choked up

Quote

1. Quote - Listen to the quote and guess what the slang means.

Definition

1. Definition - Study the definition.

unable to speak due to sadness, emotion and/or tears

2. Use - Learn how the slang is used.

There are some things that are hard to do at the same time. For instance, it’s hard to put on your jacket as you’re walking. If someone is really bad at doing more than one thing at once, people joke that he or she can’t walk and chew gum.

One pair of things that everyone has a hard time doing at the same time is talking and crying, or trying not to cry. Have you been trying to say something really sad, but your throat gets tight and you can barely speak? You were choked up.

Walter Cronkite is a famous television newscaster who was on TV for decades. He reported all kinds of stories, but one was particularly hard. When President John F. Kennedy was shot in 1963, Cronkite was so sad that he could hardly deliver the news. Looking back on that day 40 years later, Cronkite remembers that he was chocked up.
The term choked up makes sense when you think about it. Choking someone is when you wrap your hands around their neck and squeeze so that they can’t breathe. When you try to speak and you want to cry, it kind of feels like someone is choking you.

But being choked up isn’t all bad! You can get choked up when you see something touching or you’re really happy. Sometimes people get chocked up at weddings because they’re just so happy for the bride and groom they can hardly speak.

Examples

1. Examples - Hear some example sentences.

“I could barely break up with her. I kept getting too choked up to finish what I was saying.”

“During his acceptance speech, the coach got a little choked up. He was just so proud of his team.”

Winners

1. Winners - See who guessed the slang definition correctly.

	can't do anything because of sadness or grief by mikechang23
	when you feel so sad, you wanna cry and can not say a word as if blocked by something in your throat~! by yuen88yuen
	The act to be speakless because of strong emotion. ...the journalist Walter Cronkite was unable to speak by reporting John F. Kennedy´s death. by lalobrown
	can not make a sound because something is in your throat,or cannot speak with too many emotions,or stuff up... by Abbydoggie
	"I choked up" means I got shocked and I became unable to talk like if there is a lump in your throat. by CoOl_MaN
	He means that he couldn't speak because of tragedy.It was difficult for him to find right words in that situation. by ponka
	a situation in which you barely can talk cuz of something unexpected by alogigi
	unable to talk of deep horror or sadness or... by dearpesar
	Losing possibility to breathe, therefore also to talk because of state of shock,strong emotions,sadness etc. by ljiljana
	"To be choked up" means "to be upset". Walter Cronkite was so overcome by emotion that he couldn’t even find words to express his view about Kennedy death. Enrique Muñoz Spain by Enrique Muñoz
	Cried by oceangirl05

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