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[ti:What Do You Do With Your Mouth]
[ar:Christopher Cruise]
[al:Words and Their Stories]
[by:www.21voa.com]
[00:00.00]Now, the VOA Special English program Words and Their Stories.
[00:27.13]People use their mouths for many things. 
[00:31.19]They eat, talk, shout and sing. 
[00:36.92]They smile and they kiss. 
[00:40.65]In the English language, 
[00:43.09]there are many expressions using the word mouth. 
[00:47.86]But some of them are not so nice.
[00:52.27]For example, if you say bad things about a person, 
[00:58.14]the person might protest and say "Do not bad mouth me."
[01:04.09]Sometimes, people say something to a friend or family member 
[01:09.83]that they later regret because it hurts that person's feelings. 
[01:15.86]Or they tell the person something they were not supposed to tell. 
[01:21.80]The speaker might say: "I really put my foot in my mouth this time." 
[01:28.56]If this should happen, 
[01:31.69]the speaker might feel "down in the mouth." 
[01:35.81]In other words, he might feel sad for saying the wrong thing.
[01:42.04]Another situation is when 
[01:45.53]someone falsely claims another person said something. 
[01:50.09]The other person might protest: 
[01:53.54]"I did not say that. Do not put words in my mouth."
[01:59.24]Information is often spread through "word of mouth." 
[02:04.55]This is general communication between people, 
[02:08.73]like friends talking to each other. 
[02:11.77]"How did you hear about that new movie?" someone might ask. 
[02:17.55]"Oh, by word of mouth." 
[02:20.79]A more official way of getting information 
[02:24.99]is through a company or government mouthpiece. 
[02:29.85]This is an official spokesperson. 
[02:33.74]Government-run media could also be called a mouthpiece.
[02:39.81]Sometimes when one person is speaking, 
[02:44.02]he says the same thing that his friend was going to say. 
[02:49.60]When this happens, the friend might say: 
[02:54.28]"You took the words right out of my mouth!" 
[02:58.54]Sometimes a person has a bad 
[03:03.67]or unpleasant experience with another person. 
[03:07.88]He might say that experience 
[03:10.98]"left a bad taste in my mouth." 
[03:14.43]Or the person might have had a very frightening experience, 
[03:19.81]like being chased by an angry dog. 
[03:23.36]He might say: "I had my heart in my mouth."
[03:28.31]Some people have lots of money 
[03:32.00]because they were born into a very rich family. 
[03:36.66]There is an expression for this, too. 
[03:40.50]You might say such a person, 
[03:43.50]"was born with a silver spoon in his mouth."
[03:47.92]This rich person is the opposite of a person 
[03:53.13]who lives from hand to mouth. 
[03:56.38]This person is very poor and only has enough money 
[04:02.32]for the most important things in life, like food.
[04:07.23]Parents might sometimes withhold sweet food from a child 
[04:13.35]as a form of punishment for saying bad things. 
[04:18.26]For example, if a child says things she should not say to her parents, 
[04:25.72]she might be described as a "mouthy child." 
[04:30.66]The parents might even tell the child to "stop mouthing off."
[04:36.09]But enough of all this talk. 
[04:39.57]I have been "running my mouth" long enough.
[04:43.48]Words and Their Stories in VOA Special English was written by Jill Moss.
[04:51.25]I'm Christopher Cruise.