Catch Word #292 – Stick to your guns

Culips Everyday English Podcast

Culips English Podcast

Education, Courses, Self-improvement, Language Learning

4.8 • 979 Ratings

🗓️ 12 March 2026

⏱️ 33 minutes

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Summary

In this Catch Word lesson, Andrew and Indiana teach you two useful English idioms: “stick to your guns” and “double down.” Both expressions describe a person who refuses to change their mind, even when they face pressure or criticism. They discuss the small differences between these idioms, explaining why one is often seen as a sign of respect while the other is usually considered stubborn.

By listening to their conversation, you will learn how to use these idioms naturally in your own everyday speaking.

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Fan Fact:

Many popular English idioms actually come from the world of gambling and card games. For example, the phrase “double down” comes from the game of Blackjack, where a player can double their bet in exchange for one more card. Another common expression mentioned in this episode is “to fold,” which comes from Poker. In Poker, if you have a weak hand and don’t want to keep betting, you fold your cards and give up on that round.

Expression list:

to stick to one’s guns
to double down
to have one’s mind made up
[Even] in the face of
Peer pressure
To back down

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, everyone, and welcome to Catchword, the Culep's vocabulary series where we teach you idioms,
0:06.6	phrasal verbs, expressions, and more that will help build your English vocabulary and improve
0:13.4	your English listening skills. Catchword is all about word power. And in today's lesson,
0:20.7	we are going to teach you, and we is me and Indiana,
0:24.6	by the way, I should say, hello, Indiana. How's it going? Hey, Andrew. I'm well. How are you
0:31.8	doing today? I'm good. And in today's episode, everyone, we're going to teach you two English idioms that we
0:39.5	can use to describe moments of persistence and refusal to change one's mind. Persistence. Persistence means
0:49.9	like keep going, keep going. So these two expressions, which are stick to your guns and double down, we use these
0:59.0	idioms in these kinds of situations where we need to be persistent or when we refuse to change
1:04.7	our minds.
1:05.8	And sometimes they can be positive and sometimes they can be negative.
1:09.9	We'll get into all of the details and explain them fully and give you some examples and teach you how to use them in your everyday speaking in just a moment.
1:19.0	But before we get started with the lesson, let me tell you about the study guide for this episode.
1:24.9	In the study guide, you will find an interactive transcript plus detailed
1:30.2	explanations and examples of some of the key vocabulary that you hear Indiana and me use in
1:37.1	our conversation. Plus, there's a quiz and some prompts that you can use for speaking and writing
1:42.7	practice and much, much more.
1:45.3	Now, to get the study guide, you do have to be a Culeps member,
1:48.8	but you can sign up for an affordable price on our website, culeps.com.
1:53.2	And when you're a member, not only will you unlock the study guides
1:57.1	for all of our over 1,000 episodes in our library.
2:01.9	Plus, you'll also get to join our weekly speaking classes.
	...

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