Helen Hello and welcome to The English We Speak. I'm Helen.
Rob And I'm Rob. Hello! Err, Helen are you feeling OK? You're looking a bit tired.
Helen I am. I haven't been sleeping very well. I have so much revising to do for my exams.
Rob I'm sure you'll be fine.
Helen I don't know. I've got assignments to write, exams to take – and look at my house, it's a mess, I've got to tidy up.
Rob Oh calm down. Anyway, when are your exams?
Helen In three months' time!
Rob Three months?! That's ages. Helen, you need to take a chill pill!
Helen A chill pill? Oh right, let's have a look (she looks through her box of medicines)... paracetamol... aspirin... no - I haven't got any chill pills.
Rob You won't find them in there Helen. Chill pills aren't real. When you tell someone to take a chill pill, you are telling them to calm down and relax. So Helen... relax... chill!
Helen Oh right, thanks. So the doctor isn't going to give me one?
Rob Well, I'm sure he could give you something to help you relax but this idiom is just a saying to give someone some friendly advice, as you can hear in these examples...
Examples
Stop shouting at the referee and take a chill pill.
She was getting so stressed about what her boss said to her that I told her to just take a chill pill – everything would be fine.
My wife's working so hard, she needs to take a chill pill, otherwise she'll make herself ill.
Helen OK, so we know to take a chill pill really means to relax or calm down. You're right Rob, I will take a chill pill and I will chill out...
Rob That's good to hear.
Helen Yes, in fact, I think I'll go shopping, get my hair done, maybe book a holiday... there's no point worrying about some silly exams is there? See you later Rob.
Rob Hold on Helen. I think perhaps you've taken too many chill pills?! I mean, these are quite important exams and you need good grades if you want to get a better job...
Helen Oh relax Rob... you know what you need to take?