[No. 92] I have dug into some useful English expressions from scenes in the Disney movie "Big Hero 6."

This is a scene where they are trying desperately to escape from a masked man by car.

lose means "to lose," so the literal translation is "Did we lose him?"

"To lose" can be interpreted as someone disappearing from your sight, so it is unique that it can also be used to mean "did we shake him?"

When you lose track of someone you were with in a crowd, you can also use Did we lose him? to mean "did we get separated from him?"

Also, lose + (person) can be used in the following ways, in addition to losing sight of someone.

"I was on a call with my friend, but then I lost him when my phone battery died." "I was talking to my friend, but my phone battery died and the call was cut off."

Like this, it can also be used when contact with someone is lost.

Also, when you can no longer follow what the other person is saying,

He lost me. (The literal translation is "He lost me.")

This expression can be used.

You can also concisely say He lost me instead of "I didn’t understand what he was saying."

Although lose is often used to mean "to lose," it is a very unique word because it is used in many ways as shown in the examples above.

Hiro and the others managed to escape from the masked man, but now they are looking for a place to hide.

I know a place.
The subtitle "Leave it to me" is a liberal translation; the literal translation is "I know a place."

In this scene, "a place" refers to a "place to hide" for Hiro and the others. In other words, it means "I know a good place."

However, I think most people would translate "いい場所を知ってる" as I know a good place.

The difference between I know a place and I know a good place lies in the speaker's feelings.

I know a good place is used when the speaker clearly knows a good place.

But I know a place is a way of hinting at a good place to the other person without explicitly saying it's good.

In other words, the other person might bite and ask, "Oh, where is it?" It's like saying, "Hmm, I think that place might be good," in a low voice.

If you watch this scene where Fred says it, I think you'll understand the nuance.

When you consider nuances like this, while "I know a good place" is simple junior high school English, I know a place is actually very difficult (high-level) English.

Nuance differences—the more you know, the more you realize how interesting English is.

Gimme some is a contraction of "Give me some," and it is a very informal and friendly phrase.

Here, Fred used Gimme some when he tried to fist bump his butler.

Greetings and Gimme some seem completely unrelated, but in reality, they connect just like in this line from Fred.

The word 'skin' is omitted after 'Gimme some', and formally it is Gimme some skin (= Give me some skin), which means "Let's fist bump (or shake hands)."

If you think of "Give me some skin" as referring to the skin on your hand, you might be able to grasp the image of the phrase.

But I was reminded again that learning English through video is wonderful when Fred said Gimme some and held out his fist for a fist bump.

With that gesture, I immediately understood that this English is used in a greeting situation.

As I have mentioned several times before, learning movement and English together really improves retention.

Therefore, I strongly recommend learning English while watching videos.

They're on a vacay on the family island. You know, we should totally go some time. Frolic.

The literal translation is, "They are on a vacation on the family island. You know, we should totally go sometime. Let's have a blast (Frolic)."

1. They’re on a vacay.
The vacay in "They’re on a vacay" is an abbreviation of vacation. (You can probably guess this.)

However, vacay might be an unfamiliar word. Vacay is more informal than vacation.

Learning English like vacay is something you can only do with foreign films, and foreign films are a treasure trove of English used in daily conversation.

2. Frolic
Frolic is a verb that means to frolic (happily). It's not a word you see very often, so it's worth remembering here.

However, frolic is not used much in daily conversation; it is a slightly old-fashioned and poetic expression, so you might not encounter it often in conversation.

It’s not like you to frolic in public. "It's not like you to frolic in public."

In more conversational terms, "have fun" or "run around" are used instead.

The kids were running around in the park. "The kids were running around in the park."