English, baby!

get in the swing of it

Date: Sep 19 2002

Quote

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

“Comedy is fun once you get in the swing of it.”
- Angelina Jolie, movie star, talking about acting in funny movies.

Definition

1. Definition - Study the definition.

understand it, get the hang of it, get used to it, figure it out; understand how it works; get the feeling that you can control it; get used to the feeling of doing it

2. Use - Learn how the slang is used.

You can use “get in the swing of it” to describe your feelings when you figure something out. If you’ve been struggling to understand something for a while, and then you finally understand it, you’re in the swing of it. If you’re trying to learn how to snowboard, and you get the feeling that you can actually do it – without being nervous – then you’re in the swing of it. Any time there is a positive change in your confidence in your abilities, you’re getting in the swing of it.

Examples

1. Examples - Hear some example sentences.

””I hate skiing! No matter how hard I try, I just can’t get in the swing of it. I just keep falling down, over and over and over…”“

””My sister didn’t like riding horses until she really got in the swing of it. Now she goes riding almost every day.”“

””I love learning English. It’s so much fun! I really feel like I’m in the swing of it right now.”“

Winners

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

“Get in the swing of it” means totally understand something and kind of feeling that you can control something.
by Ping (Beijing, China)
I think “get in the swing of it” means when you get used to do something and you get the real feeling of doing it.
by Andrea (Araraquara, Brazil)
I think “get into the swing of it” in this quote means “she becomes very involved in it (comedy) and enjoys what she is doing.” For example, “David understood how hard it is to get back into the swing of mountaineering after such a long absence.”
by Najib (Abu Dhabi, UAE).
I think that “get in the swing of it” means when you know or get involve with something well and than you can enjoy it.
by Marisela (Düsseldorf, Germany)
That is proper usage of “get in the swing of it.” It means to get accustomed or used to something.
by Sean (Qingdao, China)
Get the swing of it means that you get started with something.
by Je (Philidelphia, Pennsylvania USA)
We think it means that you really got deeply involved and even had fun with what you were doing; you were able to get into the “spirit of the thing”.
by Ana and João (Belo Horizonte, Brazil)
Get in the swing of it: join and enjoy something.
by Phyllis (Beijing, China)
“Get in swing of it” is applied when you take part of the context, i.e., when you participate of the subject….
by Alessandro (Campinas – SP, Brazil)
Comedy is fun once you get the hang of it. If you understand how it works, how it goes.
by Tero (Jales, SP – Brazil)
Means that you get the ropes and you make sense of somethings actually.
by WenXiaohua (China)
I think ‘get in the swing of it’ means one gets fully involved in and ajusted to a new situation, circumstance, environment, etc.
by Freddie (Shantou, China)
I think the slang “get in the swing of it” probably means get totally involved in doing something, concentrate in doing something.
by Xu
I think that “get in the swing of it” is to get used of something you’re not used to doing…
by Caroline (Guarapuava/PR, Brazil)
I guess that “get in the swing of it” means that you feel in it.
by Pat (Bangkok, Thailand)