“Let’s Make A Day Of It” – And Other ‘Day’ Idioms

This Saturday the big football final is on in Melbourne. It’s damn hard to get tickets to the game, so a mate and I decided on the next best thing – going to a pub and watching the match live.

However, it’s not as easy as it sounds. Many places are going to be crowded and it’s hard to book a table. In the end, though, I found a place that offers a special breakfast package and guaranteed seats right throughout the match. But it will cost a bit for the privilege of being able to watch the match from a bar and not the stadium!

The match starts at 2:30 pm, but we’ve now got tickets for a Grand Final breakfast from 8am. The pub promises a special breakfast, competitions and celebrities (I think they mean local footballers will be there, and not Lady Gaga or Robbie Williams popping out of a cake).

As we were talking about whether or not to buy the tickets, my friend said:

“Let’s make a day of it. It’ll be fun. Count me in.”

Of course, the first thing I thought was: “Damn, he used this idiom before I did.”

This was a really good example of when to tell someone: “Let’s make a day of it.”

The idea behind this idiom is that instead of just spending a bit of time doing something that you’ve planned, you decide to use up the whole day or most of the day so that you can enjoy the whole time.

• Another example:

Today I had to take my Mac in to be repaired. Instead of just dropping it off and coming home, I made a day of it:

I dropped off my computer, then went shopping in town, checked out some bookstores, stopped by at a cafe, and then luckily went back to collect my repaired Mac at the close of play (= at the end of the day). In other words, I took the opportunity to be in the city for most of the day.

So when you make a day of it, the idea is that you take extra time to do other things on top of what you had originally planned.

Here are a few other idioms with ‘day’ in it:

One Of These Days

This spoken phrase is used to talk about the future:

One of these days I’m going to ask her to marry me.

If you don’t get yourself sorted, one of these days you’ll get into real trouble.

One of these days I’m going to lose interest in Kelly.

This phrase is used to talk about a time in the future, based on your knowledge of present events.

The Other Day..

This is used a lot in conversation to mean ‘recently’. The exact day is not important, just that we know it happened a few days ago or several days ago. It could even mean one or two weeks ago.

I spoke to John the other day. He says ‘hi’..

I ran into Jonesy the other day. He’s in good shape, and got a new job to boot.

I was speaking about politics with Daniel the other day.

These Days

I’ve included this because lots of learners say “in these days” whereas it should be “these days.”

It is used to talk about what is happening now, often compared to the past:

I wrote letters to my friends when I was a boy, but these days most young people just send emails.

Day By Day

She was sick for a while but day by day she began to feel better.

This phrase is used to say that with little steps she began to feel better: little by little.

Come On, I Haven’t Got All Day!

Maybe your friend is taking too long to do something. And now you’re getting a little impatient.

For example, maybe you’re going to a concert with your girlfriend. You should be leaving but she’s still putting on her make up and getting ready:

Hurry up, I haven’t got all day. It’s about to start soon!

Bad Hair Day

This spoken English phrase can be used seriously or to show a bit of humour.

If your friend is having a bad day, you can say to her (or even him):

You having a bad hair day?

It can be used literally, where you didn’t brush your hair nicely in the morning:

Looks like I’m having a bad hair day.

It is usually used though to talk about the day you’re having, that things are not working out as you had wanted them too:

Boy am I having a bad hair day today. Can’t wait to get home and run a bath.

You might also like:

We Really Hit If Off – Conversational Phrases

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