Catch Word #270 – Bottom of the barrel

(upbeat music) Hello everyone, my name is Andrew. - And I'm Cassie. - And this is the Q-lips English podcast. Welcome back to Q-lips friends, you're listening to Catch Word, the series designed for intermediate and advanced English learners. And here we teach you idioms, phrasal verbs, and helpful English expressions that can take your listening and speaking skills to the next level. Joining me today is my co-host Cassie. Hey Cassie, how are things? - Hey Andrew, and hey listeners, things are pretty fantastic. Wrapping up the school year, thanks for asking. - You know Cassie, my wife and I went furniture shopping at a local used furniture store over the weekend. I need a new desk and we are looking for a new desk for me. And I looked all over the place. I looked top to bottom, up and down, and I couldn't find anything that I like. It was pretty slim pickings out there. - I think everyone has gone through a situation like that one time or another where they're scraping the bottom of the barrel, searching for something specific or perfect, and they just don't have any luck. - Exactly, so everyone, my furniture shopping experience that I had last weekend is the inspiration for this episode. And in this lesson, we're going to teach you two idiomatic expressions that you can use when you have no good options or when you have to settle for something that is less than you wanted. So those two expressions, you just heard Cassie and I use just a second ago. They are slim pickings and bottom of the barrel. - Yeah, these expressions are pretty similar, but they do have slightly different nuances. So we'll make sure to clearly explain them here today. - That's right. And listeners, before we get started, we want to remind you about the interactive transcript and study guide available to all CULOPS members that accompanies this episode. We designed these resources to help you learn and remember the key points of this lesson, improve your English fluency, and help your English sound natural. So to become a member and get the transcript, study guide and a ton of other awesome benefits and bonuses as well, just visit our website, which is CULOPS.com. - And of course, we want to extend a huge thank you to all the CULOPS members. Your continued support allows us to keep creating new episodes and English lessons every week. We truly couldn't do this without you. - All right, so with that being said, let's get started with this lesson by talking about our first key expression, which is bottom of the barrel. Bottom of the barrel. Now, Cassie, we often like to share the different mental images that come into our heads when we explain and teach idioms on CULOPS. So I thought that could be fun to do for today as well, because I think these expressions are pretty visual. I'm wondering, what do you think of when you visualize this expression bottom of the barrel? - Well, you and listeners all know I love to read. And I love to read pirate or seafaring novels and on old pirate ships or boats back in the day. They always had to carry their produce or water in barrels. And when I imagine bottom of the barrel, I imagine a barrel of carrots or potatoes or apples. And you know, they've been sitting there for days or weeks. And you finally get to the bottom of the barrel of apples or carrots. And it's like the tiniest, scrawniest, most bruised apple you could find 'cause it's at the very bottom. - That's so interesting. It's really different than my mental image, but also similar in many ways. Because what I think of is like a cast of wine. And you know, with wine, there are some little parts, maybe of the grape. I think they call it the leaves that is in the barrel of wine with the liquid. And when that gets down to the bottom, you'll have all of that material still mixed in with the wine. And it wouldn't be very good to drink, right? Like if you went to a restaurant and you ordered a glass of wine and it came out with all of that sediment in it, then you'd probably be like, excuse me, wait, take this back, I need a new glass of wine. So I think, yeah, it's interesting, both of these communicate the same image, but they're slightly different. And so with those images in mind, listeners, I think you'll be able to understand this expression really easily. Pessie, could you break it down for us? What does it mean then if something is the bottom of the barrel? - Yeah, so just like our images, the ugliest apple or the silliest wine, bottom of the barrel is used to describe anything or any one of very low quality or value, indicating that they are the worst or least desirable option available. - We usually use this expression Cassie when we wanna communicate that what we want is unavailable, right? Our first choice is gone, our second choice is gone, our third choice is gone, and just the options that are remaining are really, really terrible. And like you said, we can use this expression in so many different parts of our daily life. I've heard it used to talk about dating before, like some of my friends that use dating apps. Yeah, there's no good men out there, all the men that are single are terrible, it's just the bottom of the barrel that remains. I think, you know, as I'm inching towards my 40s here, especially, and some of my friends who are getting closer to 40 and haven't found their life partner yet, I hear them start to use expressions like this from time to time. What are some other situations that we could use it in Cassie to any come to mind for you? - Yeah, mind is another people example. I was thinking of like sports drafts, where you get to the end of the list of players that you wanna add to your teams, and you're like, oh, who wants that guy? They're bottom of the barrel. - Right, right, all of the best players have been selected by other teams, and then you just have the low quality prospects remaining, and you have to take a gamble on them and pray and hope that they turn out to be star athletes. Yeah, that's a great way that we can use this expression as well. Now, we've been teaching our listeners so far that we can say bottom of the barrel, but there are at least a few other ways that we can use this expression. We could say scrape the bottom of the barrel, right? Something is scraping the bottom of the barrel, or someone is scraping the bottom of the barrel, and I was wondering, Cassie, have you heard any other ways that we could use this expression? - You could also shorten it and use it as an adjective by saying something is very bottom barrel. - Exactly, and they all have the exact same meaning, they're just slight variations on this expression. So now that we know what it means, we know how to visualize the meaning, and we know what kind of situations we can use it in, I think we're ready to listen to some conversation examples. So let's do that now. Here we go. How's the apartment hunting going? - I've seen a few, but the ones in my budget are really bottom of the barrel. - Hmm, bad locations or poor conditions. - A bit of both. It's not easy to find something decent, that's affordable. - In this example, we hear two friends talking about an apartment hunt, and an apartment hunt is when you are searching for a new apartment to rent, and the friend says that unfortunately, there are not that many good options out there. The only apartments that she can afford to pay the rent on are bottom of the barrel, which means that they're less than desirable. And Cassie, I think I've heard a lot of my friends also use this expression. Probably me too, in the past, I've used this expression to talk about apartments. Like, of course, everybody wants a nice, beautiful, luxurious apartment, but unfortunately, those are very, very expensive. And sometimes, especially when you're a student trying to find apartments that you can afford is difficult, and the options available are not very good. - Yeah, I agree. I think these days, a lot of people can use this expression in relation to house hunting or apartment hunting. - Yes, especially in North America, where we're from. Cassie, shall we listen to another example? - Yes, we shall. - We've been brainstorming for hours, but we still haven't come up with anything good for this project. - I know. It feels like we're just scraping the bottom of the barrel at this point. - Right. We need a fresh perspective. Maybe we should take a break and come back later. Sounds good. Let's meet up again tomorrow. Hopefully, between now and then, one of us will get inspired with a great new idea. All right, in example two, we have two classmates that are trying to come up with an idea for their project, and it's just not happening. They have scraped the bottom of the barrel of their brain and the internet at this point, and just nothing is coming to mind. Cassie, you've probably been in this situation before, right? I know I have where your brainstorming ideas trying to come up with something interesting or fresh or exciting. Maybe it's for a project or for an essay at university or really in so many different creative fields where you need a new idea. And all of your ideas just seem terrible, right? It feels like you're just scraping the bottom of the barrel of the ideas. Like, have no good ideas and the only ones that are available to you because they're the only ones that you can think of are all terrible. Yep, yeah, they call that writer's block. If you're trying to write something or these days, people always say, "Everything's already been thought of. There's nothing original left." Yes, Cassie. Unfortunately, it happens to everyone from time to time, but I think those two friends made a great decision to take a little break because often when you take a break, that's when you can recharge and be inspired. All right, let's move on to our second key expression for today, which is a fun one. In my opinion, I like saying this one. I'll say it slowly so that everyone can hear it pronounce the way that it's spelled. And then I'll say it the way that people actually say it because I think if you try and say this the way that it's spelled, it's going to come out a little bit unnatural. So the slow pronunciation of this expression is slim pickings, slim pickings, but no one actually says it like that. We all say slim pickings, slim pickings. And no G. No G in this expression. So Cassie, let's break this one down. Slim means very, very skinny, right? We usually use this word to describe people's body shapes, right? A skinny person, we could say is slim. It could also be used to describe probability or a chance, right? You have like a slim chance of getting a promotion at work, something like that, right? But in this expression, what does the slim mean? It means not very many. Mm-hmm, a very small amount, right? A small amount. And pickings, picking, we can think of as like picking fruit or picking something up from the ground, but it kind of carries that meaning, but it has a slightly different meaning. What does the picking part of this expression mean? It represents something that you can choose from, like you're picking something, you're choosing something. Mm-hmm. So then if we put the two together, slim meaning small and picking meaning choosing from something or options, maybe you could think of it as like the options that you can select, then it just means that there are a very small amount of options or a small quantity of things that you can choose from. Cassie, I also have to ask you the same question here because I'm just so curious, what is the mental image that comes into your brain when you hear this expression? I imagine coming late to a party and being really hungry, but all of the best food is already gone. And you're like, it's really slim, pickings over here. There's nothing good left. Yeah, I think of like, for whatever reason, I don't know if I heard this in a movie related to Thanksgiving dinner or something, but I always think of a Thanksgiving dinner and the traditional food that people in North America eat for Thanksgiving is turkey. So I think maybe arriving late to a turkey dinner and you go to the bird to carve yourself some turkey and all that is left is like the turkey carcass, the bones. There is no meat remaining on the bones, so it's slim pickings. There's no meat to choose from on the turkey. I don't know why it's a random image, but that's always what I've thought of. Again, I think our images are very similar, both about food. Yeah, I'm wondering like also another image that is coming into my mind right now that I'm talking about it is like thinking of a vulture, you know, like a bird that eats dead animals, right? And the way that they eat the meat is like picking it off with their beak. I don't know, I have that kind of image as well. Maybe there's something there. But anyways, it doesn't really matter what image you want to use to help you remember this expression. The key thing that you do need to know is that slim pickings means that there isn't very much available to choose from or the options that are available to you are not very good. Just like if you go to a party and all of the best, most delicious food has already been eaten and there's nothing really delicious left for you to eat at that party. And Cassie, I think that we do often use this idiom when we want to talk about being disappointed with the remaining options that are available to us. Yeah, exactly. As a side note, my grandmother used this expression a lot during COVID because she loves going to the movies and they weren't making any new movies because they didn't want to spread the virus. So she said, "Ah, movie theaters this week, slim pickings." Right, there weren't very many movies to watch at that time. That's a perfect way that we could use slim pickings. And why don't we introduce a couple of other ways that you can use this expression by listening to some examples? How is your weekend? Do anything fun? Kind of. I went to the farmer's market thinking I could get some fresh fruit and veggies. Sounds very healthy. Did you get anything good then? Uh, not really. I went kind of late and it was pretty slim pickings. I just got a few apples and some lettuce. Let's break this example down. In this example, two friends are talking about the farmer's markets. And a farmer's market is what we call a local market where different farmers from the community gather and sell their fruit and vegetables and other goods. Usually on the weekend in my hometown, there is a farmer's market every Saturday. I believe it's every Saturday. So one of the friends went to the farmer's market but unfortunately she didn't go early in the morning and to use a cliche idiom here Cassie, I think. This is one of those situations where the early bird gets the worm, right? If you go to the farmer's market early, then you can get the fresh best produce. But if you go late, like the woman in that example did, then it's slim pickings. All of the best stuff is already sold out and you only have the remaining lower quality not as good vegetables and fruit to buy. Exactly. Now let's take a listen to example number two. Hey, did you end up going to the mall last week for that big sale? I did, but honestly, it wasn't what I expected. The ads made it seem like there'd be a lot of great deals but I didn't see too many. Uh, bummer, you didn't find anything you liked at all? Nah, by the time I got there, it was slim pickings. In this example, one friend says to another, how was the sale last week? And the friend was kind of disappointed. They thought that there would be a lot of great deals but it turned out to be pretty slim pickings. There weren't very many great deals at all. Sometimes that is another situation where you have to be first to get all of the good deals. A lot of times stores will advertise their products, like especially electronic stores. Cassie, I don't know if you've ever seen like a flyer or an ad for this situation, maybe at like Black Friday or in Canada boxing day is when we have our big shopping sales and on the front page of the flyer, there will be like a really expensive TV that slashed down to like 80% off or 90% off for a really, really cheap price but then it will say like two available. So if you are one of the first two customers, you can get the TV at this fantastic discount but if you are too slow and if you are late to the party and if you arrive for the sale, wait late in the afternoon, then it's slim pickings. All of those good cheap TVs are already sold out and you just have more expensive options remaining. - Yeah, what can you do? I'd rather sleep in than get the cheap TV. (upbeat music) - Well, everyone, that brings us to the end of this episode. So I wanna say thank you for joining us and great job on completing this English study session with Cassie and me today. To recap what we discussed today, we explored two idiomatic expressions that you can use to talk about a lack of desirable options. The first expression, bottom of the barrel, refers to the least favorable or lowest quality choices available and the second expression is slim pickings, which suggests that the available options are limited and not very impressive. - If you found this episode helpful, we'd really appreciate your support. You can support us by becoming a QLips member and for all of the details and to sign up, just visit our website, QLips.com. - Additionally, you can show your support by following us on social media, sharing QLips with your friends who are learning English or leaving a review and rating on Apple podcasts or your preferred podcast platform. We truly appreciate your support. Stay tuned for another exciting episode coming soon. - Bye! - Bye everybody.