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spread thin

Date: Nov 18 2010

Quote

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

“If I spread myself too thin, I’m not a good actor, I’m not a good mother, and I’m just really stressed and everybody hates me.”

- Actress Katherine Heigl on balancing work and motherhood.

Definition

1. Definition - Study the definition.

Go Super to Listen

try to do too much at once

2. Use - Learn how the slang is used.

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Imagine you have a big piece of toast and just a little butter. You’ll have to spread that butter pretty thin if you want to cover the whole piece of toast. In the same way, when you have a lot of things to do and a limited amount of time and energy, you may end up feeling like you are spread thin.

When a person is spread thin, she is really busy. She may be trying to do too many things at once. For example, the actress Katherine Heigl has to be careful not to spread herself too thin by working a lot while also raising the baby girl she and her husband adopted from Korea. She says that when she is spread thin, she gets really stressed and the people around her suffer. Instead of doing one thing well, she does many things poorly.

Spread thin can work as a verb or an adjective. You can say that a person is spread thin, and that’s an adjective. Or you can say that someone spreads herself thin. That’s a verb. We can also say that things as well as people are spread thin. If money is spread thin, there isn’t enough of it to go around. Or if you’re trying to cook dinner, study for a test and chat with your friends while reading this lesson, your attention is probably spread thin.

Do you ever spread yourself thin? What kinds of things do you try to do at once?

Examples

1. Examples - Hear some example sentences.

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“Between work and taking care of the kids, Maggie has really been spread thin lately.”

“If you spread yourself thin at work, all your projects will suffer.”

“Marissa was spread so thin last week, she hardly had any time to relax. “

Winners

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

	to try to do so many different things at the same time that you do not do any of them well by chomo
	if i do too much effort I spread myself too thin by monacovalentina
	To be involved in more activities than you can handle. by Gaby313
	do too many things in one time by DecapitatedLucia
	To try to do too many things at the same time, so that you cannot give enough time or attention to any of them. by kukuka
	To try to do many things simultaneously by sabeel

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Comments

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Marcelolic

Brazil

None and I'm not a spread thin person 'cause I always try to do each thing one by one the best possible way ;)

khawlina

United Arab Emirates

u have the intention to do many things at once but because of time shortage you can't manage to do them all properly.

mitra.700

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

Because i like to do every thing perfectly I never spreads myself thin.

nangphuongdong

Viet Nam

Sometimes, I feel I am spreading too thin when keep on doing multi-task at the same time yet it never works out well.

Fairstorm

Tunisia

I almost never spread my self thin. When I have many things to do sumiltaneously, I get rid of the less important for a while and focus on those that matter the most.

Zambuka

United States

i'm spreading myself thin constantly… sometimes it's really stressing but there's no other way)

muhendishi

Turkey

I rarely spread myself thin in my life since 1-2 years.Because I greduated univercity and looking for a job for months.ı have no work except for my blog,handcrafts.

estrell

United States

I spread myself thin for almost two tears now. Working full time, attending campus school and taking care of my son.

constantine_

Turkey

i sometimes have to spread myself thin ,at work i have to do so many things by myself , in conclusion i m spread thin…

rebel lee

China

I am supposed to have some fun today because it's saturday. But right now, I am in my company.

No one asked me to come here today. I just wanted to come to work.

Golden Lena

Russian Federation

I spread myself thin almost every day. I do a lot things at once: I try to improve my english, I try to improve my game in poker, I try to do my best in work, I try to care my family. =)

sankora

Egypt

I spread myself too thin when i was working as a graphic desiger all the day at work no friends no time to sport or to do anything and the result thats i depressed for more than 1 year and half …..

Zaccarias

Brazil

Omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience is all divine attribute, not human. Usually when we try to more than we can, the results are not good. We start a lot of things and don't finish them, and when it is concluded usually it is not well done.Efforts without wisdom do not work very well.

May God bless you all.

miraz1

Syrian Arab Republic

This happens to me when I postpone all the things that I have to do to the last minute.It is really an awful feeling that you got after spreading youeself too thin. Great lesson and useful slang…..thanks a lot.

blueskun

China

Do lot of things at one time which often make people crazy. i often do this when needed .It is not a good way of life

blueskun

China

Do lot of things at one time which often make people crazy. i often do this when needed

Ivy47

Taiwan

I spread myself thin all the weekends of last month, due to I had many things to do, I didn't do every thing well, and I was more tired than working day. I don't like that. Life needs to be relaxed, right?