Slip By for Dummies

Slip By is a phrase that we often use in our day-to-day conversations. It's something we say when something happens without us even noticing it. Let's imagine you're sitting by a river, and you're watching the water flow. Sometimes, things like leaves or sticks might float past you so quickly that you don't even have time to grab them. That's kind of what it means when something "slips by." It's like when something happens or passes by so swiftly and quietly that we barely have a chance to realize it's happening.

Now, think about a school day. Have you ever been so focused on something like working on a project or listening to a teacher that you don't even realize that time is passing by? It's like the minutes and hours just slip by without us noticing. It can happen in our daily lives too, like when we're so engrossed in playing a game or reading a book that we don't even realize how much time has gone by. That's another way to understand the phrase "slip by."

But "slip by" can also mean something else. Imagine you're in a soccer match, and the other team is trying to score a goal. Sometimes, the goalie is so quick and agile that they can prevent the ball from slipping past them into the net. But sometimes, the ball is really fast or takes a tricky turn, and it just slips by the goalie without them being able to stop it. So, in this context, "slip by" means to fail at stopping or blocking something that's moving quickly towards a specific goal or target.

So, overall, "slip by" means something happening unnoticed, time passing without us realizing it, or failing to stop something in its path. It's like when things or moments slip away from us, almost like they're saying, "Haha, I'm going to disappear before you even realize I was here!"