Hello and welcome to The English We Speak. I'm Feifei...... and... hi there... I'm Neil.Err... Neil, could we have your attention please?Sorry Feifei ― I'm still trying to finish the script for this programme.What? You're still writing the script for this programme! So what's going to happen today then?Well, I thought that you could pretend to arrive late... I've lost my coffee...I just need to think of an authentic real English phrase to use now...Oh come on Neil, there is no need to reinvent the wheel!Feifei, you're amazing ― to reinvent the wheel ― that's a great English phrase. I'll use that in my script.To reinvent the wheel means 'to waste time trying to create something that has already been made'.So I'm saying, don't waste time writing a script that has already been written ― all your ideas have been written before!Really?I'll show you ― but first let's hear some more examples of this phrase...Don't reinvent the wheel; we already have a plan that seems to work well.He spent days working out the new course syllabus when we had planned it already ― he's just reinvented the wheel!Nancy's new idea is just the same as the old one ― she's just reinvented the wheel!So to reinvent the wheel means 'to waste time and effort doing something that someone has done before'.
