Cold Weather – Daily Expressions

With the frigid weather that swept across the world this week, many of us have been “freezing our butts off” (a frequently used, colloquial phrase in English that implies weather so cold that our bottoms turn to ice!).

Mark: We're having a cold snap in Seoul this week.

Jake: Yeah, I know, I'm freezing my butt off! I just want to hibernate until spring comes!

Mark: I think it'll go down to -18C tonight so remember to bundle up if you go out.

Jake: Wow, with the wind chill, it'll feel like -23C! I hope I won't catch my death!

Mark: I know! I think I'm coming down with something – don't come too close to me!

Jake: At least it hasn't snowed... there's no danger of being snowed in.

Mark: True, but you have to be careful of black ice.

Expressions

a cold snap (n) – a sudden short period of very cold weather. Think of snapping your fingers: quick, short and sudden.

To freeze one's butt off (v) – to be extremely cold

to hibernate (v) – to sleep through the winter months (also used metaphorically)

To bundle/wrap up (v) – to dress in warm clothes. A bundle is a tightly wrapped package, so bundling up is like wrapping yourself in warm clothes or blankets like a package!

wind chill (n) – when the wind makes the air temperature feel colder

To catch one’s death (v) - This doesn’t mean you’ll actually die if you go outside—just that you might get a very serious cold. You can use this phrase as a warning, telling someone to “dress warm or you’ll catch your death!”

To come down with (v) -  to get sick or catch a cold.

To be snowed in (v) - When it snows a lot, the snow can pile up high outside your house. If you can’t even open your door because of the snow, that means you are snowed in.

black ice (n) – a very thin coating of ice found on roads and sidewalks that is difficult to see, and therefore quite dangerous

Cold Weather Idioms

There are many expressions in English inspired by cold weather.

To be snowed under (v): to be very busy with work, overwhelmed. You can use this idiom to talk about work, school or anything else.

e.g. Since we took on the new clients, I’ve been snowed under. There is so much work to be done.

To put something on ice (v): delay or pause something until later. The idiom comes from the way you put certain foods (like meat) on ice to keep them fresh until you want to use them. This phrase is used most often when talking about ideas, tasks or projects.

e.g. Let’s put this project on ice until we hire more people to work on it.

To not have a snowball’s chance in hell (v): have 0% chance of happening. Usually, hell is known as a place that is extremely hot and fiery. A snowball in hell would melt right away!

e.g. You have a snowball's chance in hell of getting that promotion.

When hell freezes over: never. The idea is that hell will never ever freeze. 

e.g. I’ll go on a date with you when hell freezes over.

To break the ice (v): start a conversation with someone. Sometimes when people don’t know each other, the atmosphere can be cold and unwelcoming (that’s the “ice”) until something happens to relax them (“breaking the ice”).

To leave someone out in the cold (v): not allowing someone to join an activity or a group. 

e.g. Tony was left out in the cold when his co-workers all went out to lunch without him.