student asking question

What does "tricks" mean?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

The whole phrase "You can't teach this old toy new tricks" is a version of the saying "You can't teach an old dog new tricks". "You can't teach an old dog new tricks" means that you can't teach a person (who is usually older) who has lived a certain way for a long time to change their behaviors. Therefore, "tricks" in this saying means "behaviors".

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