[ti:Are You a 'Bull in a China Shop'?]
[al:Words and Their Stories]
[ar:VOA]
[dt:2023-04-23]
[by:www.voase.cn]
[00:07.40]And now, Words and Their Stories, from VOA Learning English.
[00:19.84]Have you ever felt out of place? 
[00:24.58]Have you ever felt clumsy, like you cannot move gracefully and smoothly? 
[00:32.19]If you answered yes, then today's show is for you!
[00:38.49]Today we talk about what happens when a big animal runs loose in a small area.
[00:46.01]The expression is to be a bull in a china shop.
[00:52.30]China is fragile, meaning very easy to break.
[00:59.03]Imagine a large bull running loose in a china shop. 
[01:04.39]All the fragile plates, bowls, and tea cups in the shop would be on the floor and broken in a million pieces.
[01:14.48]So, a bull in a china shop describes a person who is awkward and clumsy. 
[01:21.86]Wherever they go, they create a mess.
[01:26.53]This can happen on purpose or on accident. 
[01:31.60]If you are behaving wildly in a small space and are breaking things here and there, you are acting like a bull in a china shop.
[01:43.77]But maybe you don't mean to. 
[01:47.20]Maybe you are just very big or your body movements are not very graceful.
[01:55.26]This expression can describe a person or a situation. 
[02:01.58]For example, a fancy wedding is my bull in a china shop situation. 
[02:09.78]I always end up knocking something over or saying the wrong thing.
[02:16.17]This expression is used in other ways.
[02:19.59]When a person feels out of place and deals too roughly with a delicate problem they can say they feel like a bull in a china shop.
[02:31.01]If you are this kind of person, you do not handle light situations well at all. 
[02:39.27]For some reason and sometimes through no fault of your own ... you just make things worse.
[02:47.90]It can also mean you rush into a situation without thinking about it clearly.
[02:55.87]Acting like a bull in a china shop means recklessly attacking a problem without proper planning.
[03:06.73]So, when you act like a bull in a china shop, you create damage. 
[03:12.38]You leave a big mess in your wake. 
[03:16.03]This could be an actual mess or a figurative one. 
[03:22.52]For example, if you are a bull in a china shop you may not be invited to a problem-solving meeting at work.
[03:33.04]You may bring a little too much mayhem with you.
[03:37.62]This expression can also mean you handle a delicate situation badly. 
[03:44.36]You don't react calmly and carefully.
[03:48.24]Instead you add fuel to the fire. 
[03:52.20]This means you make the situation worse.
[03:56.92]For example, when it comes to relationship issues, Diedre is like a bull in a china shop.
[04:04.97]She always ends up making more trouble. 
[04:08.46]One time she tried to help a married couple who had been arguing a lot. 
[04:15.20]After Deirdre's "help" the couple ended their marriage.
[04:21.27]It is widely believed that this expression came from real animals causing real damage at outdoor markets in the 1800s. 
[04:32.64]Word expert say that many languages have a similar expression but maybe they use a different animal, for example an elephant.
[04:43.58]And elephant would also do a lot of damage in a china shop.
[04:49.37]And that's all the time for this Words and Their Stories. Until next time ...
[04:56.89]I'm Anna Matteo.