Welcome to the English we speak. I'm Beth and I'm Faye.

We have an expression that describes exaggerating,

praising someone or criticizing someone a bit too much.

It's lay it on thick.

Lay it on thick.

Beth, can you give us an example?

Yes, well, my sister and I saw an actor we like the other day. The actor was just shopping in London and we said hi, but then my sister started crying because she was so excited to meet him.

She really laid it on thick.

Oh, wow, crying when you meet someone famous.

That does sound a bit much.

And my sister told him he's the best actor in the world. That is definitely an exaggeration.

That's a lot of flattery. Your sister really laid it on thick.

Let's hear some more examples.

You laugh very loudly at your bosses jokes. You lay it on a bit thick. He's not that funny.

He tells everyone how many countries he's visited. I know he likes traveling, but why lay it on so thick? She was so upset that she cried in the bathroom for an hour. I thought her brother

laid it on a bit thick with the criticism about her hair.

You're listening to the English we speak from BBC Learning English and

we're learning the expression lay it on thick which is a way of describing someone exaggerating or praising too much.

Now the phrase lay it on with a trowel is also used, though it's not as common.

Like lay it on thick it means praise someone too much or

exaggerate an emotion. Let's get back to work. We have another training session

later. It's on how to book a meeting room and we've already done that training twice this year.

...