'Bury Your Head in the Sand' to Avoid Difficulty
2022-10-23
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1Hello! And welcome to Words and Their Stories, from VOA Learning English!
2On this program we dive into words and expressions in the English language.
3We go beneath the surface of an expression and explain it more fully.
4We give examples, notes on usage, and sometimes we tell where the expression came from.
5Today we talk about avoiding difficult subjects.
6One way you can do this is to bury your head in the sand.
7Burying your head in the sand means that you are avoiding, or trying to avoid, a situation.
8You do this by pretending that it does not exist.
9Some word experts say this expression comes from a common, but mistaken, belief about a large flightless bird.
10Some believe that ostriches bury their heads in the sand when frightened.
11The idea is that an ostrich believes that if it cannot see any danger, the danger is not there.
12Experts say the birds do not really do, or think, this.
13They do, however, dig a lot in the sand for food but not to avoid danger.
14But you can use the expression bury your head in the sand to describe people who refuse to think about unpleasant but important facts.
15You can use it for those who hide or ignore clear signs of danger.
16These types of people are all burying their heads in the sand.
17The expression means the same if you drop the word "bury" and just say someone has their head in the sand.
18The expression can also be used as an adjective.
19A head-in-the-sand approach, attitude, opinion, or method refuses to recognize a problem.
20And they will probably not be very effective.
21For example, the teacher had a head-in-the-sand idea of her students.
22She did not see that they were not understanding her classes.
23Organizations can be described as head-in-the-sand - so can people.
24Now, let's hear two friends use the expression to bury your head in the sand.
25A: The storm clouds are starting to move in. We should get going. Have you packed your emergency bag?
26B: No. I'm not leaving.
27A: What? What do you mean? There is a class 5 hurricane coming! The whole city is being evacuated!
28B: I've been through hurricanes before. I'm going to ride out the storm in my apartment.
29A: Look, now is not the time to bury your head in the sand.
30This is serious! Even if nothing happens to this apartment building, food and water will be hard to find. Electricity will go out.
31B: It'll be fine.
32A: No! It won't! Now get your head out of the sand, pack a bag, and come with me!
33And that brings us to the end of this Words and Their Stories! Until next time, I'm Anna Matteo.
1Hello! And welcome to Words and Their Stories, from VOA Learning English! 2On this program we dive into words and expressions in the English language. We go beneath the surface of an expression and explain it more fully. We give examples, notes on usage, and sometimes we tell where the expression came from. 3Today we talk about avoiding difficult subjects. One way you can do this is to bury your head in the sand. 4Burying your head in the sand means that you are avoiding, or trying to avoid, a situation. You do this by pretending that it does not exist. 5Some word experts say this expression comes from a common, but mistaken, belief about a large flightless bird. Some believe that ostriches bury their heads in the sand when frightened. The idea is that an ostrich believes that if it cannot see any danger, the danger is not there. Experts say the birds do not really do, or think, this. They do, however, dig a lot in the sand for food but not to avoid danger. 6But you can use the expression bury your head in the sand to describe people who refuse to think about unpleasant but important facts. You can use it for those who hide or ignore clear signs of danger. These types of people are all burying their heads in the sand. 7The expression means the same if you drop the word "bury" and just say someone has their head in the sand. 8The expression can also be used as an adjective. A head-in-the-sand approach, attitude, opinion, or method refuses to recognize a problem. And they will probably not be very effective. For example, the teacher had a head-in-the-sand idea of her students. She did not see that they were not understanding her classes. 9Organizations can be described as head-in-the-sand - so can people. 10Now, let's hear two friends use the expression to bury your head in the sand. 11A: The storm clouds are starting to move in. We should get going. Have you packed your emergency bag? 12B: No. I'm not leaving. 13A: What? What do you mean? There is a class 5 hurricane coming! The whole city is being evacuated! 14B: I've been through hurricanes before. I'm going to ride out the storm in my apartment. 15A: Look, now is not the time to bury your head in the sand. This is serious! Even if nothing happens to this apartment building, food and water will be hard to find. Electricity will go out. 16B: It'll be fine. 17A: No! It won't! Now get your head out of the sand, pack a bag, and come with me! 18And that brings us to the end of this Words and Their Stories! Until next time, I'm Anna Matteo. 19Anna Matteo wrote this lesson for VOA Learning English. 20______________________________________________________________________ 21Words in This Story 22pretend -v. to act as though something were true or is one way when it is not true or is another way 23evacuate -v. to leave or be removed from an area because of danger 24_______________________________________________________________________ 25We want to hear from you. Do you have a similar expression in your language? In the Comments section, you can also practice using any of the expressions from the story. 26We have a new comment system. Here is how it works: 27Write your comment in the box. 28Under the box, you can see four images for social media accounts. They are for Disqus, Facebook, Twitter and Google. 29Click on one image and a box appears. Enter the login for your social media account. Or you may create one on the Disqus system. It is the blue circle with "D" on it. It is free. 30Each time you return to comment on the Learning English site, you can use your account and see your comments and replies to them. Our comment policy is here.