Taking Risks, Embarrassment, And The Power Of Stories

What does “didn’t have the guts” mean in English?

“Guts” can mean the organs inside your body — but in this phrase, it means courage. “I didn’t have the guts” means “I was too scared to do it.” It is very common in everyday speech. People use it when fear stopped them — or stopped someone else — from doing something. You can flip it too: “She had the guts to quit her job” means she was brave enough to do it.

In the clip, the speaker has been watching a delivery man walk past her office window for months. She wants to go outside and talk to him, but she holds back: “I wanted to go out there and make a move on him, but I didn’t have the guts.” She is being honest about her own fear in a funny, relatable way. The phrase fits many everyday situations. A friend might say, “He didn’t have the guts to ask for a pay rise.” You might say about yourself, “I wanted to disagree with my boss, but I didn’t have the guts.” Or the positive version: “She finally had the guts to move abroad” — a small way of saying someone did something hard and brave. This is informal and very natural in spoken English. You would not use it in formal writing, but in conversation, podcasts, and films it comes up all the time.