To know something like the back of your hand

Learning English Conversations

BBC

Education, Language Learning

4.6 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 1 September 2015

⏱️ 2 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Do you know a place very well? Are you able to find your way in a place without looking at any maps? Here is a way of saying it with help from your hand

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	The English we speak.
0:09.0	From BBC Learning English.
0:12.0	Hello. See learning English.
0:17.5	Hello and welcome to the English we speak. I'm Rob and joining me today is Helen.
0:20.0	Hello everyone.
0:21.5	Hey Rob, I hear you have a holiday coming up soon.
0:24.0	Oh yes, we've booked a trip to China to visit the home of pandas.
0:29.0	Do you mean Chen do?
0:31.0	I do, yes. We're stopping there for a few days and then to Hong Kong for two weeks
0:35.8	you know Chen do is my hometown I grew up there I didn't know that so you must know the place like the back of your hand.
0:45.0	Huh? The back of my hand?
0:47.0	Well, I know my hands pretty well, but they are just my hands, very ordinary.
0:53.2	Oh, it's a very common expression, Helen.
0:56.0	We use it to say that we know somewhere very well or to talk about an extremely familiar place. You hear people say it all the time. Here are a few examples.
1:07.1	He knows the building like the back of his hand. She lived in the village all her life and knows the
1:12.4	area like the back of her hand.
1:14.0	So is this phrase only used when talking about places,
1:18.0	or can you use it to talk about other things?
1:21.0	Well, it can be used to describe things we know very well it's not just limited to places here are some
1:27.5	more examples
	...

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