What does ‘to call the shots’ mean? And what about ‘to bite the bullet’?
What’s the difference between a wound and an injury? And is it a good thing to be in the firing line?
You’ll learn vocabulary and idioms connected to the army in this episode.

Voice message from Andrés from Colombia with 2 TV series recommendations.
You’re doing this quarantine more bearable – MAKING it more bearable.
NB. a series, singular with final -s.
Recommended TV Series.
Vikings
Black Mirror by Charlie Brooker
British Music Legends: https://inglespodcast.com/175

ITALKI https://go.italki.com/aprenderingles
“Get $10 USD in italki Credits with your first purchase”

Voice message from Jordi from Huelva_Studying B1
Can we speak about the army?

The Army

Vocabulary
to deploy solders
marines/marine corps – created originally as naval infantry – mixture of air, land and sea service
troops, soldiers (To soldier on – It’s difficult to be under lockdown, but we’re soldiering on!)
to deploy troops/the army

Ranks – in order of importance from lowest to highest.
(This is only a small but important selection of many possible ranks.)
Army/Marines: private/marine – soldado, corporal – cabo, sergeant – sargento, lieutenant – teniente, captain – capitán, major – mayor, colonel – coronel, brigadier – general de brigada, major general – mayor general, general – , field marshal – mariscal.

military base – base militar
Barracks – where soldiers sleep
The mess- where soldiers eat on the base
HQ – headquarters
MP – military police
weapons/arms – armas
gun – bullet (ammunition) To bite the bullet (I’ve decided to bite the bullet and pay for a language course)
hand gun/pistol
Rifle – fusil
Shotgun – escopeta
single/double barrel
to load/reload – To put a bullet in a gun
machine gun – ametralladora (automatic firearm)
magazine – full of bullets
bayonet – bayoneta
trigger – gatillo
mine/landmine – mina
minefield – campo minado (Phrasal verbs can be a minefield!)
missile – misíl
grenade – granada
artillery – artillería
artillery shells
battle – batalla
camouflage – camuflaje
To fire/shoot a gun
ceasefire – alto el fuego
combat – combate
on active service/combat
conflict – conflicto
hostilities – hostilidades
injured – herido
to wound – herir (a wound is external on the skin, like a cut. An injury may be external or internal, such as a bone fracture). ‘Wound’ is often used in conjunction with a weapon like a bullet or knife wound.
casualties – bajas de guerra
to go AWOL (absent without leave)
to enlist – alistar(se)
to go on manoeuvres
reconnaissance

Idioms
To call the shots
To fight a losing battle
It’s half the battle
To drop a bombshell
To be ‘in the firing line’
A shot in the dark
Stick to your guns
To go over the top/OTT – to do something excessively or without restraint. (It originates from WWI to describe extremely risky charges coming out of the trenches onto open ground.)

…and now it’s your turn to practise your English.
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On next week’s episode: Manage, handle, deal with, cope

The music in this podcast is by Pitx. The track is called ‘See You Later’

Photo by Stijn Swinnen on Unsplash