English, baby!

on my toes

Date: Nov 06 2003

Quote

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

“I wanted to understand it, and I wanted to be good at it. So, that made acting a challenge to me. It really wakes me up, just makes me alive. I have to be on my toes at all times because there’s someone else waiting to take it, and I love that feeling.”
- Eva Mendes, star of the new movies Once Upon a Time in Mexico and Out of Time, talking about her love of acting.

Definition

1. Definition - Study the definition.

alert, aware, careful, prepared, ready for action, ready for whatever happens next, ready to do whatever is necessary, paying attention to what’s going on

2. Use - Learn how the slang is used.

You can use “on my toes” to describe the way you feel when you’re ready for anything. For example, if you play a sport, you always want to be “on your toes” and ready for whatever happens in the game. Or, if you’re taking a class from a very difficult teacher, you better be “on your toes” in case the teacher asks you a challenging question. When you’re “on your toes,” you’re ready to handle any situation that comes about.

Examples

1. Examples - Hear some example sentences.

””I’m taking a history class from Professor Jameson. I’m always on my toes when I’m in his class, because he calls on people all the time and asks them to answer really hard questions.”“

””You’re not playing right now, but you better be on your toes in case we need you. Keep your mind on the game.”“

””If you go camping, you should stay on your toes at all times, because you never know what might happen.”“

””C’mon, you gotta be on your toes if you want to be successful in this business. Things are changing very fast. You have to be ready to adapt to any situation.”“

Winners

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

It means a state of constant diligence and alertness, to remain competitive, keen to get counted, to be in reckoning.
by Srikanth (Bangalore, India)
to make you keep noticing what is happening, and stop you from relaxing, because you do not know what is going to happen next.
by Natalio Gagliardi (Rosario, Santa Fe, Argentina)
On one’s toes, means be alert, prepared to act. For example, A good investigator’s always on is toes.
by Sherry (ShenZhen, China)
It may mean keep working hard and be cautious all the time, otherwise you’ll lag behind. Just as an old saying goes, not to advance is to go back.
by shannon (Fuzhou, China)
It’s an expression for someone really treasures something and keep alert all the time and desperately trying one’s best to take excellent care of it, otherwise someone else would have stolen it away.
by Jingjing (Beijing, China)
be careful. beware
by Vicky (Shunde, China)
I think it means that she have to keep herself in alert, stay in the real world, something like keep her mind in a straight thinking.
by Mario (Florianopolis, Brazil)
I think this week slang means: stay conscious of all risks and dangers, pay high attention and be aware how to react.
by Kornelia (Varna, Bulgaria)
to be eagerly waiting for something to happen to take the results of it.
by Paola (Pasto, Colombia)
be awake, be ready for doing something. always be active for everything
by Mary (DongGuan, China)
I guess “on my toes” means that you have to be always ready, busy and accept the difficulties to keep something that you really need.
by Khang Huynh (HCM, Vietnam)
I think “on my toes” maybe refer to “do one’s best to do something”.That is because Eva Mendas said she had to be on her toes at all times because there’s someone else waiting to take it. In the amusement circle, there have been much competition that any actors have to face and so they should do their best to be well done in the acting. Otherwise they couldn’t stand there any more.
by yali (Huaihua, China)
on my toes means to get things ready for action.
by lucia (Hong Kong, China)
Pretty damn alert,always be ready to do somethin’ and to bust a gut.
by Heidi (NYC, U.S.)
Ready for action, Alert
by reza (Tehran, Iran)
On my toes means “Alert”
by Lima Filho (Recife, Brazil)
ready for action. alert
by xiaohua (Chinatianjin, China)
ready for action
by hongbo (Yantai, China)
It means alert and ready for it
by zhihong (Nanjing, China)
To stay alert
by Jack (Hong Kong, China)
I guess “on one’s toes” means “to be on alert about something”
by Tracy (Hong Kong, China)
watchful and ready for action
by hua (Fuzhou, PRC)
Be aware of something
by Jieke (Guangzhou, China)
I guess it means: be ready to do something good
by chunhui
Alert, ready for anything
by Lyle (Sao Paulo, Brazil)
I guess that means be alerted, prepared to act on.
by eriya (Shanghai, China)
be careful
by yazid (Amman, Jordan)
“On my toes” means ready to take action, to carry out what decided or planned to do. For example: I prepare all and study this course so hard. I think I am on my toes to pass the exam.
by Bang Luu (Saigon, Vietnam)
I guess the mening is: counting on my self and do not rely on any body to do some thing for us
by Behzad (Toronto, Canada)
a person who rely on her/his ability to do something well.
by sara (Los Angelas, USA)
I think the mean is describing somebody under big pressure, and can’t lose or careless.
by annabella (Nanjing, China)
to be on one’s toes means that one feels the pressure and keeps improving himself/herself in a certain career.
by calvin (Guangzhou, China)
When I graduated from college, the first thing was to find a good job. Recently, it is not easy to find a good job because of there’re so many people looking for jobs. So my father wanted to give me a good job, because he knows some important persons in the company. But I didn’t accept because I wanted to be on my toes.
by yonggang (Baoding, China)
It means prepare to do somthing might be she doesn’t want to let her place for another person.
by Geni (Bloomington, U.S.A)
“on my toes” mean trying to do something, not give up even when there are difficulties.
by Pink (Hanoi, Vietnam)
That is what you have done must meet the attitude which the others look forward you.
by yanjun (Chang Sha, China)
i guess that means of “on my toes” is a feeling. it’s like a shudder when some people try to do some job with their best but that feeling is not bad..
by yong hak (Jin-Ju, South Korea)
It means to do one’s best
by Tero (Brazil)
do your best by yourself
by dali (Shenzhen, China)
try my best
by Lei (Yang Zhou, China)
try your best to do everything well, you should do a lot of efforts and work hard.
by lotus (Nanjing, China)
I think this expression means someone will do or act without any hesitation when his/her loving things is coming
by hai (Beijing, China)
keep busy all the time, not be able to stop to have a break
by Jane (Shanghai, China)
be busy on something, his/her business
by gu (Nanjing, China)
I think it means that it’s a feeling of exciting, or very happy.
by chcat (Chengdu, China)
I guess ‘on my toe’ means nearby, handy and immediately.
by oyuntsetseg (Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia)
I think it means that someone acts himself or takes exercise on her body.
by Puff (SZ, China)