Chill pill

Hello and welcome to The English We Speak. I’m Helen.

And I’m Rob. Hello! Err, Helen are you feeling OK? You’re looking a bit tired.

I am. I haven’t been sleeping very well. I have so much revising to do for my exams.

I’m sure you’ll be fine.

I don’t know. I’ve got assignments to write, exams to take - and look at my house, it’s a mess, I’ve got to tidy up.

Oh calm down. Anyway, when are your exams?

In three months’ time!

Three months?! That’s ages. Helen, you need to take a chill pill!

A chill pill? Oh right, let’s have a look. paracetamol. aspirin. no - I haven’t got any chill pills.

You won’t find them in there Helen. Chill pills aren’t real. When you tell someone to take a chill pill, you are telling them to calm down and relax. So Helen. relax. chill!

Oh right, thanks. So the doctor isn’t going to give me one?

Well, I’m sure he could give you something to help you relax but this idiom is just a saying to give someone some friendly advice, as you can hear in these examples.

Stop shouting at the referee and take a chill pill.

She was getting so stressed about what her boss said to her that I told her to just take a chill pill - everything would be fine.

My wife’s working so hard, she needs to take a chill pill, otherwise she’ll make herself ill.

OK, so we know to take a chill pill really means to relax or calm down. You’re right Rob, I will take a chill pill and I will chill out.

That’s good to hear.

Yes, in fact, I think I’ll go shopping, get my hair done, maybe book a holiday. there’s no point worrying about some silly exams is there? See you later Rob.

Hold on Helen. I think perhaps you’ve taken too many chill pills?! I mean, these are quite important exams and you need good grades if you want to get a better job.

Oh relax Rob. you know what you need to take?

A chill pill?

You said it!

Bye! Bye