Transcript of AE 952 - Expression: Scaredy Cat

G'day, you mob, and welcome to Aussie English. I am your host, Pete, and my objective here is to teach you guys the English spoken down under. So, whether you want to sound like a fair dinkum Aussie or you just want to understand what the flipping hell we're on about when we're having a yarn, you've come to the right place. So, sit back, grab a cuppa and enjoy Aussie English. Let's go.

G'day, you mob. Pete here, from Aussie English. How you going? Welcome to this episode, another expression episode of the Aussie English podcast, which is the number one place for anyone and everyone wanting to learn Australian English. Man, I'm glad to be recording again because for the last few weeks my voice has been cactus, it has been kaput, it has been non-existent because Noah brought some ungodly disease back from day care yet again.

And it has been hanging around like a bad smell. Right. It has been in the house for weeks now and I've just had this cough. It's been horrible. I had to postpone interviews. I lost my voice. It was just- Yeah. It's been unpleasant, to say the least.

And as a result, I haven't really been able to record many episodes like the one that you're currently watching because, yeah, I imagine it would be distracting to try and learn English whilst listening to someone with a very croaky, croaky, croaky voice.

Anyway, before we get into today's news story, guys, don't forget, if you would like access to all of the transcripts, all the downloads, all of the lesson videos for these podcast episodes, you can get access to them at Aussie English when you become a premium podcast member. So, just head over to AussieEnglish.com.au/podcast, sign up and you will have instant access. Anyway, let's get into today's weekly story.

So, a family is celebrating with their three-year-old scaredy cat, Maremma, named Xena, after the dog got scared during a hailstorm and ran off into the Australian bush in the Lockyer Valley, west of Brisbane. For six long months, the dog disappeared and was on its own in the bush. Xena's owners didn't think that the dog would survive, let alone return home after such a long stint in the outback.

However, after six long months, the dog showed up on her owners' doorsteps. And despite her ordeal, Xena was in great condition, albeit a little dog tired. Although the normally white Maremma needed a bath or two to get the matted reddish grey fur back to its original colour. Though exhausted and a little on the thin side, her owners made sure that she had a full belly of food and a little TLC and hugs that she desired after her miraculous return.

This has been a lesson for poor Xena's owners, who said they never gave up hope after the dog was lost. Xena, on the other hand, probably never wants to talk about the ordeal again. She'd rather let sleeping dogs lie. All right, guys, so as usual, let's get into today's joke, okay. Smack that kookaburra and let's make you laugh. All right, so today's joke is, what does the cat say after making a joke? Right.

So, you've got a cat and the cat for some reason is able to speak English. It's telling someone a joke, after it's told the joke, what does the cat say? What does the cat say after it's told a joke? Just kitten. You get it? Just kitten. It's a play on the word kidding to be joking, to be mucking around. Right. So, if I tell you a joke, I might say afterwards I'm only joking, I'm only kidding, just kidding. Look, just kidding.

And the word kitten, right. A baby cat. A kitten. A kitten. Kidding and kitten. So, what did the cat say after making a joke? Just kitten. Gosh. All right, so today's expression is "scaredy cat". I wonder if you've heard this one before, "scaredy cat", to be a "scaredy cat". Before we get into the expression, what it means, where it came from and some examples, though, let's break down the words in the expression "scaredy cat".

There are only two words here. "Scaredy", and this is kind of like baby talk that we would use informally to talk about someone who's afraid of something, someone who's frightened, who's scared. Right. They are a little "scaredy". Right. They're a little "scaredy". But it's only really used in the collocation "scaredy cat".

We don't really use it outside of that and adults don't tend to use this unless they're kind of making fun of or belittling someone for being afraid. Right. We'll get into that shortly. A "cat". I'm sure you guys know what a "cat" is. Our feline friends, it is a small, domesticated carnivorous mammal with soft fur, a short snout and retractable claws. It is widely kept as a pet or for catching mice and many breeds have been developed.

And did you know, I think the only "cat" that can't retract its claws, that is to pull those sharp nails back into its paws, are cheetahs. Go figure, right? The reason is they have to be able to run really, really quickly and grip onto the ground. And so, I believe as a result, their claws are always poking out. What's the opposite of retracted? It's not contracted. Yeah, they're always bare. Right.

So, it's kind of like- It'd be like being Wolverine, except that your claws are always out. All right. So, a "scaredy cat" and you may hear this sometimes as a "fraidy cat". This is someone, especially a child, who is easily frightened, so they can be a "fraidy cat". They can be a "scaredy cat". And it has a bit of an interesting origin. Right. So, the phrase "scaredy cat" likely originates from the way that cats are so easily frightened at times.

And I'm sure that you guys, if you have access to YouTube, will have seen the numerous videos with cats shitting themselves. Right. Usually someone puts a cucumber behind the cat, the cat suddenly turns around and thinks that it's a snake, it might jump in the air. Or if someone comes in and, you know, drops something and scares the cat, it might jump up.

But the saying "fraidy cat" is the original one and it first appears in a newspaper called The Chronicle all the way back in May of 1897. In the following passage, I shan't tell you what's his name, when we want to play a game always thinks that he'll be hurt. Soil his jacket in the dirt, tear his trousers, spoil his hat. Fraidy cat. Fraidy cat.

"Scaredy cat" appeared some nine years later in a book called Billy Bounce in the following passage, that is a "scaredy cat" and she will never come back. All right, so as usual, let's go through three examples of how I would use the expression "scaredy cat" or "fraidy cat" in English, but before we do that. Did you know that reading whilst listening to English is the best way to learn new vocabulary?

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So, if your goal is to learn and remember more vocabulary, to expand your vocab in English, make sure that you sign up to become a premium podcast member today at AussieEnglish.com.au/podcast. Let's get back to the episode. All right. So, example number one. So, my parents have a cat called Max. And the funny story is my mum found this cat at the university that she was working at, so there was a wildcat there that gave birth to a bunch of kittens.

The kittens were sort of roaming around walking around the gardens and, you know, it wasn't going to be much of a life for them, so mum and a bunch of other workers at the university decided to adopt them. So, mum adopted this little cat. We called it Max, and he turned into this really big cat. Yeah. He grew up, he was obviously from good stock. His parents were feral cats, and he grew up to be a really big cat.

Anyway, he was brought into the house, and I already had a cat called Merlin, which was a Burmese cat and Merlin was top dog or top cat. He was the boss in this example. Anyway, Merlin ends up dying, you know, ten or so years later and Max, the entire time that Merlin was alive was always a "scaredy cat". He was always a "fraidy cat". He would disappear under the bed if someone showed up.

You know, new people would come over and they would just never know we had a cat called Max. They would think we only had Merlin because Max was such a "fraidy cat". Anyway, after Merlin died, all of a sudden Max, you know, found his balls and although he had them removed, he was desexed. And became the top dog or the top cat and was no longer scared. So, it was a really interesting story.

Example number two. So, my son, Noah, is- He's now a fan of Slide's, but a few weeks ago he used to be terrified of slides. So, he would go out to child's playgrounds, you know, we were in a COVID lockdown, we would try and take him out, though, and play a little bit on these playgrounds to give him a bit of exercise. He'd always climb up, be climbing around and love it. But he was a bit of a "scaredy cat" when it came to the slides.

You know, I guess he felt a bit of, you know, lack of control, he couldn't control the speed with which he would go down these slides. He was afraid. He was a bit of a "fraidy cat". He was a bit of a "scaredy cat". But now all of a sudden, he actually really, really likes slides. So, yeah, good on ya, Noah, for not being a "fraidy cat" or a "scaredy cat" anymore.

Example number three. So, I remember being a bit of a "scaredy cat" or a "fraidy cat" when I was a young kid, probably a few years older than Noah, in fact, quite a few years older than Noah, because it was when we had moved down to Ocean Grove. So, I would have been about 9 or 10. We were living in Ocean Grove right near the ocean. Go figure. Ocean Grove, right. The name of the suburb kind of tells you that.

And my dad would take me to the beach, and he would want to go bodyboarding, so he would, you know, put his wetsuit on, his wetty and take his bodyboard out and he would encourage me to come out into the waves with him. But I used to sort of only like the depth of the water where I could still feel the ground. I was a bit of a "scaredy cat" when I couldn't touch the ground with my feet inside the- Or insi- In the surf, right, in the water.

I was a little afraid. I was a little bit of a "fraidy cat". I was a little bit of a "scaredy cat". So, I didn't like going out the back where my dad would go and catch the big waves. So, there you go, guys. Now I'm sure you understand how to use the expression "scaredy cat or fraidy cat". It is just used to refer to someone, usually a child who is easily frightened, who's a little bit afraid of things, who's scared of things.

So, as usual, let's go through a little pronunciation exercise where you guys can practise your pronunciation, listen and repeat after me. Okay, let's go. "To. To be. To be a. To be a scaredy. To be a scaredy cat. To be a scaredy cat. To be a scaredy cat. To be a scaredy cat. To be a scaredy cat. I'm a bit of a scaredy cat. You're a bit of a scaredy cat. He's a bit of a scaredy cat. She's a bit of a scaredy cat.

We're scaredy cats. They're scaredy cats. It's a bit of a scaredy cat." Good job, guys. Now, the reason I've had to use "we're scaredy cats, they're scared cats" is because it doesn't really make sense for those plural pronouns to be used with "a bit of a", right. If you said we're a bit of a scaredy cat, just sounds weird because you've got "we", which is plural and "scaredy cat", which is singular.

Same for they're a bit of a scaredy cat, you would just say "they're scaredy cats, we're scaredy cats." So, guys, finishing up, I thought I would go through some cat facts about Australia. So, in Australia, around 30% of households are home to a cat, there the second most common pet after dogs, despite only being found in around a third of houses, though, the average house has 1.4 Cats.

So, clearly, there are a lot of crazy old cat ladies out there doing their bit to own a bunch of cats and skew the statistics. Cats first arrived in Australia around the year 1804 and by the time of 1820 there were feral cats roaming the bushland around Sydney. Unfortunately, Australian wildlife was caught blindsided by the arrival of cats as they hadn't evolved in their presence and therefore became easy targets for hungry cats.

As a result, cats proved to be a great deal more environmentally destructive in Australia than elsewhere in the world. In the early nineteen hundreds, the pervasiveness of the cat problem was starting to cause public concern. Both domestic and feral cats predate on native Australian animals and have played a huge role in the extinction of numerous Australian species.

For example, cats are estimated to have significantly contributed to the extinction of at least 22 endemic Australian mammals since the arrivals of the first Europeans. This is included species like the rusty numbat, the desert bandicoot, the broad-faced potoroo and the Crescent Nail-Tail Wallaby. Research over the last ten years now estimates that a single feral cat kills 740 wild animals every year, about two a day.

So if, like me, you're a cat lover who loves having their furry friends around them at home, but you also have a soft spot for native wildlife and the Australian environment, be sure to put a bell on your cat's neck and keep it indoors at all times, if possible. That way, it's a win-win for both you, the cat and Australia's fauna.

Anyway, guys, I hope you enjoyed this episode. I hope that with regards to your English, you are no longer a little bit of a scaredy cat or a fraidy cat and you can go out there and speak confidently after learning this expression. I'm Pete, this is Aussie English. Thanks for joining me and I'll see you next time. Peace.