 Topic, word, and idiom of the day – lion. What do you know about lions? Can you answer the following questions? What is a female lion called? What is a baby lion called? What is a group of lions called? What is a common nickname for lions? What are some expressions with the word lion? Take a moment to think about these questions. Did you get them right? Female lion – lioness Baby lion – lion cub Group – a pride of lions Nickname – the king of beasts Expressions – the lion's share Roar like a lion – the lion's den Throw to the lions Lion-hearted – lion-ice someone Bonus question. What is the thick fur around a male lion's head called in English? Answer – it's called a mane. Example – the lion's mane was thick and regal looking. Note – horses also have manes, but they are on the back of their necks. What do the expressions mean? Number one – the lion's share This means the biggest or largest portion. Example – the boss took the lion's share of the profits. There was little or nothing left for anyone else. Roar like a lion. The sound coming from a lion's mouth is called roar. It can be a noun or a verb. The lion roared mightily. The lion's roar scared the tourists. Say this for pronunciation. Roar Roar Roaring Number two – the lion's den The lion's den, many lions, or lion's den, just one lion, refers to a very dangerous or threatening situation. For example, John felt like he was going into the lion's den when he was called into the boss's office after his huge blunder. This expression may have originated from the story of Daniel and the lion's den in the Bible. Three – throw someone to the lions, or be thrown to the lions. A related expression is throw to the lions. This means that one is being subjected to intense danger, persecution, or threat. The expression may have originated from Roman times, when officials would throw victims into the Colosseum arena to contend with wild beasts. For example, they threw Karen to the lions when they sent her unprepared to give a negative report to the board of directors. Karen was thrown to the lions by her disloyal colleagues. Four – lion-hearted Lions are considered brave or courageous. So to be lion-hearted means that one is very brave. Cultural point – in the movie The Wizard of Oz, there is a cowardly lion. This is considered unusual or ironic. Five – lion eyes. When you lionize someone, you highly respect them or put them in a high position in your mind. You may consider them heroic or somewhat of a celebrity. The president was lionized by the people. Please do not lionize me, I am just a common person. Lions are often considered mascots of sports teams in many countries. In the US, the Detroit Lions are a famous football team. In South Korea, the Samsung Lions are a famous baseball team. Stories with Lions. Probably the most famous stories are Esop's fables. The lion and the mouse. This one talks about the rewards of kindness. The lioness and the vixen. This one talks about how quality is better than quantity. A vixen is a female fox. Movies and plays about lions. The Lion King is one of the most famous cartoon movies of all time. It was later made into a musical Broadway show. Another classic movie was Born Free about a lioness raised and set free by her human friends. Stories about Lions. One of the most famous songs about lions is The Lion Sleeps Tonight. This song originated in Africa and became very popular worldwide. Listen to the song at the link below. Grammar point. Is it correct to say The Lion Sleeps Tonight? Well it depends on a lot of things. If tonight is referring to the current time, tonight is right now, it is probably better to say The Lion is sleeping tonight at this time. However, if tonight is referring to a future time, there are some possibilities. In some cases, both present and present continuous tense can refer to future events when the time is stated or understood. For example, I am leaving in a few hours. I leave at 7 o'clock, a time in the future. Nonetheless, authors, poets, and songwriters are often known to use poetic license to make lyrics or words fit within literary context. Enjoy the song. Listen to The Lion Sleeps Tonight at the link below. Hope you enjoyed that. Come back often to learn more about topics, words, and expressions in English. And don't forget to subscribe to our channel. Thanks for watching. If you have a question or idea for our next video, please let us know. Just write us at eslgold.com slash submit question.