleep tight means to sleep well. Bedbugs are insects that used to live in beds but are less common now. Bedbugs like to bite people, so people still say, “Sleep tight, and don’t let the bedbugs bite.” Don’t be afraid to use these new expressions – and don’t let the bedbugs bite!
26
STORIES AND DREAMS