So, in this video, we're going to lookat how to moan and grumble, which means
if something is not very good: How doyou express that? I might think of how
to do it in another language, like inSpanish: "Qué pena"; or in French: "Quel
dommage". Yeah? But how do we say it inEnglish, and how can we use a rich
variety of phrases to express that?We're going to look both at informal
English in a more social situation, andalso in a very different situation in
the world of work, where it's going tobe formal language and more serious
situations. Okay. So, here we are, wegot some informal phrases to say: "No,
not very good". Okay. Let's imagine thatwe are at the most English of occasions
— a cricket match; a Village CricketMatch. And we've got two guys who've
just been batting. And Jack says to Ian:"So, how did it go, Ian?" And Ian says:
"Well, I mustn't grumble, but..." whichbasically means: "I've got a problem
here. I didn't like it." But he's sayingit in the negative. "I must not" — this
is short for — "I must not grumble,but..." and then we're going to say what
the grumble, what the complaint is. "Imustn't grumble, but I don't think I was
out." Yeah? "I was standing here. Theball was not going to hit those three
bits of wood. I wasn't out. It wasn'tfair. I mustn't grumble, but it was a
A few sandwiches... "sandwiches"; not"sandwich" — "sandwich". "A few
sandwiches short of a picnic." A verystrong image, there. We've got this
picnic, and it's not very good; it's abit incomplete. So, dissatisfactory.
Unsatisfactory, sorry. Unsatisfactory.So, at this cricket match — yeah — in
the middle, they're going to have a tea.And if we say: "Yeah, it's a few
sandwiches short of a picnic, isn't it?"then it means it's not very good. "Bog
standard". Now, this is quite... it'squite sort of base. Yeah? A "bog" means
a toilet. So, if something is "bogstandard", then you understand that it's
not particularly great. If I asked afriend: "How is your new cricket bat?"
and if they said: "Bog standard", itmeans, you know... really not very happy
with it. "Bit of a botch job." A "botch"is a... "botched job" is a badly-done
job. It was... it's like what wouldhappen if I tried to do some plumbing —
like, your house would fall apart andwater would start spraying everywhere.
So, a "botched job" is a job not doneparticularly well. If there are any
plumbers out there, then maybe you cantake me on as an apprentice. You don't
want to do that. "A dog's dinner". So,we've been talking about this tea at the
cricket. If the tea is a real mess andit looks totally unappetizing, like
there are like disgusting tunasandwiches and kind of fruitcake that
looks like some sort of person whodoesn't know how to cook has cooked it —
then a "dog's dinner". It's a real mess,and it doesn't make us want to eat it.
"A dog's dinner" — a mess. Again, it'sgot this idea of something done badly.
-"How are you feeling?" -"I'm gutted."Yeah? It means: I'm really upset. Your
guts are down here in the stomach, sowhen you feel: "That was bad", then
you're "gutted". So, Ian, was out in thecricket, so he might be feeling gutted
that it's all over. "A bit miffed". A"bit miffed" is like: "Why did that
happen? I'm a bit miffed about that." Abit like: "Huh? How? What?" Ian is also
feeling a bit miffed. "What? That wasn'tout. Come on". "To over-egg the
pudding." This is a compound word, sothese... this is one word, joined. "To
over-egg the pudding" is when you do alittle bit too much. Yeah? A little bit
too many eggs in the pudding. It's justtrying a bit too hard with something. Okay?
"I mustn't grumble" — we introduce thecomplaint. "A few sandwiches short of a
picnic." Yeah? It's just... it's theopposite of this, isn't it? This has
been done too much; this has been donetoo little. "Bog standard" — too simple;
not enough care and attention. "Botchedjob" — done badly. "Dog's dinner" — a
mess. Feeling upset. "It's all gone abit pear-shaped." It's kind of quite a
sort of Cockney expression, isn't it?Apples and pears. So, here, we've got a
pear, like it was going well; and then,like... it's gone. It's gone all over
the place. "Shambles" means it's a mess.It's, like, I don't know. Some... it's,
like... what do they say? It's like asort of a drunk running a brewery. It's
just total chaos. "Bit of a spanner inthe works". So, we've got a tool, here;
let's imagine it's a spanner. If I shovethat into a bicycle, then the wheel's
not going to keep moving. So, it just..."a spanner in the work" is when you put
something... you... it's an interventionthat just causes chaos. "Bit of a
spanner in the work". Yeah, it's a bitof a problem that's stopping us from
maybe buying a house. We've got auseless solicitor — "bit of a spanner in
the works", because, you know... we wantto buy the house, but because of him, we
can't. Yeah. There's this problem. "Itreally takes the biscuit." I love this
phrase; it's an absolute classic. So,there, we're imagining our plate of
biscuits, and we know how many are onthe plate. We know that there are seven
biscuits there, and there are eight...no. Let's say that there are four
people. Yeah? So, we know that everyoneshould at least have a biscuit. We go
out the room; we come back, and they'veall gone. Yeah? Someone has taken the
biscuit. They've been really cheeky, andnow I'm really annoyed. "Doing my head
in". If someone does your head in, thenthey give you a headache and you feel
like hitting your head because they areso annoying. "Oh my gosh, that is doing
my head in; that noise is doing my headin." Okay? These are all informal. Now
let's get formal in the business place;at the workplace.
Okay. On to some formal expressions. Bythe way, if you are learning something
from this video, I'd like to make surethat you are a subscriber of mine, and
I'd like you also to share it withsomeone who could learn something from
this, too. Done that? Yeah? Subscribe;share. Good. Cool. Right. "To be honest,
I'm not really getting much out ofthis." I hope that's not true for you; I
hope you're getting lots out of this. Idon't know if you watch the program, The
Apprentice — I know it's on in the USand the UK; maybe other places, too. But
in the UK, they recently had thiscompetition between the boy's team and
the girl's team, and the girls weredoing this tour of a vineyard in South
Africa. And it was going really badlybecause they couldn't actually find the
cellar in this vineyard. And they weretaking their paying customers around and
saying: "I'm really sorry. We don't knowwhere the room is." So, these are kind
of things that those clients who paidmoney to go on the tour could have said.
"To be honest, I'm not really gettingmuch out of this." Yeah? This is not
good, is it? Or... I've got to say: Thisis how we speak; not how we write. Yeah?
And all of these phrases that I'vewritten here, I've written them exactly
how they are used in spoken English."I've got to say, this is testing my
patience." Yeah. "I am running out ofpatience. This is no longer funny that
we can't find the cellar. Why do we notknow where we are going?" Or, very
similar meaning: "I think I've probablyreached my limit now." Yeah. So, I can
put up with this much chaos andconfusion; but if we reach this limit,
then... "This experience"— yeah — "it" —pronoun — "just hasn't lived up to my
expectations. I thought it was going tobe really good, but it's been really
bad. My expectations were this, andyou've come short."
"I have to say, I was expecting a bitmore". "I have to say" — this doesn't
really mean anything; it's a fillerphrase. "I was expecting", and then we
don't really need the bit forgrammatical sense, but we pad the
language out. "I have to say, I wasexpecting a bit more." Yeah. "I thought
it was going to be good." Again, sameroot word: "to expect". Again, these
more phrases to say that something hasnot met expectations. "It's not up to
scratch." Now, the origin of thisphrase, here: "not up to scratch" —
"scratch" refers to a starting line, soit's like they hit... they haven't even
got to the starting line. Yeah. They'renot even in the arena. "It's just not up
to scratch". It's... it's not goodenough. "I'm sorry. I'm not very happy
with this." Yeah. Nice and clear; we allunderstand that. Let's get the
pronunciation right. "I'm sorry". Yeah.So, it kind of breaks. "I'm sorry. I'm
not very happy with this. I'm not veryhappy with this. I'm not very happy with
this." Or: "I don't really see the pointof..." "point of" meaning purpose. "I
don't really see the point of trying tofind this vineyard cellar anyway. Why
don't we just go and taste the wine?"Or: "Look, I'm sorry. I'm just finding
it a bit frustrating". "A bit" meaning alittle bit. "Look" — it means... this is
a word that... when we want someone'sattention. "Look". "I'm sorry". Yeah?
I'm softening the blow. I'm makingmyself polite, but I am angry. "I'm just
finding it a bit frustrating." Yeah?This is very polite way of saying: "This
is terrible". "Is that reallynecessary?" I ended up saying that to my
landlord back in the UK in the summerwhen she tried to raise the rent because
we have pets. I said: "Is that reallynecessary?" and she didn't raise it. If
she continued, I could have said: "Thatis ridiculous. That's stupid. Why...?"
dah-dah-dah-dah-dah-dah-dah. Okay?
So, in this video, we've had phrases,like: "Mustn't grumble". Yeah. "That
really takes the biscuit". I hope theseare things that you're going to remember
and use in a kind of jokey and playfulway. And then, when we're in a more
serious context — this is the stuff youneed to be using. Do the quiz now. Let
us know how you get on. I'm looking forten out of ten. Do you reckon you can do
it? I hope so. See you in the nextvideo. Until then, take care.