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ESL Reading

Empty promises - If someone makes a promise that they can’t keep it is called an empty promise.  For example, imagine a father tells his son that if he gets over 90% on a school exam, then the father will give his son $100 .  Now imagine later that the son actually gets over 90% but the father decides not to give the son any money.  We could say that the father made an empty promise.  If someone makes a lot of empty promises then people around them will begin to trust them less and less.  Companies often make empty promises in their advertisments.  “Our skin cream will make your skin look 20 years younger”.

Flaky – A flaky person is a person who makes plans but then cancels at the last moment, or doesn’t even call to cancel.  Flaky people often don’t have a good excuse for cancelling.  It is a bad habit.  We often use this term in a dating context.  I could say, my date last night flaked out.  It is the second time in a row that she did this to me.  I don’t think I’ll call her anymore because she’s too flaky.

I wouldn’t count on that - “Counting on” something means depending or relying on it.  I could say, you can’t “count on” flaky people.  Even if they promise to meet you at a time and place, you never know if they will actually do it.

We can say “count on” for both things and people.

Your friend could tell you that a salesperson told him that he could make 25% per year if he did a certain type of investment.

If you didn’t think this was likely, you could say to your friend, “I wouldn’t count on that”.  It basically means, “Don’t expect that to be true”, or “I don’t think that will happen”
You could also say, “I wouldn’t count on that type of sales person if I were you”.   That means, “you shouldn’t believe what salespeople like that say”.

Don’t hold your breath - This phrase basically means, “I don’t think it will happen”.  Holding your breath means to stop breathing.  It is saying, “don’t hold your breath waiting for something like this to happen because it probably won’t happen”
It is similar to saying, “I wouldn’t count on that”

Exaggerator – If you call someone an exaggerator, you are saying that they exaggerate when they tell stories.  They make things seem more intense than they really are.  Exaggeraters tell you that they earn more money than they actually do for example.  Exaggerators tell you that it is colder than it actually is, the party was more fun than it really was, or their holiday was more fun than it really was etc.  They often do this to make themselves appear better or make the story more interesting.

We often say, he is a “huge exaggerator” or a “big time exaggerator”.