Thanks for the coffee Neil, what a great idea to present Authentic Real English from a coffee shop.

Yes, li. I’s good to get out of this studio, anyway i got the coffee for free here.

You don’t pay for it.

Contacts.

Contacts?

People i know. Don’t tell anyone, but my friend works there and well... when the boss isn’t around  he gives me the coffee for free.

He gives it to you for free!

Ssshhh   keep your voice down. If he gets found it, he will get the sack. You know lose his job.

We need to keep a lid on it.

Why do we need to keep a lid on the coffee. Are we trying to hide it.

When you say keep a lid on something, it means keep it a secret or keep it quiet about it.

Oh, i see.

The phrase can also mean keep something strongly on the control like your loud voice, control it and don’t tell anybody. Keep a lid on it.

We’d better hear some examples while i my drink my coffee.

Quietly, we need to keep a lid on the company merger. If the newspaper gets to hear about this, our share price will drop.

Our baby is due in November, but keep a lid on the news, we haven’t told our parents yet.

Please keep a lid on your motions, otherwise the waiter is going to ask us to leave!

Mmm this coffee does taste good, but i don’t like the idea that you got it for free. It is dishonest.

What’s that li?

Oh nothing i was just saying i might have to tell someone about your dishonest behavior.

Mmm , you mean you are going to lift the lid of what i’m doing. That means to tell someone something bad. Well you can, but you know what that will mean?

What’s that?

You will be buying the coffee next time, and that is not cheap.

Oh right, let’s just keep it our little secret, shall we.