All at sea
Learning English Conversations
BBC
4.6 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 1 March 2022
⏱️ 2 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Discover more about this nautical phrase in The English We Speak.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is a download from BBC Learning English. |
| 0:03.0 | To find out more, visit our website. |
| 0:06.0 | This is the English we speak with me Jayin. |
| 0:09.0 | And me Neil. |
| 0:10.0 | Hey Jayin, have you seen what I've bought? |
| 0:13.0 | Yes, you've bought a boat and you've been bragging about it on social media. |
| 0:18.0 | It's great, isn't it? |
| 0:20.0 | Now I can have fun on the water and sail the seven seas, although there is a problem. |
| 0:25.0 | Oh yes, what's that? |
| 0:26.4 | It didn't come with any instructions. |
| 0:28.5 | I don't know how the engine starts, how to drive it, or even launch it into the water. |
| 0:34.0 | Oh, Neil, it seems like you're all at sea with your new boat. |
| 0:37.6 | I'm nowhere near the sea, or even a river. |
| 0:40.4 | I haven't launched it yet. |
| 0:42.0 | I don't mean you're on the scene now. I mean you're confused. When we say |
| 0:47.2 | someone is all at sea we mean they're completely confused or puzzled. Not sure what to do. So, Neil, while the origin of this |
| 0:56.1 | phrase is connected to a ship being lost at sea, it's now used to mean you're just |
| 1:01.5 | lost or confused. Here are some examples. |
| 1:05.0 | People are all at sea with this new one-way system in the city, they're not sure how to get into the center. |
| 1:17.0 | I've lost my smartphone and I'm all at sea about how to contact my friends. |
| 1:25.0 | I'm all at see with this new rotor. I'm not sure what I'm doing today. |
| 1:30.0 | This is the English we speak from BBC Learning English. |
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