Quote
1. Quote - Listen to the quote and guess what the slang means.
“I have to ask myself, ‘How am I going to create real change and not just… preach to the choir anymore?’”
—Singer Miley Cyrus, speaking about political involvement (Billboard)
Definition
1. Definition - Study the definition.
trying to convince someone who already believes or understands; telling people about something they already know
2. Use - Learn how the slang is used.
Do you and your family agree on most things? What about you and your friends? In any group, there will be some different opinions, but usually, friends have similar likes and dislikes. For example, if you liked the new Wonder Woman movie, your friends probably did, too. You can tell them all about how great it was, but if they already agree with you, you’re not convincing them to like it any better. You’re just preaching to the choir.
We use the expression preaching to the choir to talk about telling a group of people something they already believe or agree with. The expression comes from the Christian church. The preacher is the person who delivers the sermon. The choir is the group of people who sing for the church. They already agree with the preacher, so if he tells them something, he is not changing their minds or giving them a new opinion. We use this expression quite often to talk about politics. If you and your friends all already agree politically, then anytime you discuss politics, you are preaching to the choir. You are not telling anyone something that they don’t agree with.
Singer Miley Cyrus hopes that her new album can create a political conversation. She wants to reach out to people whose opinions are different from hers, not just preach to the choir.
What is a topic that you and your friends disagree about?
Examples
1. Examples - Hear some example sentences.
“I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but you need to practice a lot if you want to improve your English.”
“My husband and I agree about everything, so whenever I talk to him, it’s like I’m preaching to the choir.”
“A lot of politicians just preach to the choir when they should be reaching out to people who don’t agree with them.”