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Expressions Podcast Episodes

AE 414 – Expression: Have Egg On Your Face

By pete — 12 months ago
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Learn Australian English in this episode of the Aussie English Podcast where I teach you how to use the expression HAVE EGG ON YOUR FACE like a native speaker.

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AE 414 – Expression: To Have Egg on Your Face

18th century Europeans thought it was a hoax when they first saw drawings of the peculiar creature. But make no mistake, this odd-ball animal’s no joke. It’s a one of a kind all-terrain species combining three animals in one. And it goes from cute to killer in an instant.

G’day, guys.

Welcome to the Aussie English Podcast, the number one podcast for anyone and everyone learning Australian English, guys. Remember that the Aussie English Podcast is brought to you by the Aussie English Classroom, an online learning environment designed to give you all the bonus content in sort of course form, lesson form, with quizzes, other MP3s, and just other materials for you to use that go with the podcast and often go with the videos on YouTube, in order to help you learn English faster. So, don’t forget to sign up and give that a go if you haven’t already. It’s a dollar for the first 30 days, and then it’ll continue on at a monthly rate after that.

Intro Scene:

Anyway, the intro scene today, guys. Can you guess which animal the intro scene was referring to? And that was a snippet from National Geographic. So, what was that animal? I want to let you think about that, and we’ll get to it in the Aussie English fact. But let’s say it’s an animal that was thought to be a hoax when the British first saw it. It looks like it’s made up of two or three different kinds of animals. And it lays eggs and is venomous. So, can you guys guess which animal this is?

Anyway, we’ll go over that in the Aussie Fact. Let’s go through a few announcements.

So, I’ve just gotten to Canberra, obviously, guys. I’ve been here for about a week, and I’ve been house hunting. That’s been a lot of fun. Not really. Not really at all. It’s been an interesting experience, because I had no idea how many people are looking for houses in Canberra. I had no idea it was this popular. I thought it would be an absolute shoo-in to find somewhere to live and that has definitely not been the case. I’ve been to about five or six house inspections in the past week, some of which had 25 or more people all looking at that house. So, it’s been insane. It’s been insane. But that’s what I’m up to at the moment. Still kind of getting into the rhythm of life. Still kind of getting settled, but hopefully it will all pan out okay in the long run.

Anyway, guys, don’t forget to get the download for today’s episode. Jump over to TheAussieEnglishPodcast.com, the website, and you can download the full transcript for this episode as well as the MP3, and you can read every single thing that I am saying and learn all the vocab and anything that you might miss when you’re listening and I’m speaking the way I do at a normal pace, ’cause I know that sometimes for some people I speak very quickly.

Aussie Joke:

Anyway, let’s get into the Aussie joke, guys. The Aussie joke. And you guys know that I love puns. I love puns. I love jokes that are “punny”. Get it? Instead of “funny”, “punny”.

Alright, so today’s joke is: What do you call an alligator in a vest? What do you call an alligator in a vest?

And “an alligator” is like a crocodile, but these guys are found in America. An alligator.

And “a vest” is kind of like a little suit top thing that you put on. It doesn’t have sleeves. You wear it on the top of your body over a shirt. That is a vest. You know? It sort of buttons up or zips up at the front.

So, what do you call an alligator in a vest?

An investigator. An investigator. Right? Because it’s an alligator in a vest. It’s an “in-vest-agator”. A play on words there, guys. So, I hope you like that joke.

Expression:

Let’s get into today’s expression, which is “to have egg on your face”, “to have egg on your face”.

So, this one was suggested by Quel. She suggested it in the Aussie English Classroom private Facebook group, which all of the members of the Aussie English Classroom have access to. We suggest expressions every week and then we vote on them in a poll, and this week was “to have egg on your face”.

Alright so, let’s go through and define the words in the expression “to have egg on your face” as we normally do in each episode.

Definition:

So, the first verb there “to have”, “to have”. I’m sure you guys know what “to have” is. This is one of the most common verbs in English. So, “to have” is effectively to own or to possess something in this example. Right? If you have something on your face it is that it is currently existing on your face. You possess it and it’s on your face. Right? So, if I have a T-shirt on, I’m wearing a T-shirt, I have it on my body.

“An egg”. What is “an egg”? You guys will probably know what “an egg” is. “An egg” is something that an animal lays, which later hatches into a baby animal. Right? So, a chicken lays an egg. You make omelets out of eggs. You’ll know what “an egg” is.

The particle “on”, the particle “on”. See this can be used in many different ways, but typically, it means to be in physical contact with something and to be supported by something. So, usually something will be a resting above a surface whilst in contact with it, and it is “on” that surface. So, right now, I’m looking at my computer, which is on the table. Okay? It’s sitting on the table. It’s supported by the table. It’s in contact with the surface of the table. It’s on the table.

“A face”. “A face” is the front part of a person’s head including the forehead all the way down to the chin. So, your eyes, your nose, your mouth are all on your face. Okay?

So, there are all the words in the expression “to have egg on your face”.

Expression Definition & Origin:

Let’s go through and define the expression as usual, guys. So, the expression “to have egg on your face”. Have you heard this expression before, and do you know what it means? “To have egg on your face”. Obviously literally, this would mean that you’ve been eating an egg or maybe someone’s thrown an egg at you and the egg is now on your face.

But figuratively, we can say “to have egg on your face” means to be embarrassed or to appear stupid because of something that you’ve tried that has gone wrong. Okay?

So, we’ll go through the origins of this expression, but just let’s go through that one more time. “To have egg on your face” is to be embarrassed or appear stupid because of something you’ve tried to do that has gone wrong. So, effectively just to look stupid or to be embarrassed. Okay?

So, the origin of this expression. When I looked this up there were two origins that were hypothesised, that were put forth, as possible origins for this expression.

The first one was that it could have originated in the lower-class with the more rowdy kind of theatrical performances that used to take place in which an incompetent actor would have been pelted with eggs and forced off the stage. So, an actor who wasn’t very good, if he wasn’t doing a good job in a theatrical performance while he was on stage, the crowd in the lower-class part of society might have brought eggs to that performance and pelted him with eggs, as in thrown them at him, and forced him off stage. So, if he’d done a bad job, if he’d embarrassed himself, if he had appeared stupid, he would end up with egg on his face, because the crowd will have pelted him with eggs. So, that was origin number one. It’s a possible origin.

The second origin was that it could be potentially referring to a social mistake where at a meal or you’ve eaten with poor manners or a little bit sloppily and egg has been left literally on your face. Right? So, you’ve been eating in a way that is a little bit embarrassing or has caused you to appear stupid and you’ve been left literally with egg on your face. Okay?

Examples:

So, let’s go through some examples as usual guise of how I would use this expression in my day to day life if I’m talking about being embarrassed or appearing stupid.

1.

So, example number one imagine that you have to do some public speaking. So, maybe you have to give a speech or maybe you’re involved in some kind of debate. We always have debates and school when I was growing up. So, you have to get up in front of a big crowd, in front of everyone, and say a few things and maybe somehow, you’ve buggered it up. You’ve confused your words or you’ve said something incorrect, and people have started laughing or booing, and you’ve bailed, you know, you’ve decided “Wooh! I’m not going to finish this!”, and you’ve left the stage. Sort of similar to the actor who was potentially embarrassed on stage. You’ve left the stage and you’ve left with egg on your face. You haven’t finished your speech, because you were embarrassed. You felt like you appeared stupid. You had egg on your face.

2.

Example number two. Imagine in this example that you’re a bit of a hoon. So, you love her running around in cars. And “a hoon” is someone who drives quickly and recklessly. So, maybe you are also a racer, someone who likes to race cars, and imagine that you are in a race against a bunch of other race car drivers, and you’ve been trash talking them. Okay? “To be trash talking”, and that means to sort of be sledging them, to be saying they’re awful, you’re the best, and to be talking a lot of “trash”. “To be trash talking”. And you’ve been saying how good you are that you’re going to smash everyone in this race. When the race actually takes place, you end up losing. You end up losing miserably. You come last despite all of this trash talk. So, you’ve got egg on your face. You lost the race. You embarrassed yourself. You appeared stupid. You have egg on your face.


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3.

Example Number Three. So, imagine in this example you’re “a pollie”, “a politician”. We’ve used that expression quite a few times, that Aussie slang term “a pollie”, “a politician”. And you’ve made a bunch of promises to your constituency. And “the constituency” is the members of the public who vote for you in order to go into office, in order to make it into office, if you win the election. So, you’ve made all these promises, you get voted in, and then you can’t deliver on these promises. So, maybe you’ve promised free health care, or that taxes would be lowered, or education would be a lot better, but then in actual fact, when you got voted in, none of these changes came about. If that happened and there was a backlash from the public, you could say that you’ve embarrassed yourself, you’ve appeared stupid, and now you have egg on your face. The voters have turned on you and you’ve got egg on your face.

So, hopefully by now guys you understand the expression “to have egg on your face”. It means to be embarrassed or to appear stupid because of something you’ve tried to do that has gone wrong. Okay?

So, let’s go through a listen and repeat exercise as usual, guys, and then we’ll go through the Aussie English fact, and we’ll finish up.

So, listen and repeat after me in this listen and repeat exercise, guys. This is where you get to practice your pronunciation. So, find somewhere quiet, away from everyone, and repeat after me.

Let’s go.

Listen & Repeat:

To
To have
To have egg
To have egg on
To have egg on your
To have egg on your face x 5

Good job. So, let’s practice conjugating through “I don’t want to have egg on my face”, “You don’t want to have egg on your face”, all the way through the different pronouns. So, listen and repeat after me, guys. And I’m going to say this with stronger Australian accent. Okay? How I would normally pronounce these sentences.

I don’t want to have egg on my face.
You don’t want to have egg on your face.
He doesn’t want to have egg on his face.
She doesn’t want to have egg on her face.
We don’t want to have egg on our faces.
They don’t want to have egg on their faces.
It doesn’t want to have egg on its face.

Great job, guys. I know that those sentences were a little long, but I wanted to try it, because there’s quite a bit of interesting stuff going on related to pronunciation and connected speech in those sentences, and we will go over that in much more depth in the Aussie English Classroom. So, don’t forget if you want to get access to all the bonus content for today’s episode, and you want to upgrade your Australian English or just your English in general and learn with lots of fun courses and lessons quizzes and bonus MP3s, especially those focusing on pronunciation and connected speech, then sign up to the Aussie English Classroom, guys. You’ll find the link attached to this episode. It’s $1 for your first 30 days, and then you pay a small monthly fee after that for access to the classroom.

Aussie Fact:

All right, let’s get into the Aussie English fact and we’ll finish up.

So, the Aussie English fact, guys. Do you know what animal that was we were talking about at the start? The animal was the platypus. The Australian platypus.

So, when British scientists first received a specimen of the Australian platypus, and they first laid eyes on it in the late 18th century, they thought it was a hoax. They thought the animal was fake.

So, English zoologist George Shaw said, “It naturally excites the idea of some deceptive preparation by artificial means”. Effectively saying that it definitely looks like someone has put this together as a fake animal.

Shaw was the first person to publish a scientific description of the Australian platypus, which was in fact a very real animal. And when reading Shaw’s account of this 200 years ago, it’s easy to see why he was skeptical at first about whether the creature was real or not. So, he said, “Of all the Mammalia yet known it seems the most extraordinary in its conformation, exhibiting the perfect resemblance of the beak of a duck engrafted on the head of a quadruped.”

So, this effectively means, the creature’s beak perfectly resembled that of a duck and the body seemed awfully close to that of an otter or a beaver. Okay? A quadruped is an animal that walks on four legs, quadruped, “four legs”.

Initially Shaw thought it was more plausible that some jokester had put this together and had taken the bill of duck and the body from an otter or a mole or a beaver or something, and put them all together, sewed them together, shipped it from Australia as a joke, but Shaw went on to say that only with “the most minute and rigid examination”, did they persuade themselves of it being in fact a real beak and snout of a quadruped.

So, the scientific name of the platypus is Ornithorhynchus anatinus, and “Ornithorhynchus” means “bird-snout” and “anatinus” means “duck-like”. So, bird-snout duck-like is effectively what Ornithorhynchus anatinus means.

So, this animal is found in eastern Australia both on the mainland and in Tasmania, and it lives in freshwater streams, rivers, and lakes.

The platypus is one of only a few species in the mammalian group called “the monotremes”, which is an ancient form of mammals that is known for laying eggs. And monotremes only include the platypus and several species of echidna today. Every other species has gone extinct.

So, some unique features of the platypus. Platypus lay eggs just like echidnas and all monotremes, and the eggs take about 10 or so days to hatch, and then they drink milk that is secreted from the skin of the platypus. The platypus doesn’t actually have nipples, unlike marsupials like kangaroos, and eutherian mammals like humans, rats, and dogs, for example.

The platypus has a duck-like bill, which uses electrolocation. That’s pretty cool. So, electrolocation is somewhat similar to how sharks find their prey in the water. So, the platypus uses this form of electrolocation to feel the movement of invertebrates, things like yabbies and insects, in the water, and it can fish them out of crevices under rocks. And it uses this sense because it has such poor eyesight and closes its eyes underwater so it doesn’t actually see any of its prey, it feels them using this electrolocation.

It has a plump tail, kind of fat tail, because it stores its energy there as fat reserves.

It’s got webbed feet, which are obviously used for steering and swimming in the water.

And interestingly, the male platypus has spurs or spikes on its hind legs, which can inject venom into other platypus males, when they’re fighting for females in wintertime, or into any other animal that is unfortunate enough to grab a male platypus. And the females don’t actually have these spurs. So, if you’re unfortunate enough to be investigated by a platypus, the male platypus, if you pick it up, the pain is said to be long-lasting and excruciating. One ex-military guy in Australia said it was worse than when he got shrapnel from an explosion in the army. And worst of all it can’t be relieved with conventional painkillers. So, things like morphine don’t work on this venom.

Short-term victims will feel nauseated, they’ll suffer from cold sweats, and they might see the muscles around the site of envenomation slowly waste away.

And long-term victims can be left with hyperalgesia, which is a hypersensitivity to pain, and this can last for up to three months after being envenomated by a platypus.

So, I’m sure you’ll all agree, guys, the Australian platypus is one cute and cuddly Aussie creature, and one that is incredibly interesting, but it’s one that you should definitely not muck around with if you see it in the wild.

Anyway guys, that is long enough for today. I hope you’ve enjoyed this episode. It’s always a pleasure to know that I am chatting to you guys whilst you’re going about your day, doing your thing, and I hope you have an amazing week guys, and I’ll chat to you soon.

See you later.


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    Pronunciation: Contracting WOULD onto THIS, THAT, THESE & THOSE

    By pete — 2 years ago

    Learn Australian English in this Pronunciation episode of Aussie English where I teach you how contracting WOULD onto THIS, THAT, THESE and THOSE is easy.

    Get the Premium PDF transcript here: [sdm_download id=”1919″ fancy=”0″]

    Pronunciation: Contracting WOULD onto THIS, THAT, THESE & THOSE

    Hey guys! Welcome to this episode of Aussie English. In this episode, as you will no doubt know, we’re going to be working on contracting the auxiliary verb WOULD onto several demonstrative pronouns. And without getting too crazy grammar wise, demonstrative pronouns are just THIS, THAT in the singular form and THESE and THOSE in the plural form.

    As, I’ve said before, WOULD is an auxiliary verb that can be used in several different ways in English whether it’s the Present Tense “I would like to do something”, whether it’s the (Conditional*) Past Tense, “I would have done something.”, or whether it’s that repeated past tense, “When I was young I would always get the bus to school.”

    It can be used in a bunch of different ways but you’ll learn that with time. Don’t worry too much about perfecting these things. Just keep listening, keep practicing, keep speaking, and keep improving.

    So, in this episode, like the last episode, we’ll just focus on WOULD in the Conditional Present Tense because this is probably the most common way that you guys are going to be using this.

    I would go

    I would see

    I would be

    Or

    This would go

    This would be

    This would see

    If we’re using DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS.

    And so, we’ll just start with a basic listen and repeat exercise guys with these four demonstrative pronouns. I’ll repeat each one of them five times and I’ll say the uncontracted form first and the contracted for second.

    So, let’s get started.

     

    Listen and repeat:

    This would – This’d x 5

    That would – That’d x 5

    These would – These’d x 5

    Those would – Those’d x 5

     

    *Note: these contractions are spoken and not written unless in verb informal situations like messaging friends on social media or via text message on your phone. THIS’D, THAT’D, THESE’D and THOSE’D would never be written formally.

    So, as we’ve gone over in previous episode guys, I’ve written each of these sentences for this substitution exercise out with a noun added in brackets. So, the noun is added straight after the demonstrative pronoun. So, if you read the transcript you will see THIS and then a noun. And I’ve done this so that you guys can better imagine what I’m talking about, because the whole reason that we use THIS, THAT, THESE and THOSE, the demonstrative pronouns, in English is because whoever it is that is having this conversation has agreed or has obviously made it understood what they’re talking about. So, if I’m talking about a cat and it’s THIS cat right in front of me I can just ditch the noun “cat” and just start saying THIS, THIS, THIS, THIS. So, I’m not constantly repeating myself. And so, all of these sentences, I’ve obviously dropped the noun, I’ve removed the noun, so that you’re contracting the word WOULD directly onto the demonstrative pronoun. So, instead of, for example, saying THIS DRESS WOULD and saying THIS DRESS’D, you’re practicing saying THIS WOULD and THIS’D.

    Anyway, long story short, if you don’t understand these sentences from just listening go and read the transcript and in brackets after each one of these demonstrative pronouns is a noun to give you better context for what each of these sentences means. So, that you can imagine in your head what I’m talking about as I’m speaking.

    And so, let’s just dive into it guys. Let’s get started, and let’s practice improving your contraction skills.

     

    Substitution exercise:

    1. This [dress] would look good on you.

    ___________________________________________________

    1. That [car] would be incredibly fast.

    ___________________________________________________

    1. These [shoes] would help you run faster.

    ___________________________________________________

    1. Those [dogs] would have to be ours.

    ___________________________________________________

    1. This [house] would cost a fortune.

    ___________________________________________________

    1. That [idea] would never work.

    ___________________________________________________

    1. These [computers] would work if they were plugged in.

    ___________________________________________________

    1. Those [books] would change your life if you read them.

    ___________________________________________________

    1. This [wallet] would be mine.

    ___________________________________________________

    1. That [woman] would be his wife.

    ___________________________________________________

    1. I don’t think these [pants] would fit me.

    ___________________________________________________

    1. See if those [earrings] would look better.

    ___________________________________________________

    1. This [news] would change everything.

    ___________________________________________________

    1. Knowing that [secret] would devastate her.

    ___________________________________________________

    1. Swallowing these [pills] would kill you.

    ___________________________________________________

    1. Those [chickens] would run away if they could.

    ___________________________________________________

     

    See all answers in the Answer Section of the PDF transcript.

     

    And so, guys, I know that I’m saying these sentences in a sort of slow and weird way. I’m emphasising the contractions because when I speak as a native quite often these contractions are very subtle, and I’ve been chatting to a few people I’ve been giving lessons to and who have listened to the podcast, and a few of them have said that it’s incredibly difficult to hear when I’m making these contractions. So, I thought that I would add in a few lessons here where I really really try and emphasise that “ed” sound after a lot of these words. I’m not going to do it in every single one, because I think that just one or two lessons here and there will give you the idea. But yeah, it’s one of those things where when you’re practicing I really recommend overdoing it overemphasising it, you know, saying it where it does sound strange but that you’re doing it correctly with perfect technique, if you will, if you want to talk technique wise. And so, when you speak quickly, it’ll just be natural and it’ll be really subtle.

    So, for example here, if I was to read the first sentence again, “This would look good one you” and say, we’re talking about a dress. So, “This dress would look good on you”. If I was to say, “This would look good on you” but contracted, and I said it quickly like a native, I’d say, “This’d look good on you”, “This’d look good on you”. But I feel that if I say these sentences too quickly you’re going to really miss what I’m trying to get at, and the most important thing in all of these is showing you guys how to really work that contraction of these words and pronounce them correctly so that when you do it slowly you get it right, and when you speed up and start speaking more quickly as you get better at this you’ll change it and it’ll become more and more and more subtle. So, you’ll get better at it that way.

    Anyway, I won’t waffle on too much, I won’t talk too much, I just wanted to sort of go over why in this episode I am talking a little more slowly and emphasising the “ed” sound. THIS’D, THAT’D, THESE’D, THOSE’D.

    And just now, I just thought, as one way of practicing these things, whatever the contraction is that you’re working (on), if you really really want to practice it well and just do reps (i.e. repetitions) on your own in your bedroom, you know, just repeat the thing multiple times, make them bounce. Make them bounce off that last syllable of the word. So, you would’ve heard me THIS’D instead of THIS’D. Really practicing that bouncing, the THIS’D, THAT’D, THESE’D, THOSE’D. And it will probably work with any of these contractions.

    Anyway, guys, I’ll leave it there and I’ll see you guys in the next episode. All the best!

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    Expressions Podcast Episodes Transcripts

    AE 256 Expression: To Be Up In Arms

    By pete — 2 years ago

    Learn Australian English in this Expression episode of Aussie English where I teach you how to use the expression TO BE UP IN ARMS.

    Download the PDF + MP3

    AE 266 – Expression: To be up in arms ABOUT/OVER something

    G’day guys.

    Welcome to this episode of Aussie English.

    Today’s another Expression episode, and I’m so pumped to chat to you guys, I’m so pumped.

    It’s been a long week.

    I’ve been working away doing a whole bunch of stuff on the PhD.

    I’m really trying to wrap that up, I’m really trying to finish that up, trying to get it done by hopefully April, hand it in.

    And, I’ve been chatting with one of my friends Shana who is about to marry someone from Brazil, and she wants me to come over to Brazil for a little bit to work on some English language courses.

    So, I’ve been working on some really cool stuff with her recently.

    She’s an American.

    And, we’ve been working on putting together some little dialogues that are really really full, chockas full, chockablock full of idioms, different idioms.

    And, she’s American, and so we sort of discuss the idioms that are used and the phrases that we use in these different dialogues that we write.

    So, like, I’ll write one in Australian English and she’ll write one in American English, and then we discuss it.

    So, we go through it and act it out, but then we also discuss the language that’s used in them and the differences between American English and Australian English.

    Would we say this even though we may understand it?

    Do we understand it?

    What happens when we’re in Australia?

    What happens when we’re in the US, with the language?

    So, that’s just a little bit of news.

    I’m really pumped to be think about that, finishing up the PhD, and potentially going to Brazil, because I also really want to work on my Portuguese, but we’ll see what happens in that space.

    I have to finish first.

    And yeah, without any further ado let’s get into this episode.

    So, today’s expression is “To be up in arms”, “To be up in arms”, “To be up in arms”.

    Let’s define some of the words in the phrase “To be up in arms”.

    So, “To be”, you know the verb “To be”. I am, you are, she is.

    “To be up” is to be vertical, to be standing, to be upright, to be up.

    That’s pretty intuitive.

    “Arms”. “Arms” are the limbs on your body that aren’t your legs.

    They are the limbs that are attached to your shoulders and your hands.

    They run from your hands to your shoulders.

    So, you have an upper arm, you know, with your bicep and your tricep on your upper arm and then you have your forearm, which goes from your elbow to your wrist.

    I’m sure all of you know what an “Arm” is.

    However, it may not be that intuitive as to what the phrase “To be up in arms” means, even though all of the words are pretty obvious.

    So, the definition of “To be up in arms”, it means to be very angry, to be very angry or to be very upset ABOUT something or OVER something.

    So, we can use two different prepositions there.

    You can BE UP IN ARMS ABOUT SOMETHING or you can BE UP IN ARMS OVER SOMETHING.

    It means exactly the same thing.

    It’s up to you as to which preposition you use.

    ABOUT is probably more common though.

    I would probably say, “I’m up in arms ABOUT something”, a little more than I would say, “I’m up in arms OVER something”.

    So, a good way of thinking about this idiom and imagining what it means, you know, you’re angry, you’re upset, is to think when people get angry or upset quite often they lift their arms in the air.

    So, if you’RE UP IN ARMS, you’re angry, you’re upset, your arms are in the air.

    So, you’RE UP IN ARMS.

    Your arms are up in the air.

    So, let’s go through some examples guys.

    Examples:

    1.

    Alright, example number one, and this hit a little close to home recently, meaning that it happened to me personally.

    The student fees at the university increased.

    And so, at Melbourne University there are these student fees that we have to pay that aren’t directly related to our courses and they’re related to the ongoing maintenance of the university or the different things that are run there like barbacues and events, different things like that.

    Anyway, the student fees had increased last year, and they were charging all of us something like $200, I think.

    I can’t remember the exact number off the top of my head, but the fees had increased and the reason that I WAS UP IN ARMS ABOUT this, or I WAS UP IN ARMS OVER this situation was because I’m not based at the university.

    I’m based at the university.

    So, I’m not at the university.

    I haven’t been to the university for a long time, at least, on the grounds of the university where I used to go and study.

    And so, it kind of frustrated me, made me angry, made me a little upset, because I’m effectively being forced to pay for something that I’m not using that has nothing to do with me, at least, at the moment, but I get that’s part of life.

    I’m signed up through the university.

    I’m enrolled there.

    So, the fees apply to everyone whether you’re there or not.

    So, the student fees at the university increased and the students WERE UP IN ARMS ABOUT this increase, the students WERE UP IN ARMS OVER this increase.

    So, I WAS UP IN ARMS OVER this increase, I WAS UP IN ARMS ABOUT this increase in student fees.

    2.

    Example number 2.

    Imagine that you have borrowed your dad’s car.

    So, your dad has lent you his car, and that’s just a little throwback to the Borrow Vs Lend episode we did a few episodes ago.

    So, you’ve borrowed your dad’s car, he’s lent you his car, and you’ve taken it for a drive, something’s happened, you know, it may not have been your fault, but you’ve crashed the car.

    So, you may not have been driving recklessly, but a tyre’s popped on the back and thrown the back of the car out, and you’ve crashed into a tree.

    Thankfully, you’re ok but the car’s written off, the car is a write-off, the car’s written off. It’s no longer usable, it’s totally trash, it’s going to be thrown out, it’s a write-off.

    When you come home and you tell your dad about what happened you could say that your dad’S GOING TO BE UP IN ARMS ABOUT his crashed car.

    He’S GOING TO BE UP IN ARMS OVER his crashed car.

    He’S GOING TO BE UP IN ARMS ABOUT the situation.

    He’S GOING TO BE UP IN ARMS OVER the fact that you destroyed his car.

    So, it just means that he’s going to be upset, he’s going to be angry, he’S GOING TO BE UP IN ARMS.

    3.

    A third example could be that a boyfriend and a girlfriend have a big fight, and it’s revealed or she finds out that her boyfriend has cheated on her, and you could say that she’D BE UP IN ARMS ABOUT that, she’D BE UP IN ARMS OVER that.

    If she found out, or when she found out, that her boyfriend had cheated on her, meaning he had been with another woman in one form or another you could say that she WOULD BE UP IN ARMS, she would be incredibly upset, she would be incredibly angry, she’D BE UP IN ARMS OVER the situation, she’D BE UP IN ARMS ABOUT the situation.

    So, by now guys I hope that makes the phrase TO BE UP IN ARMS OVER something or TO BE UP IN ARMS ABOUT something incredibly obvious, meaning to be angry, meaning to be upset.

    And, remember a good way of thinking about this idiom so that you remember it, TO BE UP IN ARMS, is to think about what people do when they get angry or upset.

    They put their arms in the air, they put their arms in the air.

    So, let’s go through a little listen and repeat exercise, guys, before we finish up.

    And, I’ll just get you to listen and repeat after me perfectly to practice your pronunciation.

    And, we’re just going to say the phrase, “I’M UP IN ARMS ABOUT it”.

    And so, I’m going to conjugate through the different pronouns.

    Listen and repeat after me.

    Let’s go.

    Listen and repeat:

    I’m up in arms about it. 

    You’re up in arms about it.

    He’s up in arms about it.

    She’s up in arms about it.

    We’re up in arms about it.

    They’re up in arms about it.

    So, I did that at natural speed, guys.

    I didn’t break it down.

    I made it incredibly fluid, and I actually connected the speech that’s in there.

    And, I want to talk just a little bit about it before we finish up, because I know you guys love this kind of stuff.

    There’s a few things going on here.

    Okay, so after “I’m”, “You’re”, “He’s”, “She’s”, “We’re”, “They’re”, all of those end in a consonant sound, at least, when they’re followed by a vowel.

    And the vowel in this case is at the start of “Up”.

    So, it’s the “U”.

    I’m_up 

    You’re_up

    He’s_up

    She’s_up

    We’re_up

    They’re_up

    So, did you notice how I bounce the “Up” off of the consonant sound that comes before it.

    So, that’s one thing to note.

    Also, you’ll hear the “S” at the end of “Arms” become a “Z” sound that joins to “About”.

    I’m up in armz_about…

    You’re up in armz_about…

    He’s up in armz_about…

    She’s up in armz_about…

    We’re up in armz_about…

    They’re up in armz_about…

    And the last thing here that I want to give you guys here is that the “T” at the end of the word “About”, because it is surrounded by vowel sounds, or vowels the letters, so, before the “T” in the word “About” there is a “U” at the end of the word “About”.

    So, it’s “A, B, O, U, T”.

    And then after the word “About” the next word is “It”, and the start of “It” has the letter “I”.

    And so, because the “T” in “About” is surrounded by vowels instead of say consonants, or no vowel before it, or no vowel after it, the “T” turns into a “D” sound to make it flow.

    So, listen again and see if you can hear it.

    I’m up in arms aboud_it.

    You’re up in arms aboud_it.

    He’s up in arms aboud_it.

    So, it’s very very muted and subtle, but it’s not a “I’m up in arms abouT_it”, “You’re up in arms abouT_it”.

    There’s no “Teh, Teh, Teh”.

    It’s a “Deh” sound.

    “I’m up in arms abouD_it”.

    So, I’ll do this one more time for you guys.

    I hope you’re enjoying this sort of pronunciation breakdown.

    Let me know what you think.

    So, feel free to message me on Facebook or send me an email, because if you like this sort of stuff I’ll try and add it more often because I want to help you with connected speech in English.

    Anyway, I’m going to go through this listen and repeat exercise one more time, and I want you to try and notice those different things we went over.

    So, listen and repeat after me.

    Listen and repeat:

    I’m up in arms about it.

    I mah pin arm za bow did.

     

    You’re up in arms about it.

    Yaw rah pin arm za bow did.

     

    He’s up in arms about it.

    Hee zah pin arm za bow did.

     

    She’s up in arms about it.

    Shee zah pin arm za bow did.

     

    We’re up in arms about it.

    Wea rah pin arm za bow did.

     

    They’re up in arms about it.

    Thea rah pin arm za bow did.

    Anyway, listen and repeat that a few times guys.

    Go over it.

    If you learn to understand as well as use those kinds of pronunciation changes in English your listening comprehension is going to skyrocket, it’s going to go up and you’re going to understand Australians and other English speakers when they speak quickly, and you’re also going to sound a lot more native-like.

    It doesn’t matter if you have a strong accent, but if you kind of use these connected speech pronunciation changes it just sounds way more natural.

    So, give it a go.

    See what you think.

    And to finish up here I want to do something different and give you a random fact about Australia.

    So, I’m going to try and do this from now on.

    Australia is the sixth largest country in the world after Russia, Canada, China, the USA and Brazil.

    It occupies an entire continent, an Island continent, of 7.6 million square kilometres.

    And with that guys, I hope you enjoyed this episode and I’ll see you soon!

    All the best!

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