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Hello and welcome to the English We Speak, where we explain phrases and expressions used by fluent English speakers so that you can use them too.

I'm Faye Faye. And I'm Phil. You were a bit late. Yeah, I'm sorry. I've been getting my car fixed. It's very old and it wouldn't start. Oh, not again. Why don't you just get a new car? I mean, I probably should, but it's very expensive. So I'm going to kick the can down the road and just keep getting it fixed. I can probably make it last a few more years.

And you'll end up spending as much as you would on a new car.

Anyway, let's learn that expression you just used.

Kick the can down the road.

Yes, when we talk about kicking the can down the road, it means we delay doing

something. It might mean that we'll have to deal with it in the future, or we might be able to

delay it long enough that it becomes someone else's problem. Yes, for example, if you know

you're leaving a job, you might want to delay some

problems for someone else to deal with. So you might just kick the can down the road. Let's hear

some other people using the expression, kick the can down the road.

I need to get some building work done on my house, but I keep kicking the can down the road because I think it'll be a bit stressful.

Oh, I've got some paperwork to do for the bank, but the task is just so boring. I keep

kicking the can down the road. My aunt really wants to have a video call with me,

but whenever I speak to her on the phone,

we end up talking for hours.

So I've been avoiding it,

and I keep kicking the can down the road.

We've been learning the expression

kick the can down the road

to talk about delaying something you have to do.

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