Father's Day always falls on the third Sunday in June in the United States and the United Kingdom. This holiday was established in 1910 in the US state of Washington, and remains the most popular Father's Day date in the world. This year, Father's Day is on June 18th.

Most countries in the world celebrate Father's Day, as you can see on this map on Wikipedia Commons. In many places like the US and the UK, the date falls on a particular Sunday of the month. But in some countries, the date is fixed and the same every year. In some Hindu, Islamic, and Burmese cultures, it falls on a date that varies each year according to the lunar calendar.

Let's take a look today at some typical Father's Day traditions in the US and the UK. These might be the same as you do in your home country, but maybe they'll help give you some ideas for Father's Day this year anyway!

But it later became a permanent federal holiday.

Caption 34, Spotlight: Why Columbus Day?

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A federal holiday (called a "bank holiday" in the UK) is a holiday where most people have the day off from work and where, depending on the local laws, many shops, offices, and institutions are closed. Father's Day in the US and the UK, however, is just a regular holiday, and not a federal or bank holiday. The fact that it always falls on a Sunday means that most people take the day off from work anyway!

My father yells, "What are you going do with your life?"

Caption 7, Cyndi Lauper: Girls Just Want to Have Fun

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Relationships with our fathers are sometimes problematic, but hopefully we've been able to forgive and forget, and maintain a healthy relationship with our dads.

This Mother's Day you might want to make her a card.

Caption 70, World's Toughest Job: Official Video

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It's also part of the holiday's tradition to send your dad a Father's Day card.

And what do you hope to get for a present this year?

Caption 15, Christmas in London: People

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This video caption is referring to Christmas presents, but you can also consider getting your dad a present for Father's Day. Then the question remains: What would he like to have?

We went out to dinner.

Caption 17, Sigrid: The New Normal

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If you live near your father, it's also a nice gesture to invite him out to dinner. It's also a nice gesture make dinner at your home and invite him over.

Further Learning
Go to Yabla English and watch the videos above. Maybe there are some Father's Day traditions in your native country that aren't discussed here. Try writing a paragraph in English about Father's Day traditions where you came from.

An idiom is basically a phrase that is figurative and used to describe literal situations with words that may not be clear to a non-native speaker. Last month we went through a selection of common idioms, and in this lesson we can go through some more that you may hear when you are speaking English with somebody.

So I think to kitesurf all year around,

um, as a job and to do it 24/7,

you need a break, and I mean, it may not seem like time off!

Captions 19-21, Sam Light - In a Nutshell

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The slang expression "24/7" is best explained in this video: 

It's basically 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Caption 22, World's Toughest Job - Official Video

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What do you want to get off your chest?

Caption 16, Comic-Con 2015 - Jennifer Lawrence

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To "get something off your chest" is to admit something that has been bothering you.

Alaska's wide and very isolated mountains ranges are a paradise for these animals,

but a nightmare for us,

because it's like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

Captions 35-37, Nature & Wildlife - Search for the Ghost Bear

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A needle is a small, very fine object, and to find it in a haystack, which consists of countless fine pieces of hay, is very difficult indeed—and this phrase thus means that something is very difficult or nearly impossible. 

If I was, for instance, being put into a courtroom with lawyers,

I am not a lawyer,

so therefore, I would feel like a fish out of water.

Captions 14-16, English - Common Phrases

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To feel "like a fish out of water" thus means to feel out of place or uncomfortable.

Hang in there, guys!

Caption 56, Movie Trailers - Disney's Frozen

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To "hang in there" means to be patient and to wait for something.

But they don't know where they're going

in the fast lane.

Captions 16-17, Echosmith - Cool Kids

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This is often used in the expression "to live life in the fast lane," which means figuratively to live an exciting or stressful lifestyle, which may, depending upon the context, be a good or bad thing. The phrase is often about somebody who is on the verge of losing control of their life. A song by the 1970s pop group the Eagles called "Life in the Fast Lane" states that it will "surely make you lose your mind."  

Further Learning
Go to Yabla English and watch the "Common English" videos Part I and Part II to learn more about some English idioms. 

This lesson is Part III of a series. Let's continue discussing some of the ways that words are shortened in casual speech in American English that are not used in formal writing. "Colloquial" means "casual" as opposed to "formal," and a "contraction" is just the shortening of words.

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Hey, my little old friend, whatcha gonna do?

Caption 12, Royalchord - Good Times

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We discussed in a previous lesson that "gonna" is a contraction of "going to," thus "whatcha gonna do" is the colloquial equivalent of "what are you going to do."

'Cause you feel like home

Caption 5, Adele - When We Were Young

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'Cause I've been by myself all night long

Caption 9, Adele - When We Were Young

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'Cause nobody told me that you'd be here

Caption 19, Adele - When We Were Young

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Normally the word "cause" is either a verb or noun, meaning the reason that something happens ("What is causing the problem? What is the cause of the problem?"). But in this case with the apostrophe in front of it, it is just a contraction of the preposition "because."

If you had a life we'd ask you to sorta give that life up.

Caption 38, World's Toughest Job - #worldstoughestjob - Official Video

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Like many contractions, you can probably easily guess from the sound that "sorta" is a contraction of "sort of."

Lotsa, bands playing there, like, pretty much every night of the week.

Caption 25, Turn Here Productions - Belltown, WA

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The contraction "lotsa" is short for the informal "lots of" or "a lot of," meaning the same as the more proper "many," but without even saving any syllables!

C'mon man. -Fallen off over and over and over again.

Caption 30, Chris Sharma - World's best rock climber

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You may not even notice when somebody says "come on" quickly in speech, but it's good to know how the contraction is written as well!

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Further Learning
Watch this video on Yabla English to learn about more contractions, and search the videos on Yabla English for more examples of these colloquial contractions used in a real world context.