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Hard: Work your socks off

Hard: Work your socks off

Premier Vocabulary is a mini-podcast for you to learn football English one word at a time. We have three different levels for you: easy, medium and hard.

This episode is easy so we’re looking at common football words and phrases. Things you use and need to know to play the game.

Summary

Learn more football vocabulary with Premier Skills English. Each lesson in our Premier Vocabulary section looks at one football word or phrase. This lesson looks at the phrase to work your socks off

You can find more lessons on the side of this page.

Transcript

Rich: Hello my name’s Rich and welcome to Premier Skills English - Premier Vocabulary.

Jack: Hi there! I’m Jack. We’re here to help you with your football English. Premier Vocabulary is a mini-podcast for you to learn football English one word at a time. 

Rich: We have three different levels for you: easy, medium and hard.

Jack: This episode is hard so we’re looking at more difficult football phrases and idioms. These phrases can be used to talk about football but are also useful when talking about other topics.


Rich: The phrase we are looking at in this episode is: to work your socks off.

Jack: It’s an idiom which means to work very, very hard. It can be used in or out of football. Listen to this example:

Rich: She worked her socks off to get where she is today.

Jack: In this example, you might be speaking about someone who has done very well in their chosen profession.

Rich: Imagine someone who is a fantastic surgeon. A surgeon would normally need to get very good results at school then they would need to study medicine at university.

Jack: Then they may need to go to a specialist medical school. They would need to do all the training to be a general doctor before they could specialise in becoming a surgeon.

Rich: Then they would need more training in a hospital. This could all be more than 10 years of training and studying.

Jack: If you want to become a surgeon, you definitely need to work your socks off!

Rich: Let’s think of a football example. Listen to this.

Jack: They deserve a point. They’ve worked their socks off this afternoon.

Rich: OK, here we are talking about a specific match and one team that have worked very, very hard.

Jack: We usually use the phrase to work your socks off when we are speaking about a team that has battled a lot, a team that maybe doesn’t have more natural talent or skill than the other team but works very hard together.

Rich: We also use the phrase to talk about individual players - often midfield players or strikers playing on their own up front. He’s worked his socks off in midfield today.

Jack: Or she’s worked her socks off up front on her own today.


Rich: The idiom to work your socks off is also a cliche in football. A cliche is a phrase that is used too much and is the easy thing to say. 

Jack: If a team has worked hard or a manager thinks his or her team has worked hard the manager will often use this phrase. Listen to this:

Rich: We worked our socks off today we were very unlucky or I think we deserved a point we worked our socks off on the pitch today.

Jack: You might also hear people saying we ran our socks off today. The meaning is exactly the same: We ran our socks off or we worked our socks off.

Rich: Work your socks off, run your socks off. Can you think of any more?

Jack: What about I danced my socks off last night?

Rich: yes, that works. I wonder if there are any others?

Final whistle

Jack: There is the final whistle!

Rich: We’ll be back soon with more Premier Vocabulary from Premier Skills English.

Jack: Bye for now and enjoy your football.

Comment

Discuss

Which team works their socks off most in the Premier League?

When do you have to work your socks off?

Leave a comment

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Comments

KareemZain
08/08/2023
EG
383
points

In my opinion, Man City is the most team working their socks off in the Premier League.
I had to work my socks off during my study, and now I have to work my socks off during work.


KareemZain
08/08/2023 16:28
Egypt
Manchester City
383

In my opinion, Man City is the most team working their socks off in the Premier League.
I had to work my socks off during my study, and now I have to work my socks off during work.

Michaelsun
17/02/2022
CN
738
points

The leading teams and the teams in relegation zone run their socks off in PL.


Michaelsun
17/02/2022 13:38
China
Manchester United
738

The leading teams and the teams in relegation zone run their socks off in PL.

Gabriel Amaral's picture
Gabriel Amaral
06/05/2021
BR
1512
points

I think Liverpool, besides their poorly season, is the team that brings in their "DNA" the characteristics of working their socks off along their history.
I got to work my socks off during the COVID 19 quarantine planning my players virtual training sessions.


Gabriel Amaral's picture
Gabriel Amaral
06/05/2021 16:04
Brazil
Arsenal
1512

I think Liverpool, besides their poorly season, is the team that brings in their "DNA" the characteristics of working their socks off along their history.
I got to work my socks off during the COVID 19 quarantine planning my players virtual training sessions.

Alex_from_Ukraine's picture
Alex_from_Ukraine
03/12/2020
UA
6559
points

For the time being Tottenham are working their socks off in PL.


Alex_from_Ukraine's picture
Alex_from_Ukraine
03/12/2020 21:22
Ukraine
Liverpool
6559

For the time being Tottenham are working their socks off in PL.

Alex_from_Ukraine's picture
Alex_from_Ukraine
03/12/2020
UA
6559
points

I've worked a few pairs of socks off lately trying to get to the top of the leaderboard. :-)


Alex_from_Ukraine's picture
Alex_from_Ukraine
03/12/2020 21:21
Ukraine
Liverpool
6559

I've worked a few pairs of socks off lately trying to get to the top of the leaderboard. :-)

Rich's picture
Rich
03/12/2020
ES
594
points

And you've just made it to the top. Good work, Alex!!


Rich's picture
Rich
03/12/2020 21:31
Spain
Liverpool
594

And you've just made it to the top. Good work, Alex!!

Alex_from_Ukraine's picture
Alex_from_Ukraine
05/12/2020
UA
6559
points

Muhammad is not sleeping at all, it seems. :-)


Alex_from_Ukraine's picture
Alex_from_Ukraine
05/12/2020 06:12
Ukraine
Liverpool
6559

Muhammad is not sleeping at all, it seems. :-)

Alex_from_Ukraine's picture
Alex_from_Ukraine
04/12/2020
UA
6559
points

Thanks, Rich. I'm always back, dead or alive. :-)


Alex_from_Ukraine's picture
Alex_from_Ukraine
04/12/2020 20:16
Ukraine
Liverpool
6559

Thanks, Rich. I'm always back, dead or alive. :-)

Alex_from_Ukraine's picture
Alex_from_Ukraine
29/09/2020
UA
6559
points

To get a place under the Sun one should definitely work one's socks off, maybe even a few pairs of socks.


Alex_from_Ukraine's picture
Alex_from_Ukraine
29/09/2020 12:37
Ukraine
Liverpool
6559

To get a place under the Sun one should definitely work one's socks off, maybe even a few pairs of socks.

Alex_from_Ukraine's picture
Alex_from_Ukraine
29/09/2020
UA
6559
points

This season, I suppose, Everton and ManUnited will work their socks off to get the highest.


Alex_from_Ukraine's picture
Alex_from_Ukraine
29/09/2020 12:34
Ukraine
Liverpool
6559

This season, I suppose, Everton and ManUnited will work their socks off to get the highest.

william_nam's picture
william_nam
28/04/2020
VN
261
points

Our frontline workers have worked their socks off day in day out to save patient lives.


william_nam's picture
william_nam
28/04/2020 03:16
Vietnam
Chelsea
261

Our frontline workers have worked their socks off day in day out to save patient lives.

hsn's picture
hsn
25/04/2020
TR
5551
points

In order to get a position in business life after university I 've had worked my socks off


hsn's picture
hsn
25/04/2020 16:52
Turkey
Tottenham Hotspur
5551

In order to get a position in business life after university I 've had worked my socks off

Vic
23/04/2020
MX
817
points

Which team works their socks off most in the Premier League.

In this season, I think Liverpool work your socks off, but other team, has very impresive work is Wolves, with Raul "wolf" Jimenez, he works sock off!

When do you have to work your socks off?

Well, in my job, because isn´t easy face the different challengers.


Vic
23/04/2020 00:26
Mexico
Liverpool
817

Which team works their socks off most in the Premier League.

In this season, I think Liverpool work your socks off, but other team, has very impresive work is Wolves, with Raul "wolf" Jimenez, he works sock off!

When do you have to work your socks off?

Well, in my job, because isn´t easy face the different challengers.

Leaderboard

Top Scorers
RankNameScore
1Alex_from_Ukraine6559
2mobeckham6524
3hsn5551
4wsanta5086
5kwesimanifest4779
6Liubomyr4417
7elghoul3988
8assemjuve3705
9aragorn19863557
10Gergő Nagy3396
Country ranking
RankNameScore
1Colombia71666
2Ukraine33797
3Spain29267
4Serbia27426
5Brazil23321
6Albania20578
7Vietnam20405
8Turkey20001
9Macedonia19074
10Bosnia and Herzegovina16333
Club ranking
RankNameScore
1Manchester United143452
2Liverpool111000
3Chelsea89953
4Arsenal86174
5Manchester City58584
6Tottenham Hotspur19326
7Newcastle United10545
8West Ham United7637
9AFC Bournemouth4870
10Crystal Palace4491

Level

1
Average: 1 (1 vote)

Goals

Learn more football vocabulary.