Learn how to use the phrase "jump through hoops”.
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Episode Script:

“Please don’t make me jump through a lot of hoops!”

Welcome to “ESL with Josh” - a podcast that will help you to speak more like a native English speaker. In this episode, we will consider the phrase “jump through hoops” - what does it mean and how do we use it?

“Jump through hoops” is an idiom, which means that this phrase has a meaning unrelated to the words found in it. ”Jump through hoops” does NOT mean to literally jump through something. ”Jump through hoops” does NOT have anything to do with basketball.

“Jumping through hoops” DOES mean doing a lot of annoying or difficult tasks in order to accomplish something.

Have you ever been to a circus, or seen one in a movie? Many circus acts involve animals jumping through hoops, sometimes hoops that are on fire. Think about this act. There is no purpose in the animal jumping through the hoop, except to entertain others. Often the animals are even threatened with a whip in order to make sure they jump through the hoops.

This is where the idiom comes from. If you have to do multiple annoying or difficult tasks in order to accomplish something, you may feel like you are being treated like a zoo animal. The annoying tasks seem to have no purpose other than entertaining the person or institution that is making you do them.

So, the phrase “jump through hoops” is used often for describing how difficult it was to accomplish something. At times, the idiom is expanded to “jump through a lot of hoops”.

Here are a few examples:

• We had to jump through a lot of hoops to get my father admitted to the hospital.
• With all of the security checks, you have to jump through a lot of hoops in the airport to get onto a flight.
• I jumped through hoops all morning to get this appointment for you, so you better make it on time.
• Hopefully I will get my visa someday. It feels like all I am doing is jumping through hoops for no reason.

Now it is time to take a quiz.
Which of the following sentences use the idiom correctly?

1. If you want to be an actor, be prepared to hop through a lot of hoops in order to land a job.
2. I wish we could get more done. It seems like we are just constantly jumping through hoops.
3. We had to jump through fire to get my father admitted to the hospital.
4. I am tired of jumping in circles to get a passport. I give up.

What do you think?
The only correct sentence is number 2.

Now it’s time for the Joke of the Day
What animal can jump higher than a house? 
All of them. Houses can’t jump.

Thanks for listening!

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