Transcript of AE 1268 - Expression: Get with the Program

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 flippin' 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, how's it going? Welcome to this episode of Aussie English. I'm your host, Pete, and my job here is to help you understand the lingo from Down Under, right. Australian English. So today we've got something a little different. Slightly different. I've sort of decided to try and update the expression episode transitions between the different sections, so that you sort of get a better idea of when we're moving from one section to another.

But also, I kind of wanted to add in more sounds from Australia. So we've got some different animal sounds, and we also have a whole bunch of clips from TV shows and movies and that sort of stuff that are in the zeitgeist in Australian culture, right? They're out there. People will know of these, so hopefully they help you get a little more cultural awareness of Australia, if that makes sense.

But yeah, I'm definitely keen to get your feedback, so let me know what you think. If you don't like it, if you love it, if you sort of neither here nor there, you don't mind, you know, just let me know. Send me a message, send me an email and give me your 2 cents! Give me your opinion.

Okay, so before we get into today's episode, just remember if you want to support the podcast as well as get access to bonus episodes or the transcripts to the episodes that are transcribed, that's every single episode except the "Pete's 2 cents" episodes, and also get access to the transcript player so that you can read and listen at the same time. Be sure to sign up for the premium podcast membership at AussieEnglish.com.au/podcast, and you can obviously support the podcast by spending less than a dollar a day by signing up to that. So, once again, AussieEnglish.com.au/podcast.

So let's get into today's Q&A. Today's question comes from Ashwin. "By the way, why do Aussies say 'serviette' instead of 'napkin'?" "Why do Aussies say 'serviette' instead of 'napkin'?" So we know and we use both of these words. Though 'serviette' is by far and away the more common of the two in Australia. 'Napkin' is used from time to time, but it's sort of American, you know.

We know what you mean if you were to say, 'Can you give me a napkin?' But when I hear the word 'napkin', I think of like a cloth, a piece of cloth that you would use at a dinner table, you know, to put on your lap or maybe tuck in your shirt to protect yourself from, I don't know, tomato sauce while eating spaghetti or something. Whereas a 'serviette' is usually like a paper towel that you would get at a cafe or something, you know, to wipe your mouth if you're drinking coffee a little sloppily, I don't know.

But yeah, they're by and large, you can sort of say both, but 'serviette' would be the sort of Aussie version. Okay. So hopefully that helps mate! So, kick the bird guys. Give the kookaburra a little poke. And let's get into today's joke!

Okay, so here's today's joke. Are you ready? And it's a little crass. It's funny though. It's funny. Okay. "Why didn't the toilet roll cross the road?" Mmm. So 'toilet roll'. 'Dunny roll'. 'Shit tickets', if you want to be really informal, right? 'Toilet paper'. "Why didn't the toilet roll cross the road?" "Because he got stuck in the crack!"

Okay, so 'toilet roll', 'toilet paper'. 'A crack'. We can use this to mean a line on the surface of something right along which it sort of split, breaking apart. So there might be 'a crack in the road'. There might be 'a crack on the ground'. You know, there's 'a crack in the footpath'. I think as kids, you tend to try and 'jump over the cracks'. Right.

But we can use it informally as slang, 'a crack' to mean your 'butt crack', right? To mean the line between your two butt cheeks. You know, we call it a plumber's grin, in Australia, if their pants are coming down and you can see someone's butt crack, right? "The tradie bent over and I could see his crack. I could see his crack." So "Why didn't the toilet paper cross the road?" "Because he got stuck in a crack." [That was good, wasn't it? It was good for a bit of a giggle anyway.].

Oohh, okay! All right, so let's get into today's expression. Today's expression is 'get with the program'. 'Get with the program'. And I use this because my, I decided to make an episode out of this one, because my dad uses this all the time. "Oh, come on, guys, get with the program! Get with the program!"

Okay, so before we get into it, let's go through the words in the expression and what they mean. [Use. Collective noun. All of your friends.]

Okay. So, 'to get something'. This is to obtain something. To receive something. "I got a prezzie from my mum on my birthday." "Did you get any good prezzies for your birthday?" 'Prezzie'. Remember, that's 'a present' in Australian slang.

'With'. These are always really hard to define, right? Prepositions: in relation to, indicating connection to something, accompanied by, with something. "I'll try to catch up with you tomorrow."

And here, 'the program': a set of related measures or activities with a particular long term aim. So the conference had a very full programme, um, at work. We're currently working on a programme.

So let's go through what the expression means to get with the program. And there's sort of several different definitions. And I looked it up. Wiktionary.Org to just see what they had to say about it because I kind of, I know one of them, which is how I would basically use it, right. So the definitions are: to become organised, up to date with, or aware of something, 'get with the program'. And that's typically how I would use this expression. "Get with the program. Come on mate, get with the program, right." Get organised. Update yourself. Become aware of something. Get with the program.

The second definition is to work productively towards the objective of a shared enterprise, especially after the objective or the environment has changed. Hmm. Okay. 'Get with the program'. And then lastly, to comply with the norms of a social group, especially a shared enterprise. Okay. So basic idea is to become organised, get organised, get up to date with something, become aware of something. Really, that's how I would use 'get with the program'. "Come on mate, get with the program."

And it's sort of similar to 'get a clue' or 'be on top of things', or 'get on the same page as someone', you know, about something. And I looked up the origin of this phrase, and it's pretty obvious. I mean, I searched on ChatGPT, right? I just pretty much typed into ChatGPT to see if it would give me a really succinct, clear explanation.

And it said: In the expression 'get with the program', 'the program' generally refers to a set of rules, expectations, or standards that someone is expected to adhere to or follow. It can also imply being in alignment with current trends, attitudes, or ways of doing things. Essentially, it's about conforming to a particular system or mindset. So when someone tells you 'get with a program', they're usually urging you to conform or adapt to the prevailing norms or expectations.

So anyway, let's go through some examples and I will try and hopefully elucidate, show you, how this expression is used in everyday English. [Ah ah ah ah ah!] Okay. So example number one, my grandparents are planning a road trip holiday with my family and my sister's family. We're all meant to get together. You know, we're all meant to be going together, in order to have a great time away. My folks have organised all of it. They've come up with a program for where we're all meant to be going, and what we're meant to be going and seeing, everything like that. We're all going to be travelling in different cars, though, so it's important that we all know, you know, where my grandparents are going to be, where my sister's family is going to be, where my parents will be, all that sort of stuff, right? Everyone needs to know where to go, at what point, everything like that.

The day before we set off, my parents get everyone together to go over the itinerary to show them all the plan. And on the day that we leave, we get separated in traffic and I drive my family to a completely different destination, right? I get mixed up, I get confused, and I don't know what's going on. So my parents might ring me up and be like, How did you screw this up? You knew the plan. You knew the program. We gave you the program. We went over the program. Pete, 'get with the program'. Update yourself, become aware of what's going on. 'Get with the program', Pete. Come on mate.

Example number two. I remember getting a job as a waiter whilst I was studying my PhD in Melbourne, and I'd never been a waiter before, so I had to sort of learn everything from scratch, you know, taking orders and entering them into a machine. And the computer system there. I had to be able to communicate with the kitchen and the chefs, take dishes out, you know, order people's drinks, food, all that sort of stuff, right? I had to do it correctly and quickly. And it was very new to me, and it took me a few weeks to kind of get with the program and really nail everything.

But I remember at the time I had a manager who was just a really nasty piece of work. She was a horrible, horrible woman. Just really, just had no sort of understanding of other people and compassion and, you know, yeah, she was just horrible. So she'd often come out if I made a mistake and just abuse me in front of the entire restaurant and say things like, you know, 'Get with the program' or you're going to get fired. If you don't wake up, if you don't get switched on, if you don't 'get with the program', you're going to be out of a job, mate, you know? And she would often use worse words than that. So yeah, that's definitely an example I remember of someone saying 'get with the program'.

Example number three. Imagine you're a recent migrant in Australia from somewhere like Japan, right? You've arrived in Australia and you find the cultural differences to be quite shocking. You know, Japanese culture is a little more hierarchical and formal. Australian culture is a little looser and, well, less formal, right? It's a little more relaxed. So if you find these differences really hard to get used to, it might take you a while to get with the program, right. It may take you a few weeks, a few months, maybe years to sort of get with the program Down Under, to become used to the norms in Australia. But hopefully over time you will 'get with the program'.

So there you go guys, that is the expression 'to get with the program'. Basically meaning to become organised, to get up to date with something, to become aware of something, right? So as usual, let's get into today's pronunciation exercise.

[Would you like a card? Kylie? Kim, it's not hard. No, the correct pronunciation is Chardonnay. It's French. The H is silent. Back me up here, Kylie!].

Okay, so the goal of this exercise, guys, is to help you work on your pronunciation skills, your speaking skills, and help you hopefully develop your own Australian accent when speaking English. So listen and repeat after me. Are you ready? Let's do it.

To. To get. To get with. To get with the. To get with the program. To get with the program. To get with the program. To get with the program. To get with the program. I need a get with the program. You need to get with the program. He needs to get with the program. She needs to get with the program. We need to get with the program. They need to get with the program. It needs to get with the program.

Good job guys. So let's go over a little bit about connected speech and pronunciation changes everything like that to get with the program. So you'll notice 'to' becomes /tə/ right. We get the schwa there /tə get/ /tə get/ /tə get/ /tə get with/.

Now the T at the end of the word 'get', because we have a consonant at the start of the word 'with' that /wuh/ sound, I guess it's a semi consonant /wuh/, the T gets muted, and we can either do this in our mouths or in our throat, right? So it can become the muted T, like /get/ where the tongue is going to touch the top of the roof of the mouth, as if you were going to say the T clearly, like /tuh/, but you just don't release it.

/Get with/. But we can also use kind of a glottal stop, which is where we do it in our throat. /Geʔ/ /geʔ/. It's like when you say /a/ /a/ /a/ /a/, right, you're stopping the sound in your throat. /Geʔ with/, /geʔ with/, /geʔ with/, /geʔ with/ /tə geʔ with the program/.

Now 'the' as well gets the schwa and it becomes /thə/. /Tə geʔ with thə program/, right. We're skipping over 'to' and that really quickly, giving them the schwa vowel sounds, /tə geʔ with thə program/ /tə geʔ with thə program/.

Now lastly, when we go through the phrases "I need to get with the program", "You need to get with the program", "He needs to get with the program", "She needs..", etc.. What do you notice happening with the words 'need to' and 'needs to'? Have a listen.

I need a get with the program. You need a get with the program. He needs to get with the program. She needs to get with the program.

So we combine 'need' and 'to' and 'needs' and 'to', and turn them into kind of a single word, right. So need to we use the T flap there instead of the D or the T sound at the end of the word 'need' and the start of the word 'to'.

So you'll hear /needa/ /needa/ /needa/. And then with /needsta/ /needsta/ /needsta/ /needsta/ /needsta/ /needsta/. Trying to- I'm just thinking /needsta/. You do kind of use the D sound in there like 'needs'. And then you just say /ta/ at the end /needsta/. In fact it's almost a D sound /needsta/ /needsta/. Yeah, I guess it's almost a D sound, or a D sound. Try that. /Needsta/ /needsta/ /needsta/. /She needsta get with the program/ /I needa get with the program/.

So, you know, you don't have to necessarily nail these to be understood in Australian English, but learning how connected speech like this takes place, how certain words get reduced. You know, the vowel sounds, the syllables get reduced and you get the schwa sounds. It's going to make you sound a lot more natural when speaking English, and it's going to allow you to be more easily understood by other speakers as well. It's actually more complicated if you, if you really clearly enunciate every single word and you speak quickly like 'I need to get with the program', it actually becomes ironically, harder to understand for native speakers just because they're not used to it. Okay!

So anyway, if you want to learn more about Australian pronunciation this week we're doing a sale on the Australian Pronunciation course. If you're on my email list, you'll know about this already, but you can sign up for it and get $100 off the normal price at AussieEnglish.com.au/APC100 okay. APC, as in Australian Pronunciation Course = APC. And 100 100 as in $100 off. So again, if you want to master Australian English or Australian pronunciation and develop your own Aussie accent, go and sign up at AussieEnglish.Com.au/APC100.

And remember, there's a 30 day money back guarantee. So get in there, give it a go. Try it out. If it's not for you, I'll give you a refund. But yeah, I promise you're going to enjoy it. Okay, so go check it out!

Anyway, now it's time for the final section, where we go over a little clip from an Aussie TV show or movie. Let's get into it! [That's not a knife. That's a knife!] [Here, there's no cash. All right? Cash? No! Robber? No cash. You're terrible, Muriel. Tell him he's dreaming!].

So I thought, I thought it would be a little bit of fun there to make that transition. A bunch of different famous Australian TV shows movies. So I wonder if you notice any of those clips and you can pick which films they're from. And if you want me to discuss which ones they are, I can. But yeah, definitely, definitely keep an ear out and see if you can work it out.

So okay. Today's clip comes from a new Aussie mystery thriller TV show called High Country that is available on Binge.

I've been watching this recently. I've been bingeing this, and I'll link the trailer in the description for you to check out. But you can go and check it out. Just type in High Country, into YouTube and I'm sure it'll pop out, or pop up rather. But I find this I found this one really interesting, and it sort of piqued my curiosity because it's filmed in Victorian high country, right, up in the mountains, in Victoria here.

So anyway, the excerpt is: Detective Andy Whitford gets transferred to the high country, where she is tasked with investigating the mysterious disappearance of five locals lost in the Victorian wilderness.

So the rules of the game, guys, I'm going to play a clip for you two times, and your goal is to listen and write down what you hear being said. It's a great way to train your listening comprehension, you know, and you'll obviously get exposed to different Aussies speaking English. Remember, you'll be able to check your answer if you download today's worksheet, which is free. You can get that via the website or the description. It'll be linked there. Or if you have the Premium Podcast membership, you'll also be able to obviously see the answer in the transcript itself.

So are you ready to go? It's a bit of a long one. So you know, if you need a listen again, just rewind a little bit. But here's the first playthrough.

I've had half the State Police force looking for you. I've been here. We found your caravan burnt out. Yeah, I was in it when those bastards firebombed me. I barely got out of it alive. And you didn't think to let anyone know that you were okay? Well, who would care?

All right. Good job. How'd you go? Did you get all of it? Time for the second playthrough.

I've had half the State Police force looking for you. I've been here. We found your caravan burnt out. Yeah, I was in it when those bastards firebombed me. I barely got out of it alive. And you didn't think to let anyone know that you were okay? Well, who would care?

All right, so I hope you got that guys. Remember, yeah. If you need a listen multiple times, just rewind it a couple of times. You know, don't feel bad if it takes you quite a few times to get used to it. These are sort of little natural spoken English excerpts or segments out of TV shows, so it is quite advanced. But yeah, just keep at it and I hope, I hope this is allowing you to find interesting TV shows and movies to learn more about Australia and Australian English and everything like that too. So anyway, that's it from me. Thank you for joining me. I am Pete, I am your host. This is Aussie English. It's a pleasure as always and I'll chat to you next time. Tooroo!