A truck hangs from the Chavantes bridge near Fartuna, Brazil. Photo: Helio Inumaru/AP
Today's Phrase
If you are 'hanging around', you are waiting, not doing anything particularly productive.
For example:
I like going shopping with my friends but we spend most of the day just hanging around in the mall.
I don't think he really loves me. I'm getting sick of hanging around waiting for him to call.
There is nothing for teenagers to do round here. They just spend their evenings hanging around street corners.
Don't confuse it with
'Hanging up on someone' is the action of putting the phone down suddenly when someone is talking to you.
If you don't stop shouting at me, I'm hanging up right now!
Interesting fact
Alexander Graham Bell, who was born in Scotland in 1847, is credited with inventing the telephone. In 1876 he was awarded the first US patent for his new invention. Bell was a British citizen for most of his early life. He applied for American citizenship after 1877, gained it in 1882, and referred to himself as an American citizen from that point on.
